Three NC companies make Fortune’s best companies to work for list. Do you work at one?
This month, Fortune magazine released its latest annual rankings of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, and three North Carolina companies secured spots.
Kimley-Horn and Associates, a design and development consulting firm headquartered in Raleigh, led the way at No. 28. According to the ranking’s data, 94% of Kimley-Horn employees said the company was a great place to work, compared to a 57% average at U.S. companies.
Fortune highlighted Kimley-Horn for providing employees 100% health coverage, subsidized child care, mental health coverage and remote work options. Last summer, the firm awarded employees $300 to balance out inflation, then paid younger workers more than $1,000 extra through the rest of 2022.
This year marked the 16th time Kimley-Horn made the Fortune 100 list. Founded in 1967, the company employs around 5,500 people in the U.S. and has its headquarters at One City Plaza in downtown Raleigh.
It’s our sweet 16 on the @FortuneMagazine and @GPTW_US 100 Best Companies to Work For list, and we’re celebrating with everyone who makes Kimley-Horn a place to flourish both personally and professionally. #100BestCos #BestWorkplaces #GPTWCertified https://t.co/96ZwYIX5Nq pic.twitter.com/mjTCcjUeah
— Kimley-Horn (@KimleyHorn) April 4, 2023
The two other North Carolina entrants were Bank of America (No. 63) and Red Hat (No. 67). Both companies have been mainstays on the Fortune rankings in recent years, though their positions fell from being No. 29 and No. 34 respectively in last year’s edition. Based in Charlotte, Bank of America is one of the largest private employers in the state while Raleigh’s Red Hat has been owned since 2019 by IBM.
To calculate its rankings, Fortune partners with the data platform Great Places to Work to create what they call a “Trust Index” survey to measure what Fortune calls “the core of what we know creates great workplaces.” Key metrics center on managerial trust, coworker connections, and company loyalty. Employees are asked to respond to 60 statements on a five-point scale and answer a pair of open-ended questions.
The company at the top of the 2023 rankings isn’t based in North Carolina, but it is one of the Triangle-area’s biggest employers. Cisco Systems, which employed around 5,000 in the greater Triangle region last year, came in at No. 1 for the third consecutive time. Despite making layoffs at the end of 2022, Cisco retained its status with 96% of employees saying it’s a great place to work.
MetLife, which is based in New York City but has its Global Technology Campus in Cary, made the list at No. 51. It is the company’s first time on the Fortune rankings. The magazine noted MetLife pledged to invest $2.5 billion toward diversity, equity and inclusion goals by the end of the decade.
The top ranking grocery store on the list was Wegmans Food Markets (No. 4,) which is based in Rochester, New York, but now has four store locations in the Triangle.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
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