Namasté Solar has been named to Outside Magazine's sixth annual "Best Places to Work" list, ranking No. 63 out of 100 selected companies. Outside's "Best Places to Work" project celebrates the innovative companies setting a new standard for a healthy work-life balance.

Boulder, Colorado August 01, 2013

Namasté Solar, today, was named to Outside Magazine's sixth annual "Best Places to Work" list. Namasté Solar was ranked No. 63 out of 100 selected companies. The full list of the top-ten-performing small, medium, and large companies will be published online on August 1 at OutsideOnline.com/bestplacestowork.

Outside's "Best Places to Work" project celebrates the innovative companies setting a new standard for a healthy work-life balance. The list was compiled with the help of the Outdoor Industry Association and Best Companies Group. The yearlong selection process began with an outreach effort that identified a wide range of non-profit and for-profit organizations with at least 15 employees working in an office in the United States. Participating companies were sent confidential employee-satisfaction surveys and employer-questionnaires to collect information about benefits, compensation, policies, job satisfaction, environmental initiatives, and community outreach programs. The experts at the Best Companies Group then analyzed the results and selected the companies that best enable employees to pursue active lifestyles while also supporting their social and environmental contributions.

"We are honored to make the list of Outside Magazine's Best Places to Work," said Amanda Bybee, Co-Owner and Vice President of Namasté Solar. "For us, the progressive, flexible, employee-friendly policies are an extension of being an employee-owned cooperative. We ARE the owners, and therefore it's up to us to create a workplace that we love to come to everyday. Furthermore, we know that happy employees lead to happy customers. And happy customers leads to a successful business. So we regard it as an important part of our company strategy."

"We're proud to publicize the efforts of these 100 companies," said Outside editor Christopher Keyes. "They each show a real commitment to creating active, healthy work environments and put a premium on innovative benefits. Year after year, Outside's Best Places to Work program demonstrates that America's most successful companies are the ones that consistently promote true work-life balance for their employees."

"Namasté Solar employee owners pay as much attention to the business of installing solar electric panels as to its progressive business practices," continued Ms. Bybee. "Namasté Solar has installed over 2,600 solar PV systems since 2005 for clients such as the National Renewable Energy Lab, Denver Public Schools, Denver Housing Authority, Colorado Convention Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Lockheed Martin, New Belgium Brewing Company, Wells Fargo, and many Colorado homeowners."

ABOUT NAMASTÉ SOLAR

Namasté Solar (NS) was founded in 2005 and provides PV design, engineering, installation, maintenance, and consulting services to residential, commercial, builder, non-profit, and government customers throughout the U.S. Our mission is to propagate the responsible use of solar energy, pioneer conscientious business practices, and create holistic wealth for ourselves and our community. NS is an employee-owned cooperative, with many unique practices: democratic decision-making, community collaboration, a solar grant program funded by 20% of our annual profits, zero-waste initiatives, educational outreach, and holistic profit measurement. The company maintains high ethical standards among employees, customers, and the community. Committed to positive social change, Namasté Solar prioritizes "doing the right thing" above all else for all stakeholders. Namasté Solar is a Certified B-Corp and a WorldBlu certified democratic company. Visit us at http://www.namastesolar.com and on Facebook.

ABOUT OUTSIDE

Outside is America¹s leading active lifestyle brand. For more than 30 years, Outside has covered travel, sports, adventure, health, and fitness, as well as the personalities, the environment, and the style and culture of the world Outside. The Outside family includes Outside magazine, the only magazine to win three consecutive National Magazine Awards for General Excellence, The Outside Buyer's Guides, Outside Online, Outside Television, Outside Events, Outside+ tablet edition, and Outside Books. Visit us online and on Facebook.

ABOUT THE BEST COMPANIES GROUP

Best Companies Group works with national and local partners around the country to establish and manage "Best Places to Work," "Best Companies," and "Best Employers" programs on a national, statewide, and regional basis. Through its thorough workplace assessment, utilizing employer questionnaires and employee-satisfaction surveys, BCG identifies and recognizes companies who have been successful in creating and maintaining workplace excellence.

ABOUT THE OUTDOOR INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

Founded in 1989, Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) is the premier trade association for companies in the active outdoor recreation business. OIA provides trade services for over 4000 manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, sales representatives and retailers in the outdoor industry. Outdoor Industry Association seeks to ensure a healthy and diverse specialty retail and supply chain based on quality, innovation and service. To this end, OIA works diligently to raise the standards of the industry; increase participation in outdoor recreation to strengthen business markets; provide support services to improve member profitability; represent member interests in the legislative/regulatory process; promote professional training and education; support innovation; and offer cost-saving member benefits. Search for outdoor-industry jobs is at OIA's career center: http://www.outdoorindustry.org.