This CT Business Among 2021 Best 100 Companies To Work For

CONNECTICUT — The businesses ranked among this year’s 100 Best Companies To Work For have at least one thing in common: They treated employees well during the pandemic.

The 24th annual list, compiled by Fortune and Great Place To Work, honors the "most heroic companies supporting their people and communities in the U.S. during this historically challenging year," according to a release by Fortune.

Stamford-based Synchrony is among companies that made this year's list. The company ranked No. 37, a climb of seven from its 44th place ranking last year.

The diversified financials firm helmed by CEO Brian Doubles is a public company with a market value of over $23.7 million. Its 16,500 employees enjoy perks such as college tuition reimbursement and an on-site medical care facility.

The company met the coronavirus pandemic head-on, according to Fortune. While approximately 40 percent of the workforce was previously equipped to work from home, all employees were geared up within two weeks. The company prevented layoffs by instituting a hiring freeze and announcing a voluntary severance program. The business created Synchrony Summer Camp which paired more than 3,600 younger children with older kids as "counselors" in a virtual camp setting where over 600 activities including yoga, science experiments, and sign language were on the menu. Synchrony's stock, which had plummeted to near $12 at the depths of the pandemic, has since rebounded to $42.

Cisco, based in San Jose, California, topped this year’s list. The company, which makes network and other communications equipment, employed 36,374 people as of March 2021. Cisco, ranked fourth last year, has been on the list every year since its creation.

Rounding out the top 5 were Salesforce, based in San Francisco; Hilton, based in McLean, Virginia; Wegmans, based in Rochester, New York; and Rocket Companies, based in Detroit, Michigan.

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To compile this year’s list, Great Place to Work surveyed more than a half-million employees on issues including how trustworthy, caring and fair the company is in times of crises; employees’ physical, emotional and financial health; and the company’s overall impact on its community.

Companies also need to employ at least 1,000 employees to be considered for the list.

The results: A strong link surfaced between positive employee opinion and how senior leaders and direct managers responded to the COVID-19 crisis. In fact, 71 percent of workplaces on this year’s list scored better than in pre-pandemic years.

In a typical year, 75 percent of a company’s score is based on confidential employee feedback, while the remainder is the company’s response to an essay question focused on programs and practices. This year, however, the essay question focused on actions taken in response to the challenges of 2020.

These companies managed "not just to muddle through" the pandemic, according to Fortune’s release, but also to become "role models" for other businesses.

Read more about the 2021 methodology.

See this year’s full list of 100 Best Companies To Work For.