Mike Nudelman/Business Insider When it comes to finding a job you love or a job that pays well, most people think you have to choose one or the other. But if you’re working for the right company, you don’t. Business Insider teamed up with the employer-information website PayScale to find US companies that stand out in pay, happiness, and more. Tech companies came out ahead this year, with Facebook and Google taking the two top spots, respectively. Last year’s No. 1, biopharmaceutical company Celgene, tumbled to No. 6. To create this list, companies in the 2014 Fortune 500 list were ranked using PayScale’s salary and survey database. Final scores were determined by multiplying six criteria: high job satisfaction, low job stress, ability to telecommute, high job meaning, experienced median pay, and salary delta. Because we think pay is a very important factor, it had double the weight in our calculations. Read the full methodology here. 50. Merck & Co. Headquartered in Kenilworth, New Jersey, the pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. employs about 70,000 people. Merck goes the extra mile to keep employees happy, with benefits such as paid vacation and on-site daycare. And it pays off — 67% of employees report high job satisfaction, and 74% report high job meaning. The median salary is $103,000 after five years. 49. TIAA-CREF TIAA-CREF, which stands for Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association — College Retirement Equities Fund, employs about 8,500 people, who earn a median salary of $100,000 after five years. Thirty-nine percent of employees at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company have the flexibility of working remotely. 48. Union Pacific After five years, employees at Union Pacific earn a median salary of $81,600. A newcomer to our list, the railroad company, based in Omaha, Nebraska, sponsors regional family-oriented clubs that do everything from community service to providing support. Eighty-six percent of employees are highly satisfied with their jobs. 47. Advanced Micro Devices At Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), employees are encouraged to constantly push their limits to create new technologies. This innovative spirit might be why 70% of the worldwide semiconductor company’s 11,000 employees report high job satisfaction. After five years, employees at the Sunnyvale, California, company earn a median salary of $112,000. 46. Motorola Solutions Flexibility is important at the Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola Solutions. In fact, 58% of the telecommunications company’s approximately 21,000 employees are able to work remotely. Employees earn a $100,000 median salary after five years, and 73% report high job satisfaction. 45. Southern Company At Southern Company, located in Atlanta, an impressive 84% of employees report high levels of job satisfaction. About 26,100 people work for the electric utility holding company, and they earn a median salary of $74,500 after five years. New to our list this year, this company aims to create a work environment filled with “unquestionable trust.” 44. Duke Energy Back on our list after falling off last year, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy has about 28,300 employees and offers an $84,200 median salary after five years. The electric power holding company is the largest of its kind in the US and offers careers as varied as engineering and customer service. Seventy-eight percent of employees report high job satisfaction. 43. General Electric With about 307,000 employees and a 75% job satisfaction rate, General Electric debuts on our list this year at No. 43. The Fairfield, Connecticut-based corporation is the 27th-largest company in the world, with operations in oil and gas, power and water, aviation, healthcare, transportation, and more. After five years, the median salary is $91,600. 42. Leidos Holdings New to our list this year, the consulting company Leidos Holdings has about 19,000 employees, 70% of whom report high job satisfaction. The Reston, Virginia-based company was named the “Best Workplace for Commuters” by the US EPA and the US Department of Transportation for its low-cost bus passes, carpooling services, and telecommuting opportunities. After five years, employees earn a median salary of $85,600. 41. eBay Forty-four percent of the 33,500 or so employees at eBay are able to work remotely. The e-commerce company, located in San Jose, California, moved up five spots on our list this year and offers a median experienced salary of $118,000. EBay strives for constant innovation and looks for employees who can creatively solve problems. 40. NextEra Energy NextEra Energy, an energy company headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida, employs about 13,900 people, 71% of whom report high job meaning. After five years, the median salary is $91,700. The company strives for sustainability, and its Juno Beach campus has a gold LEED certification. 39. FirstEnergy At FirstEnergy, located in Akron, Ohio, employees earn a median salary of $83,400 after five years. The energy company employs about 15,500 people and offers several employee programs, including financial aid with things like adoptions and education. Eighty-four percent of workers report high job satisfaction. 