34,000 metro workers tell why their employers are tops

For an 11th year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and employment research and consulting firm Energage have determined the best places to work in metro Atlanta.

For the 2021 Top Workplaces rankings, 3,268 companies were nominated or asked to participate after metro Atlanta employees responded to print and online solicitations that began appearing in August.

Philadelphia-based Energage then surveyed 244 companies that agreed to participate in the no-cost program. These companies represent 56,160 workers in the Atlanta region, including 34,031 of whom responded to the survey.

Any public, private, nonprofit, or governmental employer with a minimum of 50 employees in the 17-county metro region was eligible.

Based on employee feedback scores, the top 175 includes:

· 19 large companies (out of 22 participants with 500 or more employees)

· 70 midsize companies (out of 88 participants with 150-499 employees)

· 86 small companies (out of 135 participants with 149 or fewer employees)

Employers are ranked in groups of similar size, and those that score high enough are recognized as Top Workplaces.

This year’s rankings include 59 newcomers, including the Atlanta Hawks and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties.

Also this year, Special Awards were given to companies in each size category based on standout scores of specific survey statements.

The survey gathers responses to 24 factors covering seven areas, including organizational health factors relating to workplace culture.

Questions cover employee engagement, company leadership, and the basics, such as pay, benefits, training, and expectations.

Employee survey statements determine which companies are the Top Workplaces. The positivity values show how strongly each statement correlates with how employees in metro Atlanta rate their workplaces.

The closer the importance is to 100 percent, the more positive employees feel about the statement.

At least 35 percent of a company’s employees based in metro Atlanta must respond to the survey. Employers with 85 or fewer metro Atlanta workers must have at least 30 responders.

Energage also ran statistical tests to identify questionable results and disqualify any employers.