100 Best Companies to Work For in 2024 Deliver ‘Staggering’ Business Performance

Companies made the list based on responses from nearly 630,000 employees.

April 4, 2024, Oakland, Calif. — When employees experience a high level of trust in the workplace, the whole business benefits.

Great Place To Work® has been producing the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® List since 1998. When FTSE Russell analyzed the historic returns of companies that made the list, it found the stock performance beat the market average by a factor of 3.68, or 1,896 percentage points.

“What this analysis shows is that looking at different criteria on evaluating companies like the 100 Best — based on employee experience and culture — can make a difference in stock performance,” says Ryan Giannotto, manager of equity index research at the London Stock Exchange Group, which produces the Russell 1000, an index of the biggest U.S. stocks.

The 2024 100 Best achieved total returns of 41.6%, outperforming the Russell 1000 by a 15.6% margin.

“Generally, if you can beat your benchmark target by several points, that’s considered very impressive, but this is staggering,” Giannotto says.

Even more remarkable is that each company gets the same amount of representation in the portfolio.

“A lot of the stock market action over the past year has been dominated by a group of very large tech companies we call the Magnificent Seven,” he says. “What’s fascinating is the 100 Best achieved better — not just equal — but better results than the market without drawing from this pool of ultra performers. Without these stocks, it would be impressive, but to actually beat it to quite a transcendent level, that is striking.”

AI ready

Building trust over the years has positioned 100 Best companies to have a competitive edge in a new age of innovation.

At the 100 Best:

86% of employees say people give extra effort on the job
83% of employees say people adapt quickly to change
84% of employees say they can participate in innovation opportunities

This ensures these companies will be best prepared for the many groundbreaking changes disrupting the business environment in the years ahead — in particular, navigating the future of artificial intelligence at work.

AI will enable a new era of equity and inclusion for companies that have built a high-trust culture.

“Great companies will understand how to optimize their talent in a more equitable way than anything we’ve seen before,” says Michael C. Bush, CEO at Great Place To Work. “This is good news for leaders committed to culture work. It will help us create a great place to work for all, abundance for all, and opportunities for all — and you need all to succeed.”

Here are the top 10 on this year’s list:

“Fortune is happy to have collaborated with Great Place To Work for the 27th year to recognize the 100 Best Companies to Work For,” says Alyson Shontell, editor-in-chief at Fortune. “In a difficult macro environment with unprecedented challenges, these companies seemed to navigate their organizations toward steady and positive working environments for employees. Congratulations to all who were recognized.”

Images available: 100 Best Companies to Work For

Learn more about how the 100 Best are leading the AI revolution

About the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For

Great Place To Work selected the 100 Best list by gathering and analyzing more than 1.3 million confidential survey responses representing the experiences of 8.2 million U.S. employees. Of those responses, nearly 630,000 were from companies eligible for this list. Companies must be Great Place To Work Certified™ with 1,000 or more employees in the U.S. and cannot be a government agency. Organizations are assessed on their efforts to create generous, supportive, high-performance work experiences for every employee in the organization. Read the full methodology.

To be considered, all companies use the Great Place To Work Trust Index™ Survey. To get on this list next year, start here.

About Great Place To Work®

As the global authority on workplace culture, Great Place To Work brings 30 years of groundbreaking research and data to help every place become a great place to work for all. Its proprietary platform and For All™ Model help companies evaluate the experience of every employee, with exemplary workplaces becoming Great Place To Work Certified or receiving recognition on a coveted Best Workplaces™ List.

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About Fortune

The Fortune mission is to change the world by making business better. We achieve that by providing trusted information, telling great stories, and building world-class communities. We measure performance by rigorous benchmarks. And we hold companies accountable. Our goal is to make Fortune a force for good through its second century and beyond. For more information, visit www.fortune.com

Great Place To Work® is the global authority on workplace culture. Our mission is to help every place become a great place to work for all. We give leaders and organizations the recognition and tools to create a consistently and overwhelmingly positive employee experience, fostering cultures that are proven to drive business, improve lives, and better society. Our recognition is the most coveted and respected in the world for elevating employer brands to attract the right people. Our proprietary methodology and platform enables organizations to truly capture, analyze, and understand the experience of all employees. Our groundbreaking research empowers organizations to build cultures that retain talent and unlock the potential of every employee. Our coaches, content, and community connect the boldest leaders, ideas, and innovations in employee experience. Since 1992, our Certification™, Best Workplaces™ Lists, and global benchmarks have become the industry standard, built on data from more than 100 million employees in 150 countries around the world.