The Republican party is melting down this morning, but we will stay focused on FORTUNE’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list, which we have just published here.
Nineteen years running, this has become our most popular annual franchise. Companies compete to get on it; people refer to it year round to plot careers. In a world where many of the most valuable products are made of bits that can be reproduced endlessly at no cost, and where central banks hand out money at near zero interest rates, human capital — talent — has become the great business differentiator. The battle for talent has become intense. And our annual list, compiled using an extensive methodology with the help of the Great Places to Work Institute, has become a widely accepted benchmark.
A few facts about this year’s list:
-Google (GOOG) ranks number one, for the seventh year in a row.
-But tech is by no means dominant. Of the dozen companies that have made the list for 19 years straight, only Cisco (CSCO) and SAS (SASDY) are tech companies. Others include Publix Super Markets (we spend a week inside the land of happy grocery baggers here); Four Seasons Hotels; and the popular political bogeyman, Goldman Sachs (GS).
-Six of the companies on the list are employee-owned. Publix is the world’s largest employee-owned company.
-Together the 100 companies employ 1.6 million people in the U.S. and 2.5 million globally.
-At the moment, they have 100,876 job openings to fill. Get your resumés in now!
And while we are talking lists – we’ve begun researching Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders list, which will be featured in the April edition of the magazine (read last year’s list here.) Readers of the CEO Daily are invited to make nominations. What business, political, nonprofit or cultural leader has impressed you most in the past year? Send me an email with your suggestions. We promise to give them all serious consideration.
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