Fortune Article

At the best companies, employees are seen as essential business partners.

When they join the company, they find an open, inclusive atmosphere that makes them feel welcomed and valued right from the start. They report being able to take time off for important life events outside of work. They have immense pride in their job and the company they work for.

For employees at companies on the 2023 Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area™ List, 94% said their organization was a great workplace. That’s 50% better than the average U.S. workplace, where only 63% of workers report having a great place to work.

Great Place To Work® developed the Best Workplaces in the Bay Area list by analyzing surveys from companies that employee 7.5 million people in the U.S. Of the 1.3 million surveys collected, nearly 100,000 responses came from companies eligible for the Bay Area list, and these rankings are based on that feedback.

Here are the top three experiences reported by employees at winning companies:

1. Welcomed when joining the company
2. Pride in the organization
3. Free to take time off when necessary

And those experiences create these impressive business results. Employees are:

—1.9 times more likely to stay if they feel pride in their company
—1.3 times more likely to give extra effort if they feel welcomed when joining the organization
—Six times more likely to recommend their workplace if they feel pride in their company

“Congratulations to the Best Workplaces in the Bay Area,” says Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work. “Amid ongoing uncertainty and challenging market pressures, these companies stuck by their principles and delivered exemplary experiences for all employees. The reward? Those workers are giving their full effort—driving productivity, innovation, and a great experience for their customers.”

“Fortune congratulates the Best Workplaces in the Bay Area,” says Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell. “Employee experience is critical to company performance, and these companies are setting that standard.”

Who made the list

The list was segmented into 25 large companies (1,000 or more employees) and 75 small- and medium-sized companies (10 to 999 employees).

Here are the companies that top the list of large Bay Area employers:

1. Cisco
2. NVIDIA
3. Atlassian
4. Salesforce
5. Intuit

Here are the companies at the top of the Bay Area list for small- and medium-sized employers:

1. WorkRamp
2. Cribl
3. Mercury
4. NerdWallet
5. Workato

What employees said

As part of the survey, employees were able to answer two open-ended questions about their experience in the workplace. Here’s what it sounds like when an employee is experiencing a high-trust culture:

“I really believe in the impact of what we’re doing. The company’s values and ‘high impact behaviors’ are really integrated into the employee experience. I also uniquely trust the leadership of the company and I’m proud to be a member of the company when I hear their messages to the world. “

–Employee at BetterUp, No. 32 on the small- and medium-sized list

What you can learn

These winning companies offer three compelling lessons for other companies looking to create overwhelmingly positive experiences for employees.

1. Cultivate pride. At winning companies, nine in 10 employees say they are proud of their organization. Consider opportunities to instill pride in your workplace.

2. Offer flexibility. At the winning companies, 91% of employees report being encouraged to find a healthy work-life balance. For the typical U.S. organization, only 58% of employees reported a healthy work-life balance.

3. Create an inclusive environment for all. A welcoming environment starts with the hiring process, but it doesn’t stop there. A sense of belonging is an essential element of a high-trust workplace culture.