Georgia is home to some giant companies, including Coca-Cola, Delta and Home Depot. But the state’s best employer, according to Forbes, is its 14th-largest school district.
In its second annual ranking of the best employers in each state, Forbes handed the crown to Houston County Schools.
“Our recruiting campaign is titled ‘Land the Job You Love’ because we believe our employees are our most important resource,” Superintendent of Schools Mark Scott said in a press release. “Being recognized as the ‘Best Employer in the State’ is affirmation that our employees love their job and the people they work alongside. The members of the Houston County Board of Education make our employees a priority throughout the school year, but more importantly, during budget time by providing a competitive salary and benefit package. Although we have over 4,000 full-time employees, we still meet with new hires individually to provide an orientation and answer questions. Our people work hard every day to produce high-achieving students and make our school system world class!”
The Houston County School District educates approximately 30,000 students in pre-K through 12th grade and has close to 5,500 full- and part-time employees. Founded in 1870, the district is celebrating its 150th anniversary this school year.
The top ranking is “certainly an affirmation of a lot of hard work, and, really, all of the credit goes to our employees,” Scott told WMAZ.
To determine the list, Forbes partnered with market research company Statista to pinpoint the organizations liked best by employees. The respondents were asked to rate their employers on a variety of criteria, including safety of work environment, competitiveness of compensation, opportunities for advancement and openness to telecommuting. Statista then asked respondents how likely they’d be to recommend their employer to others, and to nominate organizations in industries outside their own. The number of businesses ranked in each state was dependent on two factors — the number of qualifying employers and the size of the state’s workforce.
For Georgia, Forbes included 100 companies in its ranking. You can check the entire list for your company here.
Here are Georgia’s top 10 best employers, according to Forbes:
- Houston County Schools
- VMware
- QuikTrip
- Microsoft
- Lockheed Martin
- Emory University
- Delta Air Lines
- Cox Enterprises (Cox Enterprises owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
- Southern Co.