38. Boeing Back on our list after falling off last year, Boeing has about 165,500 employees, who earn a median salary of $91,500 after five years. At the Chicago-based aircraft and defense company, 75% of employees report high job satisfaction. Boeing sponsors numerous business resource groups, such as the Hispanic Employees Network and the Women in Leadership Association. 37. Consolidated Edison Employees at Consolidated Edison earn a median salary of $98,700 after five years, and 67% report high job satisfaction. A newcomer to our list, the New York City-based electric utility company employs about 14,600 people. ConEd notes that working there is “an opportunity for a career, not just a job.” 36. Gilead Sciences At this biopharmaceutical company, located in Foster City, California, 85% of employees report high job meaning and 81% report high job satisfaction. The company has over 7,000 employees, who earn a median experienced salary of $113,000. Gilead Sciences focuses on four core values in its daily work: integrity, teamwork, accountability, and excellence. 35. Abbott Laboratories Headquartered in Chicago, the pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories employs about 69,000 people. Employees earn a median salary of $91,300 after five years, and 77% report high job meaning. The company has also been named one of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies every year since 1984. 34. Hess A newcomer to our list, Hess employs about 12,225 people. Employees earn a median salary of $96,000 after five years at the New York City-based oil company, and 50% consider their job meaningful. Though most employees will begin their career at Hess in the US, the company offers numerous opportunities for employees to work abroad if they so choose. 33. Allergan Moving up six spots this year, the global pharmaceutical company Allergan — which was recently acquired by Actavis — employs about 10,800 people and reports a high job satisfaction rate (73%). Employees earn a median salary of $104,000 after five years and enjoy a beautiful campus complete with a cafeteria, fitness center, and sports fields at the company’s Irvine, California, headquarters. 32. Anadarko Petroleum At Anadarko Petroleum in The Woodlands, Texas, 91% of employees report high job satisfaction. In fact, Anadarko looks out for the safety and well-being of all its employees through wellness programs, international travel safeguards, and ergonomic furniture and equipment. The oil and gas exploration company employs about 6,100 people, and employees earn a median salary of $103,000 after five years. 31. Medtronic The healthcare technology company Medtronic employs about 84,000 people, and an impressive 90% of those employees report high job meaning. After five years, the median salary at the Minneapolis-based company is $91,800. In keeping with its focus on health, the company helps employees with numerous related services, including nutrition counseling and health coaching. 30. Huntsman Of the approximate 12,000 people who work at Huntsman in Salt Lake City, 70% report high job satisfaction. The chemical company also offers courses in team management, mentoring, and leadership to help employees excel at work. After five years, employees earn a median salary of $99,100. 29. Dow Chemical After five years, employees at the Midland, Michigan-based Dow Chemical earn a median salary of $96,500. Sixty-two percent of employees report high job meaning, most likely helping the chemical company jump up 13 spots from No. 42 last year. Dow employs about 53,000 people and runs seven internal networks to ensure that every employee feels connected and included. 28. EMC Headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, this data storage company employs about 63,900 people. Employees report high levels of job meaning (47%) and earn a median salary of $111,000 after five years. EMC aims to inspire career growth for every employee, and it offers mentoring programs and continued learning classes. 27. E.I. duPont de Nemours and Co. At E.I. duPont, a chemical company headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, employees are encouraged to find a healthy work-life balance through programs such as the Family Leave program, which allows anyone to take time off to be with their kids, without affecting their pay or benefits. The company employs about 64,000 people, and 80% report high job satisfaction. The median experienced pay is $92,800. 26. Pfizer After five years at New York City-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer, employees earn a median salary of $102,000. Seventy-seven percent of employees report high job meaning, and only 70% report high job satisfaction. The company employs around 78,000 people. 25. CH2M Hill Companies Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, this engineering company has about 26,000 employees. Seventy-two percent of employees report high levels of job satisfaction, and after five years, they earn a median salary of $83,700. CH2M Hill offers a wide variety of job opportunities, with positions in areas such as nuclear power, transportation, and government. 