Comparably takes the pulse of global corporate culture amid the pandemic

An inaugural list ranks the Top 50 workplace cultures at large companies with an international footprint.

Eleven days after the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic, Comparably started tracking anonymous employee sentiment of large companies with an international presence and continued for 12 months. This week, the workplace culture and compensation monitoring site released its inaugural Best Global Company Culture 2021 list ranking the top 50. Big Tech dominated the top spots including Google, Adobe, Samsung, Microsoft and Facebook.

More for CXOs

In its ranking, Comparably said it measured about 20 workplace culture categories from compensation, leadership and work-life balance to professional development opportunities, and perks and benefits. Comparably asked questions in a variety of data-driven formats (yes/no, true/false, 1-10 scale, multiple-choice), it said, thus, “providing an accurate and comprehensive look at what it’s really like to work at companies.”

SEE: COVID-19 workplace policy (TechRepublic Premium)

Because the anonymous ratings from current employees (of companies with over 500 employees within and outside the U.S.) were captured during the pandemic, Comparably said its list was “especially relevant for job seekers looking for a great place to work with international locations.”

In a tweet, Comparably noted the top 50 “earned their place on this list due to enthusiastic input on Comparably from their current employees from all over the world.”

Google came in at No. 1. A Google employee noted, “The most positive thing about the culture and environment is that so many different types of people from different cultures are getting together to work on something and share their ideas.”

At Adobe, which ranked second, an employee said: “The team genuinely cares about their employees and [seeks] to have a positive impact on the world. Our CEO acts like an adult and the executive team makes an active effort to do good things for the global community.”

At Samsung (No. 3), an employee said: “Can’t ask for a better place to work: positive vibes each day, amazing team, excellent client satisfaction. I love interacting with my colleagues and speaking a little bit of the Korean language.”

A Microsoft (No. 4) employee said, “We have great diversity (including geographical diversity), strong work ethic and crazy smart co-workers.”

To round out the top 5, a HubSpot employee told Comparably: “Great vision and culture. Global teams have considered how we want to grow and how we’ll get there–this is inspiring and exciting. The Sydney team and our team are doing well to stay connected.”

Since it launched in 2016, Comparably says it has accumulated 10 million ratings from employees across 60,000 North American companies. Employees can access salary data and anonymously rate their workplaces in nearly 20 different culture categories, “providing the public a transparent and in-depth look at the experiences workers have based on their gender, ethnicity, age, tenure, industry, location and education,” the company said.

Also, this week, it published a list of the Top 50 Companies with the Best Outlook in 2021. Zoom took the top spot. “Best Outlook highlights how confident employees feel about the future success of their companies and how likely they are to recommend working there to a friend,” said Comparably CEO Jason Nazar in a press release.

On Thursday, the Best Engineering Teams and Best Product+Design Teams lists will go live.