Frederick’s Top 50 Workplaces: AstraZeneca, Baker Tree Services, Canapés and CDJ Genie Services

Frederick County Office of Economic Development (OED) received 132 nominations for Frederick’s Top 50 Workplaces, which were selected based on powerful employee testimonials and each workplace’s unique strategies to attract and retain top talent. The final list also included criteria based on the company’s individual responses on the following: company’s median salary, benefits offered to employees, community involvement, work environment, professional growth opportunities and work-life balance.

Get to know four of the top 50 this month: AstraZeneca, Baker Tree Services, Canapés and CDJ Genie Services.


What Employees Are Saying

AstraZeneca: “Our workforce has expanded to include six generations of workers, contributing to the great work being done at AstraZeneca to deliver life-changing medicines across the globe.”

Baker Tree Services: “The Bakers treat their employees like family and are kind, hardworking people.”

Canapés: “ML Carroll (owner) is just an awesome person to work for. She goes above and beyond for her employees, because we are more than just employees, we are more like family. This is the first place I've worked where the chefs don't have a chip on their shoulder and it's not front of house vs. back of house. Everyone genuinely cares about each other and we're all here to help each other.”

CDJ Genie Services: “CDJ has an amazing owner who designed this company to help provide work to those who need part time work. Many single parents, students, or stay at home moms have been able to make a decent salary while being able to focus on other life factors.”


What unique initiatives does your company have to attract and keep top talent?  How does your business keep employees happy and healthy?

AstraZeneca: AstraZeneca provides competitive compensation and benefits packages, robust opportunities to learn and develop in a chosen career path, and the chance to work at sites across the globe. We offer tuition reimbursement up to $10,000 a year for employees to continue their education and have a partnership with Mount St. Mary’s University providing a 20% reduction in tuition for select courses.

Baker Tree Services: We offer paid vacation, personal time off, and we are flexible when someone needs time off.  We offer annual bonuses.

Canapés: We offer and encourage vacation and personal leave.  From one to three weeks depending on length of service.  We also provide a “family meal” daily where a staff member cooks for the entire team.  We sponsor staff and family outings.

CDJ Genie Services: CDJ caters to the working parent. We understand that finding a job that meets the needs of also being a parent can be very hard! CDJ was established to be able to give parents an opportunity to earn a decent income while still being able to get there kid(s) on and off of the bus, attend school functions and just have the overall flexibility that parents need and want to still be present in their families lives. That is why we offer all employees the option to work more limited hours or more full-time hours for whatever suits their schedule best!

To keep employees motivated we host company paid quarterly happy hours, have monthly/yearly incentives and host a holiday dinner each year where the employee can bring their spouse and enjoy a gourmet meal!

What are some intangible benefits your company offers? What career growth opportunities are offered?

AstraZeneca: We are dedicated to creating a culture of inclusion and collaboration. The company hosts yearly Inclusion and Diversity conferences and many sites have an employee resource group—the Network of Women—devoted to promoting diversity and inclusion and enhancing employees' professional development through interactive and engaging events and initiatives.

Baker Tree Services: We have holiday dinners, recognize everyone’s birthday with a treat for everyone.  We treat everyone like family.

Canapés: The staff knows that they can make suggestions. The office/sales staff requested stand-up desks now we all have stand-up desks. The chefs needed stress relief from standing in place for long periods of time and now they have the best floor pads that we could find. We are a family-friendly business. We do little things for each other...from helping with a team members wedding to throwing a surprise shower for a new baby on the way to showing support for a staff member's spouse becoming an American Citizen.

CDJ Genie Services: CDJ LOVES to recognize employees for their hard work and has a designated Facebook page just for that! We make sure to give daily/weekly shout outs to top performers on the page so everyone can see and also give recognition. We also subscribe to "Tickets at Work" to be able to provide our employees with discounted travel rates.

What activities and initiatives does your company allow employees in terms of encouraging them to give back to the community?

AstraZeneca: We support employee volunteerism by giving employees one paid day of volunteer leave per year and provide community outreach opportunities.

Astrazeneca has partnered with Blessings in a Backpack several times over the last few years (packing 2,600+ bags), and have purchased, packed and delivered bags to sites for distribution to Frederick schools.

Baker Tree Services: We purchase cakes, hogs and steers from the FFA at the Thurmont Emmitsburg Community Show and the Great Frederick Fair. We distribute the meat amongst our employees.  We always support local by helping nonprofits and sports organizations. 

Canapés: We encourage our staff to become involved in the community. From Leadership Frederick to Blessings in a Back Pack, our staff takes great pride in participating in worthwhile community activities. All of us here at Canapés believe in the spirit of paying it forward. We rarely if ever turn down request for providing free goods and services for the many non-profits in our beloved Frederick...You name it, we have donated to it.

CDJ Genie Services: CDJ loves to give back! CDJ offers (last year over 12) free cleanings to Frederick county residents that are going through a tough time (the loss of a loved one, sudden illness, etc.) The team loves working on these projects!