What makes Alphabet the best employer in the world? High ratings on working conditions and, most importantly, diversity.
For the second year in a row, Alphabet has topped Forbes’ Global 2000 list of the World’s Best Employers. Google’s parent company was the only one to receive a perfect score. In a 2018 diversity report, Google announced that women hold 25.5% of its leadership positions, and Latinx and black hires have increased slightly. Companies on the Best Employers list have high approval in areas including image, working conditions and diversity.
Companies at the top of the list are some of the largest in the world. Alphabet, which has over 80,000 employees, saw $117.9 billion in sales, $16.6 billion in profit, $206.9 billion in assets and a market value of $766.3 billion for the past year. In its most recent earnings report, Alphabet reported revenues of $32.7 billion for the second quarter, up 26% versus the second quarter of 2017.
Competitor Microsoft came in second place once again. With 124,000 employees, the tech company had $103.3 billion in sales, $14.2 billion in profit, $245.4 billion in assets and a market value of $750.6 billion for the past year.
Companies from the United States accounted for six of the top 10 spots. Besides Alphabet and Microsoft, the top 10 include Apple (#3), Walt Disney Company (#4), Amazon (#5) and Celgene Corporation (#9). Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet also ranked in the top 10 on our list of the World’s Largest Tech Companies of 2018.
U.S. companies dominated the list in general. Out of the top 500 employers, 185 U.S. companies made the list. Only 80 companies from China and Hong Kong were featured on the list. The sole Hong Kong company to make the top 10 was oil and gas producer CNOOC Limited. Last year’s third-place winner, Japan Exchange Group, fell nine spots this year, coming in at No. 12.
This year, German companies were the second most represented on the top 10. Auto company Daimler AG ranked seventh, and BMW scored the tenth spot.
As per usual, the banking industry was the most well-represented on this list. Thailand’s Kasikornbank ranked eighth—the highest position for a bank. Northeast regional bank People's United Bank ranked 135th, which was the top spot for a U.S.-based bank. With just over 5,000 employees, People’s United operates nearly 400 retail locations in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
More than 430,000 global recommendations were analyzed by Statista to create the World’s Best Employers list. Employees were asked to rate their own employer and the likelihood they would recommend the company to a friend or family member. They were also asked to recommend other employers they admired.
This list is based on Forbes’ 2018 Global 2000 rankings, which included publicly traded companies from 60 countries that together accounted for $39.1 trillion in sales, $3.2 trillion in profit, $189 trillion in assets and $56.8 trillion in market value.
See the full World’s Best Employers list here.
For more coverage of the Forbes Global 2000 sublists, see:
Global 2000 – Best Regarded Companies
