EXPLORE THE WINNERS’ LISTS AND MORE: Largest | Large | Medium | Small | More about the list | Full special issue
The Cambridge-based biotech has a very serious mission — using groundbreaking science to develop new cancer treatments — and approaches its goals with quirky camaraderie (James Bond-themed meetings, anyone?), personal accountability, and mutual respect.
VIEW FROM THE TOP: “What brings people to work every day is taking scientific problems that various disciplines have struggled with over the years and solving them,” says chief executive Sanjiv Patel. “They come because they want to work with the best scientists in the world and solve problems that people thought were unsolvable.”
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BRING YOUR PARENTS TO WORK DAY: Relay scientists’ work is incomprehensible to many people — including their families. The company offers tours so parents can learn, in basic terms, about the innovative work their adult children are part of. “Every one of them starts breaking into tears,” says Patel, who makes sure to keep a box of tissues handy. “It’s the best part of my job.”
MAGIC MOMENT: About a month after structural biologist Kevin Wang started, Relay held a meeting to decide whether to develop a therapy. Wang was impressed to see employees of all levels, arguing their opinions. “To think that a small company would be willing to make a big decision like that and loop everyone in seemed unheard of,” he says.
TO PARTICIPATE IN NEXT YEAR’S TOP PLACES TO WORK SURVEY: Visit bostonglobe.com/nominate.