Wellstar Among 2021 Best Companies To Work For: Fortune

MARIETTA, GA — 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.

Wellstar Health System in Marietta (but with locations across metro Atlanta) is among companies that made this year’s list. The company ranked 90th, an increase from its last appearance on this list in 2016 at 93rd.

With more than 24,000 workers across 11 hospitals and hundreds of medical centers, Wellstar took a major financial hit, despite help from the CARES Act, during the COVID pandemic — to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. But the health system took aggressive steps to protect the interests of its workers, including by deploying $2.9 million in childcare support for its workforce and pay continuation programs for staffers who were unable to work, as well as more than $2.2 million dedicated to a free meals program. Its CEO Candice Saunders also took a 60 percent pay cut in an effort to lead by example.

Here are some other details about Wellstar:

• Rank: 90
• Industry: Health Care; Medical Facilities
• Employees: 24,195
• Percentage of women: 81.5 percent
• Percentage of minorities: 48.3 percent

Other companies on this year’s list from Georgia include:

Alston & Bird

• Rank: 97
• Industry: Professional Services; Legal
• Rank last year: 56
• Employees: 1,530
• Percentage of women: 51.3 percent
• Percentage of minorities: 27.7 percent

When people took to the streets after George Floyd's killing, Atlanta-based law firm Alston & Bird took to the books. The firm organized resources for employees to get involved in the fight for racial justice. Some attorneys even provided pro bono support to individuals' and nonprofits' legal teams that were linked to the protests. In early June 2020, the firm as a whole took a stance by joining with other law firms to petition for a repeal of a New York law that prevented the disclosure of police disciplinary records. Throughout the pandemic, the company cared for employees by offering virtual classes in mindfulness training, yoga, and other wellness areas. One employee, a working mother, praised the company's emphasis on work/life balance. Her managers let her put family first, and they "still treat me the same as everyone else," she said.

PulteGroup

• Industry: Home Builders
• Employees: 5,249
• Percentage of women: 43.1 percent
• Percentage of minorities: 19.2 percent
• Revenue in 2020: $11 Billion

The homebuilder was hit hard by the pandemic, which forced it to make painful staff reductions in the form of furloughs and layoffs. In response, PulteGroup CEO Ryan Marshall, his direct reports, and the entire board of directors took pay cuts, raising $400,000 for a relief fund aiding those who lost their jobs. In the end, the company was able to bring back 100 percent of furloughed employees within 60 days, and actively set about rehiring those who were laid off. Marshall has also made a commitment to improving PulteGroup's diversity practices, forming an internal diversity and inclusion board meant to hold the organization accountable to its goals.

• Related: PulteGroup Among 2021 Best Companies To Work For: Fortune

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.

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.