4 Illinois Companies Among 2021 Best Places To Work: Fortune

ILLINOIS— 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.

Four Illinois companies made the list:

Hyatt Hotels

• Town: Chicago
• Industry: Hotels, casinos, resorts
• Rank last year: 28
• Rank this year: 16
• Employees: 27,350
• Percentage of women: Not provided
• Percentage of minorities: Not provided
• Revenue in 2020: $2,066,000

According to Fortune, the hotel chain was hit brutally hard during the pandemic, with many locations suspending operations for various chunks of time. Though Hyatt did furlough a large percentage of workers during those periods, it allowed staff to stay on the company health plan. Beyond those efforts, the CEO, executive chairman and board of directors collected no salary for the majority of 2020, and the senior leadership team took reductions in pay, with that money instead going toward grants to colleagues globally: an expected $17 million by the end of 2020. Hyatt Hotels is largely owned by the Pritzker family, the relatives of current Gov. of Illinois J.B. Prtizker.

Horizon Therapeutics

• Town: Deerfield
• Industry: Pharmaceuticals
• Rank last year: Not ranked
• Rank this year: 43
• Employees: 1,530
• Percentage of women: 54.3%
• Percentage of minorities: 19.7%
• Revenue in 2020: $1,292,000

According to Fortune, Horizon provided 100% continued pay to those impacted by COVID-19, sent PPE and wellness kits to employees’ homes and offered 12 weeks of paid time off to its medical professionals taking leave to serve on the front lines. The company also prioritized support for working parents, from reimbursing childcare expenses to launching its Little Horizons Study Club program, which helps supervise employees’ children in their e-learning. Horizon CEO Tim Walbert also encouraged employees to email him with updates on their family's health and received (and read) over one thousand replies.

AbbVie

• Town: North Chicago
• Industry: Pharmaceuticals
• Rank last year: 87
• Rank this year: 58
• Employees: 24,131
• Percentage of women: 54.3%
• Percentage of minorities: 33.5%
• Revenue in 2020: $45,804,000

According to Fortune, AbbVie is known in the life sciences industry for having the world’s bestselling drug, the $20-billion-per-year phenom called Humira. Through June of last year, AbbVie gave special bonus payments to employees who were required to work on-site rather than from home. AbbVie also established employee assistance programs such as grief and mental-health counseling for workers who may have lost a loved one or were simply juggling childcare and work/life balance. Additionally, the drugmaker set up a childcare relief fund that offers grants of up to $1,500 to eligible employees who are returning to on-site work and need assistance with childcare and remote-learning expenses as a result of COVID-19.

RSM US

• Town: Chicago
• Industry: Professional services
• Rank last year: Not ranked
• Rank this year: 62
• Employees: 13,000
• Percentage of women: 46.2%
• Percentage of minorities: 22.4%
• Revenue in 2020: Not provided

RSM US LLP (RSM), a leading provider of audit, tax and consulting services scored its first year on the list in which the firm stood out for exceptional employee support during the COVID-19 pandemic, including providing childcare support, increased PTO and physical and mental health offers.

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 many 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.