24. Intel Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Intel was absent from last year’s list, but the semiconductors company has jumped 16 spots from our 2013 list. Employees, which number about 107,000, report 75% and 71% high job satisfaction and meaning, respectively, and an experienced median pay of $109,000. 23. Apple Apple ranked No. 23 on this year’s list, which is nothing to shake a stick at, but it took fifth place on the Fortune 500. The Cupertino, California, company is also a great company at which to launch a career, and it employs about 92,000 people. Employees earn a median experienced salary of $118,000 and report a 74% rate of high job satisfaction. 22. MasterCard Unlike many other finance companies, MasterCard has a high rate (46%) of employees who are able to work from home. Based in Purchase, New York, MasterCard has a five-year median pay rate of $112,000. MasterCard employs about 10,000 people. 21. Eversource Energy Formerly known as Northeast Utilities System, Eversource Energy, out of Springfield, Massachusetts, appears on our list for the first time. The company’s 8,000 or so employees report an impressive 93% high job satisfaction rate, and a median experienced salary of $106,000. Eversource makes every effort to ensure its employees are happy and safe at work. 20. EOG Resources A small Houston-based company of about 3,000 employees, EOG Resources is also a newcomer to our list. The oil and gas company provides numerous valuable benefits in addition to the $103,000 median experienced pay, including tuition reimbursement and a gym membership subsidy. Ninety-one percentof employees report high job satisfaction. 19. Symantec Symantec climbed 13 spots on our list this year. A staggering 57% of employees at the Mountain View, California, software company are able to work from home. With a workforce of about 21,000 employees, Symantec pays a median $110,000 salary after five years. 18. Celanese The tech materials company Celanese engineers products that meet the needs of consumers’ everyday lives. Based out of Irving, Texas, Celanese reports a 78% high job satisfaction rate among its 7,500 or so employees, and a five-year median salary of $104,000. 17. Qualcomm The San Diego-based semiconductors company took another tumble on the ranking this year — from No. 4 in 2013 to No. 13 in 2014, to No. 17 in 2015 — but 76% of employees still report high job satisfaction here and earn a competitive $115,000 median experienced salary. Qualcomm employs a little more than 31,000 people. 16. St. Jude Medical St. Jude Medical, known for its affiliated children’s hospital, is a leader in medical technology and research. Nineteen percent of the company’s 16,000 employees report low job stress, and 25% are able to telecommute to the company’s St. Paul, Minnesota, headquarters. The median pay after five years is $89,500. 15. ConocoPhillips ConocoPhillips took a 32-spot leap this year. The Houston energy company of over 18,000 focuses not just on hiring employees, but retaining them with numerous career-development opportunities. Eighty-one percent report high job satisfaction. That goes with a median experienced salary of $104,000. 14. Microsoft Microsoft fell off the list last year but regained its No. 14 rank in 2015. One of the most coveted tech companies to work for, the Redmond, Washington-based company has a median experienced pay of $123,000; 41% of employees are able to work from home. 13. The Williams Companies The Williams Companies, an energy company, fell one spot in this year’s ranking. Though the median experienced pay, $81,600, is among the lowest on the list, the Tulsa, Oklahoma, location affords a cheaper cost of living. Eighty-two percent of the 6,500 or so employees report high job satisfaction, and 76% report high job meaning. 12. Spectra Energy The newcomer Spectra Energy in Houston has close to 6,000 employees, 23% of whom report low stress on the job. The company offers a pension plan, 100% tuition reimbursement for ongoing education, and 100% retirement savings matching. Median pay after five years is $90,300. 11. Biogen Idec The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biopharmaceuticals company of about 7,500 employees makes and markets innovative drug treatments for multiple sclerosis, hemophilia, leukemia, and lymphoma. A whopping 91% of employees report high job meaning, and employees earn a median salary of $92,900 after five years. 10. NetApp Forty-two percent of the near 13,000 employees at the Sunnyvale, California-based data management company NetApp are able to telecommute. Employees can take advantage of paid vacation, sick leave, and even days taken to volunteer. The median pay after five years is $123,000. 9. PG&E PG&E, headquartered in San Francisco, holds its ninth-place spot on our list. PG&E is rated the most community-minded Fortune 500 energy company in the US. The 20,000 or so employees report 80% high job satisfaction and a median salary of $110,000. 8. Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, New Jersey, jumped nearly 30 places on this year’s ranking. The 126,000-plus employees report a 79% rate of high job meaning, which makes sense given the company’s commitment to products that support the family and children. After five years, the median pay is $104,000. 