Great Place to Work® and Fortune announced the Fortune World’s Best Workplaces™ 2021. The surveys cover 19.8 million employee opinions worldwide in which organisations are assessed on their efforts to create great workplaces and positively impact people and communities across multiple countries around the world. Winners have demonstrated their success in creating great workplaces and their impact on their people and broader communities.
To be considered, companies must be identified as outstanding global employers by appearing on at least five Best Workplaces lists in Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa, North America, or Australia during 2020 or early 2021. Companies must have at least 5,000 employees worldwide, with at least 40% (or 5,000) of those employees located outside the headquarters country. The 25 World’s Best Workplaces™ stood out for creating globally exceptional employee experiences. These companies outperformed the competition with their unique and special benefits, robust training opportunities for professional development, and commitment to employee recognition and appreciation.
"In a global workforce, alignment is everything, and these companies are fortifying their culture around the world—a nearly impossible feat."
Michael C. Bush, CEO, Great Place to Work, said, “In a global workforce, alignment is everything, and these companies are fortifying their culture around the world—a nearly impossible feat. Even when tested by the pandemic, these companies recognise sub-communities in each region and their leaders carry an equitable employee experience across cultures.” Topping this year’s ranking of the World’s Best was transportation and logistics giant DHL Express, which secured 47 national list awards spanning five continents. Technology firm Cisco ranked second on the 2021 list with 22 national list awards, and hotelier Hilton placed third with 21 national list awards. Information technology, professional services, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals make up nearly half of the winners.
New to the list this year are biotech firm Amgen and software company Atlassian. In addition, there are ten re-entries in the top 25 companies—workplaces that appeared on past lists but didn’t make it in 2020, including pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, which was last named to the list in 2015. This year proved to be enormously competitive; compared to 2020’s results, employees scored their workplaces higher on all 60 survey statements in 2021—a notable achievement after a year of workplace challenges amid the pandemic.
Compared to other workplaces, employees at the World’s Best are 17% more likely to say they have unique benefits. Employees at the World’s Best are also 16% are more likely to believe pay is fair and 14% more likely to say they have training and professional development opportunities. Employees at the World’s Best are also more likely to be involved in company innovation, as calculated through Great Place to Work’s Innovation Velocity Ration (IVR). IVR describes an organisation’s ability to quickly harness, mobilise and respond to new information and ideas. IVR is the ratio of employees working in conditions that enable innovation versus the number of employees who are not. At the World’s Best Workplaces, the IVR is 7:2, meaning for every seven employees able to innovate, only two are experiencing friction. At other organisations that drops to 5:2.
Globally, over 90% of employees at the World’s Best say they have a sense of pride in their work, that management is honest and ethical, and that they feel good about how the company contributes to the local community. Slight regional variations could be seen, highlighting differences in company culture around the world. For example, in Asia, the Best Workplaces demonstrated an outstanding commitment to honesty and transparency from management, as well as warm, welcoming work environments. Latin America’s Best Workplaces scored high on opportunities for professional development and trust in leadership. And in the U.S., employees at Best Workplaces versus other organisations were more than 15 times more likely to say their company was a great place to work when it showed a commitment to social responsibility during the pandemic.
Top 25 World’s Best Workplaces™ (2021)
1. DHL Express
2. Cisco
3. Hilton
4. AbbVie
5. Salesforce
6. 3M
7. SC Johnson
8. Amgen
9. SAP
10. Roche
11. Hilti AG
12. EY
13. SAS
14. AT&T Latin America: AT&T Mexico, Vrio, DIRECTV, SKY
15. Stryker
16. Novartis
17. Cadence
18. Novo Nordisk
19. The Adecco Group
20. Mercado Libre
21. Adobe
22. American Express
23. Atlassian Inc
24. Santander
25. Teleperformance
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
