2 In MD On Best Companies To Work For List In 2021: Fortune

MARYLAND — 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.

Compiled by Fortune and Great Place To Work, the 24th annual list 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.

Two companies in Maryland made this year’s list — Marriott and Brightview.

Marriott International of Bethesda ranked 15th, an increase of 13 spots from its ranking last year.

• Industry: Hospitality
• Rank last year: 38
• Employees: 83,447
• Percentage of women: 53.8 percent
• Percentage of minorities: 68.7 percent
• Revenue in 2020: $10.571 billion

"Like all hospitality businesses, Marriott suffered in 2020. The company furloughed tens of thousands of workers from its 842 U.S. locations, but kept out-of-work hotel staffers in the loop with monthly voluntary calls in which the furloughed could learn about Marriott’s status and its prospects of economic recovery," according to Fortune. "The company also helped those who did not expect to return to Marriott to seek jobs in industries that were hiring. "

Brightview Senior Living of Baltimore ranked 92nd on the top 100 list.

• Industry: Health care
• Rank last year: N/A
• Employees: 4,630
• Percentage of women: 78.5 percent
• Percentage of minorities: 49.8 percent
• Revenue in 2020: N/A

For certain hourly workers, Brightview issued 20 percent "hero pay" increases amid the pandemic and gave permanent pay increases to one-third of its front-line workers, according to Fortune.

COVID-19 Crisis Response Earns Employers Points

To compile this year’s list, Great Place to Work surveyed more than 500,000 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.

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.

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

— By Megan VerHelst and Elizabeth Janney