San Francisco – Technology industry companies that create the best cultures for their employees also are the ones best prepared to create the next game-changing app. The connection between a great workplace and innovation readiness is among the top findings as Great Place to Work(R) and Fortune announce the second annual list of the Best Workplaces in Technology.
Business application maker Ultimate Software is the Best Large Workplace in Technology, communications services provider xMatters ranks as the Best Medium Workplace in Technology, and AcademicWorks, which makes software for managing scholarships, is the Best Small Workplace in Technology.
“A great workplace culture in the technology industry isn’t just a talent magnet, it’s an innovation engine,” says Michael Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work(R) United States. “The Best Workplaces in Technology have higher levels of cooperation, more shared decision making and a greater recognition that honest mistakes are part of doing business – all essential ingredients of successful innovation.”
The Best Workplaces in Technology list was selected entirely by employee feedback from over 48,000 randomly selected employees from 155 participating companies in the technology sector. Employees anonymously answered 58 questions on the Great Place to Work(R) Trust Index(C) about how frequently they experience the behaviors that create a great workplace. Companies achieving the highest overall results in their size categories were ranked based on this data.
According to the employees’ reported experiences, the 30 Best Workplaces in Technology dramatically outscored the lowest-ranking 30 workplaces in technology on several traits associated with effective innovation:
– 24 percent higher: “You can count on people to cooperate.”
– 41 percent higher: “Management involves people in decisions that affect their jobs or work environment.
– 32 percent higher: “Management genuinely seeks and responds to suggestions and ideas.”
– 23 percent higher: “Management recognizes honest mistakes as part of doing business.”
– 29 percent higher: “Management shows appreciation for good work and extra effort.”
Enhancing the ranks of under-represented groups remains an unresolved challenge across the technology sector as a whole, particularly when it comes to breaking into executive roles. Nonetheless, some of the Best Workplaces in Technology are taking significant steps towards greater parity in their frontline manager positions and overall workforce. Yelp and Ultimate Technology, for example, have roughly as many women as men in management roles, while minorities make up more than a third of the workforce at Workday and six other companies on the best tech workplaces list. This success in incorporating different viewpoints and cultures will only grow more important as growing companies expand into new markets at home and look toward fast-developing nations abroad.
The technology industry is famous for eye-popping perks like free gourmet food and massages. But the Best Workplaces in Technology show that these cutting-edge companies create great cultures primarily by fostering great human connections at work. “The perks and benefits the best tech companies are known for are just what outsiders looking in get dazzled by,” says Chinwe Onyeagoro, a business strategy expert and EVP of U.S. Consulting at Great Place to Work. “This can be a false positive of sorts. These companies are great because they invest in trust. They stand on trust. They use trust as a competitive differentiator. They know that to be great you have to invest in better relationships — not in more things. Simply investing in this will not create a Great Place to Work.”
To see the full list of the Best Workplaces in Technology, click here. To see the schedule for all of our workplace lists and more information on how to apply, visit Great Place to Work’s website.
About Great Place to Work(R)
Great Place to Work(R) is the global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. Through proprietary assessment tools, advisory services, and certification programs, including Best Workplaces lists and workplace reviews, Great Place to Work(R) provides the benchmarks, framework, and expertise needed to create, sustain, and recognize outstanding workplace cultures. In the United States, Great Place to Work(R) produces the annual Fortune “100 Best Companies to Work For(R)” list and a series of Great Place to Work(R) Best Workplaces lists including lists for Millennials, Women, Diversity, Small and Medium Companies and over a half dozen different industry lists.
Follow Great Place to Work(R) online at www.greatplacetowork.com and on Twitter at @GPTW_US.