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America's  Best  Employers  2015

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As  the  job  market  starts  to  heat  up  for  the  first  time  in  nearly  a  decade,  the

hunt  for  top  talent  is  on.  Workers  have  more  options  now  than  they’ve  had  in

a  long  time.  So  who’s  offering  them  the  best  situations?

Forbes  decided  to  find  out  by  asking  those  in  the  best  position  to  say:

America’s  employees.

In  partnership  with  Statista.com,  we  asked  more  than  20,000  American

workers  at  large  U.S.  companies,  nonprofit  institutions  like

hospitals,  government  agencies,  and  U.S.  divisions  of  multinationals  a

simple  question:  on  a  scale  of  0-­10,  how  likely  would  you  be  to  recommend

your  employer  to  someone  else?  How  about  other  employers  in  your

industry?

The  result:  a  list  of  500  employers,  across  25  industries,  where  the  workers

like  their  jobs  enough  to  spread  the  word.

Some  of  the  results  probably  may  not  surprise  you,  like  our  top-­ranked

employer:  Google,  long  one  of  Silicon  Valley’s  top  perk  palaces  and  known

for  its  campus-­like  environment.

Clare O'Connor Forbes Staff

The  consumer  economy:  retail,  and  the  people  reinventing  it.

3/31/2015 America's Best Employers 2015 - Forbes

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Of  course,  it  isn’t  all  about  creature  comforts  at  the  search  giant,  according

to  their  HR  chief,  Laszlo  Bock.

“People  come  visit  Google  all  the  time  then  go  and  install  the  lava  lamps  and

bean  bags,”  he  told  Forbes.  “There’s  intense  global  competition  for  the  best,

most  creative  minds  who  are  able  to  create  the  biggest,  most  important

things,  and  that’s  going  to  continue  accelerating.  That’s  why  it  becomes  even

more  important  to  create  a  kind  of  workplace  where  those  people  want  to

be.”

Full  Coverage:  Best  Employers  2015

Fellow  California  tech  firm  Facebook  placed  second  to  Google  in  the  I.T.

category  and  15th  overall,  with  Apple  further  down  the  list  at  No.  55.

One  of  the  least  cushy  gigs  imaginable  placed  near  the  top  of  the  list:  the  Fire

Department  of  the  City  of  New  York,  where  incredible  daily  danger  is  offset

by  tradition,  training  and  duty.  The  FDNY  came  in  as  the  No.  1  government

employer  and  No.  17  overall.

Maine-­based  catalog  company  L.L.  Bean  topped  the  list  of  clothing,  shoes

and  sports  equipment  manufacturers,  and  ranked  fifth  overall.  In  a  feature

in  the  current  issue  of  Forbes,  CEO  Chris  McCormick  described  L.L.  Bean’s

5,300-­strong  workforce  as  its  “secret  weapon.”

“They  are  so  good  and  so  dedicated,  I  think  much  more  so  than  other

retailers,”  he  said.

Other  standouts  include  BMW,  first  on  the  list  of  automotive  companies  and

No.  7  overall,  and  Ohio-­based  Marathon  Petroleum,  top  of  the  pile  for

construction,  oil,  gas,  mining  and  chemicals  jobs  and  No.  3  of  the  20,000

workplaces.

Wholesaler  Costco,  known  for  its  relatively  high  wages,  placed

second  overall,  right  behind  Google.  Other  retailers  placing  well  up  the  list

include  The  Container  Store  at  No.  4  and  East  Coast  cult  favorite  grocery

chain  Wegmans  Food  Markets  at  No.  9.

Here  are  the  top  25  employers  of  2015:

The  Top  25  Employers  2015

MethodologyThe  500  employers  on  our  list  were  chosen  based  on  an  independent  survey

by  Statista.com  of  20,000  American  employees  working  for  large  U.S.

companies  and  institutions  (minimum  headcount:  2,500),  and  U.S.  divisions

of  international  firms.  They  were  asked  anonymously  through  several  online

3/31/2015 America's Best Employers 2015 - Forbes

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panels  if  they’d  recommend  their  employer,  or  any  other  employers  in  their

industry,  to  a  potential  employee.  The  mix  of  respondents  (gender,  age,

region,  educational  level,  and  ethnicity)  in  the  sample  is  representative  of  the

overall  U.S.  workforce.  Where  appropriate,  subsidiaries  of  larger  entities

were  combined  for  evaluation.  The  survey  was  conducted  on  companies  in

all  industry  sectors  employing  more  than  2,500  workers  in  the  U.S.

Full  Coverage:  Best  Employers  2015

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