7. Cisco Systems Cisco dropped off our list last year but returns higher than its No. 29 spot on our 2013 list. Cisco, headquartered in San Jose, California, employs about 74,000 computer engineers, IT professionals, consultants, and more. Almost 75% of employees are able to work remotely. The median pay is $123,000 after five years. 6. Celgene After topping our list for the past two years, Celgene fell a few spots on this year’s ranking. The Summit, New Jersey-based biopharmaceuticals company lives by the motto “do well by doing good,” and it has over 4,500 employees. Eighty-eight percent of employees report high job meaning, with an experienced median salary of $105,000. 5. Bristol-Myers Squibb The pharmaceuticals giant Bristol-Myers Squibb is the manufacturer of lifesaving medications and was named a best company by Working Mother magazine. The New York City-based company of about 24,000 has an 81% rate of high job meaning and a median salary of $109,000. 4. Chevron No. 29 last year, Chevron made a dramatic jump. The energy company of more than 64,000 employees is headquartered in San Ramon, California. Experienced median pay is $118,000. Eighty percent of employees report a high job satisfaction rate, and 19% are able to telecommute. 3. Amgen Amgen describes itself as “a place where we can make a positive difference in people’s lives,” which may be why 84% of employees report high job meaning at the company. The Thousand Oaks, California, biotech company of about 18,000 also took a leap on our list, up from No. 20 last year. The median salary after five years is $119,000. 2. Google Google was No. 2 in 2013 but fell to No. 8 last year before regaining its second-place spot in this year’s ranking. Google’s 53,000 or so employees can take advantage of all the “Googleplex” has to offer, from free Wi-Fi-enabled shuttles to and from work, free healthy meals, and even laundry and fitness facilities. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Google employees report 84% high job satisfaction and earn a median salary of $133,000 after five years. 1. Facebook Facebook isn’t just the best company to work for — with tons of great perks like free food and a youthful office environment, it’s also one of the most sought-after companies by job seekers. The Menlo Park, California, social-media company of about 9,200 employees has a 93% high job satisfaction rate. Employees earn a generous median salary of $135,000 after five years. Learn more about the companies on this year’s list. See the full list of the best companies to work for in America » Why Facebook is the best company to work for in America » Read more stories on Business Insider, Malaysian edition of the world’s fastest-growing business and technology news website.
Despite working from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the office as a manager of housewares vendors and then continuing her work in the evening from home, Elizabeth Willet still wasn’t doing enough, according to her Amazon colleagues in Seattle. They reportedly criticized the new mom on the company’s secret feedback tool for not pulling her weight, and even though her boss had approved her schedule. He wouldn’t defend her and she left the company.
That’s one way to treat your workers, and for its many detractors, there are many others who thrive in a competitive environment. But maybe it’s not necessary to go to those extremes to motivate employees.
Amazon was recently outed in a New York Times article claiming that “at Amazon, workers are encouraged to tear apart one another’s ideas in meetings, toil long and late,”and adds that the company boasts of “unreasonably high”standards.
Steven Green, president of TemboSocial, has a different take on employee recognition. His company’s peer recognition system, used by Royal Bank, TD, HP, Kodak and Pfizer, allows employees to recognize each other for good work; it can also be used by managers who still use a more traditional rewards system. We interviewed him about his approach to best practices for employee recognition and engagement.
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What three things should companies do to keep employees happy?
Focus on the employees you have: “One of the mistakes companies make is that they prioritize recruitment over retention,” says Green. “You end up with that leaky bucket situation: ‘We need new people, we need new people, the ones who are here should be happy they have a job,’but that’s not really how it works, people need constant maintenance,” he says.
Or else you risk losing them, which can be a time-consuming and expensive proposition. Admittedly the cost to replace employees varies considerably depending on their field and experience level, but one estimate from Karlyn Borysenko at zenworkplace.com says that it costs 30-50 per cent of an entry-level employees’s annual salary to replace them. The average jumps to about 150 per cent for mid-level employees, and it can take approximately 400 per cent of their salary to replace high-level or specialized employees.
Green speaks from his own experience, referencing the costs his company absorbs every time he needs to find a new software developer, having to navigate a very hot field now where experienced talent have no shortage of options.
