It’s very hard to quantify from the perspective of an employee what the best companies to work for are. Why? Firstly, there’s no publicly available data to measure a company's workplace. Secondly, there are a lot of different opinions on what a great work environment looks like. For example, one employee might love their company because they get great pay and benefits, while another might take a different stance based on diversity and inclusion.
Despite these roadblocks, Glassdoor and Fortune have created two separate lists to rank the best places to work in the United States. These lists vary quite significantly, so it’s hard to tell which one gives a more accurate picture. We’ll take a look at the top 20 companies from both lists, so you can compare between the two. There is a preference towards Glassdoor as the data is more straightforward — ranking is based on public reviews whereas Fortune’s Great Place To Work is based on private surveys. Now let’s compare the two, and discuss some of the findings.
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The 20 best employers in the United States (Glassdoor)
Methodology: Glassdoor takes all of the employer reviews submitted within the year (2022) and estimates the overall star rating out of five. For companies to be considered in this list they have to have at least 1,000 employees and receive a minimum of 20 employee reviews. Here is the list for 2023:
The 20 best companies to work for in the United States (Fortune)
Methodology: Fortune has developed their own workplace measurement system which takes into account the following factors: trust in management, connection with colleagues, and company loyalty. People who take the survey are asked 60 statements about their company, and the respondents give a rating on a five point scale. Companies featured must have over 1000 employees. Here’s Fortune’s list for 2023:
Analysis
The only company that is featured in both lists is NVIDIA — a twice certified great company! Other than that, the Fortune top 20 looks completely different from Glassdoor. Cisco, Hilton and American Express taking the top positions which is interesting because as companies get bigger their culture changes and their employee satisfaction usually drops. If we pull up the ratings for American Express on Glassdoor, it’s a 4.2 with a lot of recent negative reviews. Hilton is also quite low at a 4.0 rating, and it’s dropped over the last two years from a 4.3. So it’s interesting that Fortune would place Hilton 2nd two years in a row.
It really comes down to who’s leaving these reviews and are they meaningful to your role within a company. For example, technology companies like Gainsight have a lot more to offer software engineers as opposed to marketing professionals. In the same way, working in management for Hilton is going to be far more rewarding than working as an individual contributor. Another important point is that we don’t know who in the company is being surveyed by Fortune. With Glassdoor we can at least see the reviews and get an idea of what these people did and what department they worked in. Who’s to say Fortune didn’t just survey middle management or brand new employees? They tend to skew overwhelmingly positive. Something to think about.
Work for a top employer in Europe
In the likely chance that you’re looking for a great place to work there are plenty of great companies that haven’t made this list. Companies that have less than 1000 employees and are doing great things. If you’re interested in a career in tech, Europe should be at the top of your list. Check out our job board for job opportunities in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands. For more top companies worldwide, check out our lists below.
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