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Employees Rank Best Companies for Work
Big tech companies like Google, Facebook and LinkedIn have dropped from the Top 10 favorites, a recent worker satisfaction survey shows.
Glassdoor, a popular online job and recruiting site, compiled reviews from anonymous employee grades about workplaces and found Hubspot in Cambridge, Massachusetts, ranked No. 1 in employee satisfaction.
Hubspot is a software developer for marketing sales founded in 2006, the year after co-founder Brian Halligan graduated from the MIT Sloane School of Management. Halligan, who graduated from the University of Vermont in 1990, was also voted a top CEO by employers in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018.
An employee who self-described as a learning designer in Arlington, Virginia, reviewed Hubspot as "Absolutely Incredible — I'm never leaving!"
"It's such a flexible work environment that it may be a huge shock to someone coming from the outside or from a very structured and disciplined background," wrote the reviewer, who listed this aspect as what might be a negative for some employees. "This does not mean there is no structure or discipline. On the contrary, there's structure with purpose."
Subsequent companies are not all Silicon Valley tech companies whose products are well-known with consumers. In-N-Out Burger in Irvine, California, ranked No. 4; Southwest Airlines in Dallas, Texas, No. 10; and Trader Joe's in Monrovia, California, was No. 14.
No. 5 Sammons Financial Group is headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa. Sammons CEO is Esfand Dinshaw, who graduated from Drake University.
A business adviser at Sammons called it "a caring company."
"The company truly cares about the team members. … Leaders listen to input from team members and make changes, when possible. Excellent benefits. Recognition for good performance," the adviser said.
The cons?
"The only ‘con’ I can think of is dealing with some legacy technology," the person said.
In the Top 100, Discount Tire in Scottsdale, Arizona, ranked 37; Costco in Issaquah, Washington, ranked 55; John Deere in Moline, Illinois, 58; Milwaukee Tool in Brookfield, Wisconsin, 60; and St. Jude's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, 62.
The top two companies — Hubspot and Bain & Company — are in the Boston area.
West Coast numbers
How did the big tech companies in northern California rate? Google ranked 11; LinkedIn, 12; Microsoft, 21; Facebook, 23; Survey Monkey, 33; Adobe, 39; Dell, 67; Cisco, 77; Accenture, 83; Apple. 84; and Intel, 100.
Google's CEO Sundar Pichai is an Indian immigrant who studied at Stanford University and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He received a 91% approval rating from his employees.
Girish Rishi, who received a 97% approval rating from employees at JDA Software, headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, attended the University of Hartford and Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
Women of note
Five of the highly rated CEOs were women: Sheryl Palmer at Taylor Morrison; Colleen Wegman at Wegman's Food Markets; Jennifer Morgan at SAP; Christine Leahy at CDW; Lynne Doughtie at KPMG; and Cindy Mi at VIPKid.
Glassdoor said it promotes workplace transparency, and boasts 60 million unique monthly visitors looking at 12 million job listings, and leaving 55 million reviews, salaries and insight about 1 million employers.
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Trump administration opens antisemitism inquiries at 5 colleges, including Columbia and Berkeley
The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.
It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.
In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.
Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.
Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.
"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.
The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.
An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."
House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."
Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.
Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.
The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.
"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."
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British student talks about her culture shock in Ohio
A British student who did a year abroad at Bowling Green State University in Ohio talks about adjusting to life in America in a TikTok video, Newsweek magazine reports.
Among the biggest surprises? Portion sizes, jaywalking laws and dorm room beds.
Read the full story here. (December 2024)
