While the work environment has changed, tech professionals still value organizations that foster cultures of diversity and inclusion as well as growth through career development, training and benefits
Boston, Mass. – July 12, 2021 – IDG’s Insider Pro and Computerworld are pleased to announce the 2021 Best Places to Work in IT list (click to tweet). IT has always been a source of organizational innovation, but the pandemic added new challenges around remote work, collaboration and maintaining programs and benefits to support employees. The 100 organizations on this list demonstrated a strong focus on employees in a challenging year, particularly around career development, training, benefits, diversity & inclusion as well as retention efforts. Given that company size can play into the culture and benefits, the organizations on the 2021 list are broken down by size (large, midsize, small). Climbing to the top of this year’s list are Owens Corning (large), FINRA (midsize) and Baxter Credit Union (small).
The COVID Factor
The pandemic both underscored the importance of tech teams and added to their stress. To hear straight from the source, Best Places to Work in IT researchers fielded a comprehensive survey to tech employees at participating organizations. Respondents were asked about the most important issues facing their IT department, as well as the most important issues facing the tech industry as a whole. COVID-19 was the most common response, and we all know why. It changed how we worked and lived. Most IT professionals view the pandemic as a temporary inconvenience, but how a company treats its employees continues to carry a lot of weight.
“Despite the overwhelming obstacles the pandemic has created for many businesses, IT has managed to thrive and, in fact, become more essential in the workplace. Attracting and retaining top IT talent to research, deploy and maintain technology has never been more critical,” said Kate Hoy, editor of IDG’s Insider Pro. “Companies that have earned a spot on the Insider Pro and Computerworld 2021 Best Places to Work in IT list have been able to foster nimble and flexible work environments – while continuing to keep competitive compensation and benefits steady. Additionally, they foster a spirit of diversity, social responsibility, training and innovation.”
Career Development
Engaging work, competitive benefits, and career development all play a major role in employee satisfaction. Having the opportunity to advance their career ranked as important for 88% of IT professionals who responded to the survey. To support career growth, 91% of respondents shared that access to training and skills development was a top factor in what makes a great company. That said, it’s not surprising that 95% of employees stated that salary was the most important factor. Organizations are listening, with 90% confirming that salary increases are on the books for this year. The organizations on this list are doing something right, as they averaged only a 9.5% turnover rate.
Diversity & Inclusion
Social justice as well as diversity and inclusion continue to be elevated at both the community and corporate levels among the Best Places organizations. Tech has faced criticism over the years around team culture, but there seems to be change happening. Tech professionals at the Best Places to Work in IT organizations were asked to reflect on how fairly and equally they believe their organization treats employees when it comes to gender, race, religion and sexual orientation. Seventy-two percent of IT professionals stated that cultural and ethnic diversity is an important factor in the workplace. And for many companies, giving inclusive benefit packages is becoming more commonplace: With 88% of companies (with 1,000 IT staff or less) offering same-sex partner benefits.
Learn More About the Top 100 Organizations
The complete 2021 Best Places to Work in IT report can be read on IDG’s Insider Pro. The collection features the complete list of 2021 honorees; lists of the top 10 organizations for benefits, diversity, career development and more; a beautifully designed PDF of the special report for downloading and sharing; and an archive listing all honorees dating back to 1994.
Large Organization Rankings (5,000+ U.S. employees)
- Owens Corning
- Genentech
- Red Hat
- Vanguard
- The Hartford
- Ultimate Kronos Group (UKG)
- Navy Federal Credit Union
- Worthington Industries
- Asurion
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
- Altria Group, Inc.
- Booz Allen Hamilton
- Amedisys
- Tractor Supply Company
- Applied Materials, Inc.
- Aflac
- Erickson Living
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
- San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Company
- Zimmer Biomet
- VMware
- Discover Financial Services
- Norton Healthcare
- Southern Company
- Portland State University
- Motorola Solutions Inc.
- RSM US LLP
- Liberty Mutual Insurance
- Principal Financial Group
- Sharp HealthCare
- International Paper
- University of Notre Dame
- CDW
- Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company
- FedEx Corporation
- Atrium Health
- Health Care Service Corporation
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
- Top Quality Logistics
- Johns Hopkins Medicine
- MSC Industrial Direct Co.
- AdventHealth
- Kaiser Permanente
- MITRE
- Banner Health
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- Select Medical
- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
- CSX
- Fannie Mae
- The Kroger Co.
- Holman Enterprises
- ADM
- Oshkosh Corporation
- United Parcel Service, Inc.
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Information and Technology
Midsize Organization Rankings (1,001 – 4,999 U.S. employees)
- FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority)
- Align Technology
- VyStar Credit Union
- Plante Moran, PLLC
- DriveTime Automotive Group
- Informatica
- National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC)
- Credit Acceptance
- Enova International, Inc.
- Zebra Technologies Corporation
- Janney Montgomery Scott LLC
- Workiva
- Genesis HealthCare System
- Nuance
- Avery Dennison Corporation
- AARP
- ChenMed, LLC
- CME Group
- American Fidelity Assurance Company
- Miami University
Small Organization Rankings (<1,000 U.S. employees)
- Baxter Credit Union (BCU)
- Cloud for Good
- KnowBe4
- Railinc Corp.
- Axxess
- American Academy of Family Physicians
- Dataprise
- Planned Systems International, Inc.
- OCLC, Inc.
- MetroStar Systems, Inc.
- National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
- NTT Managed Services
- Association of American Medical Colleges
- IT Convergence
- Resultant
- Sprinklr, Inc.
- Armor
- Avaap USA, LLC
- Accelirate, Inc.
- Dedicated IT
- Connectria LLC
- Nitel
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota
- Edafio Technology Partners
About the Best Places to Work in IT list
The Best Places to Work in IT list is an annual ranking of the top 100 work environments for technology professionals by Insider Pro and Computerworld. The list is compiled based on a comprehensive questionnaire regarding company offerings in categories such as benefits, career development, diversity, training and retention. In addition, IDG conducts extensive surveys of IT workers, and their responses factor heavily in determining the rankings.
About Insider Pro
InsiderPro provides its subscribers with access to in-depth journalism, exclusive research, enterprise product reviews, hands-on advice, editor-curated special reports and feature articles on topics such as AI, machine learning, cloud platforms, analytics, network security, cyber threats, IoT, tech careers and much more. Insider Pro is published by IDG Communications, Inc. Company information is available at devblacksmith.wpengine.com.
Follow Insider Pro on Twitter: @InsiderPro_IDG #BestPlacesIT
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About Computerworld
Computerworld is the leading technology media brand empowering enterprise users and their managers, helping them create business advantage by skillfully exploiting today’s abundantly powerful web, mobile, and desktop applications. Computerworld also offers guidance to IT managers tasked with optimizing client systems—and helps businesses revolutionize the customer and employee experience with new collaboration platforms. Computerworld’s award-winning website (www.computerworld.com), strategic marketing solutions and research forms the hub of the world’s largest global IT media network and provides opportunities for IT vendors to engage this audience. Computerworld is published by IDG Communications, Inc. Company information is available at devblacksmith.wpengine.com.
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About IDG Communications, Inc.
IDG Communications’ vision is to make the world a better place by enabling the right use of technology, because we believe that the right use of technology can be a powerful force for good.
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