When a developer leaves, Green says his company must slow its product development until a replacement is found. It usually takes three months or more to recruit, and up to six months before they’re fully able to work independently on the software. On top of paying a recruitment company 20 per cent of the first year’s salary ($70-$100,000), it takes about 20 hours of HR’s time, plus the two staff developers each spend about 20 hours on the hiring process, which means 20 hours away from their own responsibilities. Green estimates that out of three hires, one may not work out, and so the process starts again.
The pizza lunches are fine, but it’s very possible that everyone is going to be standing around eating pizza that you paid for saying ‘Wow, this company sucks.’ That's not very helpful...
—Steve Green, president of TemboSocial
Regular employee engagement surveys: “Nobody loves doing the survey, but it does help you get a baseline and you can understand what are the issues to focus on,”says Green. “You can have pizza lunches every day, but if people feel that they can never get an idea heard, or in a public company, that they’re not getting the real information internally, those are huge issues.” No amount of pizza will solve that.
Stay surveys: Green says that 60 per cent of the work force would entertain a job offer at any time, and so stay interviews are more worthwhile than exit interviews. “Sit down with people and say: ‘You’re still at your job, how come? Why haven’t you decided to leave?’”
In companies with fewer than 50 people, executives should be interviewing key contributors and managers should be interviewing their employees“but only if the manager has a positive rating from their reports,”he says. “Having a manger who has poor relations with their reports conduct the stay interview may be the trigger for an employee to leave.Stay interviews are effective if they are conducted by people who are 'trusted advisors' within the organization.”
What two things should companies avoid?
Don’t spend money on engagement you can’t measure:“ The pizza lunches are fine, but it’s very possible that everyone is going to be standing around eating pizza that you paid for saying ‘Wow, this company sucks.’ That's not very helpful. You always know why you’re doing them,” says Green.
He gives the example of the head of human resources at a healthcare company who had 40 per cent turnover rate, despite having an annual picnic and giving out T-shirts, mugs and pens to staff. She didn’t allocate the time and resources to find out why people were leaving in droves.
Don’t fear change: If a company has been giving out prizes such as iPads, that program could cost a significant amount every year and not be an effective way to keep people in their jobs. “The mistake is that companies say they’ve always done it this way and they’re hesitant to go back and do the measurement to see whether or not that money is good money,” explains Green.
How can you make a peer recognition system actually work?
It only takes about a minute for an employee to send recognition. The submission will go to the person’s manager and will get posted for others who could learn from that behaviour. People at all points can like and comment back on it and the system will keep generating communications… so the original recognition may be just the first chapter in a larger story, explains Green.
He gives an example of a TD bank employee who works at a regional branch was in line at a burger place, and three teenagers in front of him had bankcards for a competing bank, while the fourth has a card for his bank. The friends teased the boy who had the TD card, pushing him to the back of the line and jokingly said ‘you shouldn’t even be able to eat here.’The bank employee (wearing his bank pin) bought that boy’s lunch. The story generated 67 comments within the peer recognition program, including one complimentary one from the CEO of the bank. Employees can submit examples of their own good work - think volunteering, for example. “In this case, the story resonated with employees and it garnered a lot of peer and manager comments until the CEO became aware of the submission,” says Green.
How do you keep employees aware of their recognition program?
Having a peer recognition program built into the company’s intranet system is key to making sure it’s used, explains Green. “If a company is going to spend hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars on an intranet where employees are going to connect, it’s unrealistic to expect them to start using tools that exist outside that internal system.”
Why prize and points reward systems don’t work
Green references Daniel Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us as a great explanation of how recognition programs that use the carrot-and-stick approach evolved from a time when people were doing really soul-crushing, machine-line work.
In the book, Pink explains that autonomy, mastery and purpose are the key to success for creative or conceptual work. Rewards and incentives don’t motivate people to work harder, and in fact can have a negative impact on performance, he says, explaining that social science has proved this over and over, and yet business continues to ignore the findings.
Click here for his interesting TEDtalk on this subject.
Why would anyone want to use a peer recognition system?
Adding to your own social trophy case on your company intranet site has obvious benefits, but writing about your colleagues also makes you look good. “You can be recognized as a valuable employee as well as a good team player,” says Green.
Formerly a social worker, Green says people always want to have a voice. If they feel that they can make a difference to a colleague doing good work, then they’ll give that recognition through the system and be heard.
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