Great Place To Work® Certification™ and Best Workplaces™ List Terms

A Great Place To Work® Certification ™ (“Certification”) and Best Workplaces ™ recognition tells the world an organization is a great workplace for all – as verified by its own employees. It is an incredible achievement and a testament to their successful culture.

It is crucial that employees’ real-life experiences at work determine whether an organization earns Certification or placement on a Best Workplaces List. For that reason, Great Place To Work Institute, Inc. (“GPTW”, “We”, and/or “Our”) has established these Great Place To Work Certification and Best Workplaces List Terms (“Certification Terms”) to ensure the integrity and consistency of the process to award Certification and/or placement on the Best Workplaces Lists.

These Certification Terms apply to the person or entity that is named on the Order Form that references these Certification Terms (“You,” “Your,” or “Customer”). By signing the Order Form, You agree that Your Certification as a Great Place To Work® or inclusion in a Best Workplaces™ List is contingent on Your adherence to these Certification Terms. GPTW reserves the right to change these Certification Terms from time to time by posting an update to this URL.

1. Designing the Trust Index™ Survey

To be eligible to be awarded Certification, or included in a Best Workplaces List, You must survey Your employees using the Trust Index™ Survey (“Survey”) provided by GPTW. In particular, You must:

  • Have at least ten (10) employees (excluding per diem, temporary, and contract employees) based in a single country at the time of survey launch;
  • Invite all employees to take the Survey if Customer has fewer than five thousand (5,000) employees, or, if Customer has five thousand (5,000) or more employees, invite at least five thousand (5,000) randomly selected employees;
  • Include all core survey questions and demographics of the Survey. Additional questions or demographics may be added to the Survey, but none may be removed;
  • Design the Survey such that no subsidiaries, departments, divisions, locations, or other entities within Customer’s corporate family are excluded from the Survey, unless GPTW determines such entity operates as a separate and independent business from Customer at the time of the Survey;
  • Submit a culture assessment that reflects the demographic composition of Customer’s employee population and the benefits and other people strategy programs available to Customer’s employees at the time the Survey is launched; and
  • Make the Survey (available online) accessible to all survey takers.

Failure to meet these qualifications may result in Customer’s disqualification from Certification and Best Workplaces Lists eligibility. Our team can help You design and launch Your Survey to ensure You meet these requirements and get accurate results.

2. Certification and List Thresholds

Not every Customer that launches a Survey is awarded Certification or placed on one of the Best Workplaces Lists.

To be certified as a Great Place To Work®, You must meet or exceed the then-current Certification threshold and to be eligible for a Best Workplaces List, You must meet the applicable list-specific eligibility requirements after having earned a Certification as a Great Place To Work. The threshold for Certification and list-specific eligibility requirements are determined by GPTW in its sole discretion.

3. Integrity of Our Selection Process

GPTW’s Certification and Best Workplaces Lists are globally trusted due to Our rigorous and unbiased selection processes. GPTW will not consider personal relationships, gifts, or any other influences (or attempted influences) when determining whether You have earned a Certification and/or placement on a Best Workplaces List.

Engaging GPTW for services (e.g., consulting) does not help You obtain Certification or appear on a Best Workplaces List. Evaluators involved in the selection of companies for a Best Workplaces List sign non-disclosure agreements and are screened for potential conflicts of interest.

To protect the integrity of the Certification and Best Workplaces Lists, You must administer the survey in a manner that upholds the integrity of the process.

That means:

🚫 Do not coach employees on how to answer.

🚫 Do not require participation or imply negative consequences for opting out.

🚫 Do not retaliate against survey participants for their responses.

🚫 Do not alter the sampling frame or access to the Survey to chase a desired outcome.

It also means that You should:

✅ Encourage employees to provide honest, candid feedback about Your organization’s strengths and growth opportunities and reinforce that though participation in the Survey is optional, their feedback is highly desired and valued;

✅ Communicate that every employee response to the Survey is confidential;

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You agree that Your failure to meet these standards may result in disqualification from Certification and/or inclusion in a Best Workplaces List.

In addition, GPTW reserves the right, to deny, suspend, rescind or revoke Certification or Best Workplaces List eligibility, or remove Customer from a Best Workplaces List, at any time during the Certification Period if new information comes to light that, in GPTW’s sole discretion, casts doubt on the validity of the survey results or suggests that continued use of the Certification Badge would be damaging to GPTW’s brand or reputation. This includes, but is not limited to, public scandals, unethical practices, or other reputational risks.

GPTW may exercise any of the foregoing rights immediately upon notice to Customer and is under no obligation to disclose the basis for such decision. Upon receiving notice of any such denial, suspension, rescission, revocation, or removal, Customer must, within seven (7) calendar days, discontinue all use of any applicable GPTW badges, including the Great Place To Work® Certification Badge (“Certification Badge”), and remove all related references to Customer’s GPTW Certification or Best Workplaces List eligibility or inclusion from Customer’s public-facing materials.

4. Positive Recognition

To celebrate Customer Certification, GPTW, at its sole discretion, may create a public facing Great Place To Work® Certification Profile (“Certification Profile”) which may include, among other things, the Certification Badge and any Customer logos, trademarks, photographs, or graphics provided to GPTW by Customer. Customer grants GPTW a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use Customer’s trademarks and submitted materials for creating and publishing the Certification Profile. Profile visibility and content are subject to GPTW’s editorial judgement and applicable guidelines.

From time to time, GPTW may enter into agreements with third parties for publication of the Certification Profile in print and other forms of media. Customer agrees that Customer has no objections to such third parties printing Customer’s Certification Profile.

GPTW will not negatively critique Customer for any of Customer’s policies, programs, practices, or other efforts to maintain or improve Customer’s culture, in any written, spoken, or other communication. GPTW may cite examples of Customer’s best practices in presentations and speeches, media interviews, articles, and other communications.

GPTW may provide limited data to approved media and research partners who have been authorized in advance by written agreements with GPTW for purposes of developing and publishing Best Workplaces Lists and/or related findings. This data may include selected data points gathered in the culture assessment, specific Survey results and employee comments, stripped of any personal identifiers.

5. General

  • Certification Badge usage must comply with the Certification Brand Guide available at: https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certification-brand-guide. Customer may use and display the Certification Badge only during the Certification Period and solely to promote Customer’s Certification for that period. Customer may not use, display, reference, or otherwise make available any expired Certification Badge in a manner that states or implies Customer is currently certified.

    Notwithstanding the foregoing, use and display of an expired Certification Badge is permitted only if: (i) Customer has received a new Certification Badge for its then-current Certification, and (ii) the expired Certification Badge is used only to show Customer’s consecutive or continuous Certification history. Customer must promptly cease or correct any non-compliant use upon GPTW’s request.
  • Misuse of GPTW intellectual property, including badges, may result in revocation and indemnity obligations under the Master Services Agreement or other applicable agreement.
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  • Data use and privacy obligations are governed by the Master Services Agreement or other applicable agreement and GPTW’s Data Processing Addendum/Agreement.

6. Definitions

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“Certification Period”: The twelve-month period beginning upon the date the Customer receives the designation as a Great Place To Work.

“Order Form”: means an order form agreed by Customer and GPTW that references these Certification Terms and sets out, among other things, the services to be provided by GPTW, the applicable term, fees, and payment terms.

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October 1, 2026