"Where You Work Matters" index rates employers on upward mobility
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A badge for a worthy employer. Image: Where You Work Matters
CarMax's financial analysts and Instacart's software engineers rank among the top roles in an index, out Tuesday, that rates U.S. employers on how well they support workers' upward mobility.
Why it matters: Where you work increasingly determines whether you'll get promoted or get stuck. This first "Where You Work Matters" list is designed to reward employers who help workers move up and expose those who don't.
The ratings of 1,750 employers (across 55,000 occupations) were assembled by the Schultz Family Foundation and the Burning Glass Institute, in partnership with Harvard Business School's Managing the Future of Work Project.
- Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who co-founded his family foundation, said: "Transparent information around how companies pay, promote and retain their workforce on a role-by-role basis will enable a better marketplace in America."
- The index awards gold and platinum badges, based on how the companies promote, pay and retain workers.
Between the lines: "Software and technology companies, many of which have high profit margins and can invest in their workforce, command the greatest share of badges — more than 78 percent of firms in that sector have either a platinum or gold overall badge," the report finds.
- "More commoditized industries also do well in creating opportunities for their employees: More than half of the firms in the chemicals, pharmaceuticals, energy, and utilities sectors have one of the two overall badges."
- Customer-service representatives are among the least appreciated and highest-turnover roles. Ditto for warehouse stockers, packers and hand material movers — with several notable exceptions, including Cintas, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Tesla, which got platinum badges for that category.
What they're saying: Rajiv Chandrasekaran, managing director at the Schultz Family Foundation, said that as AI reshapes the labor market, "the companies best positioned to thrive will be those that have built strong, sustainable talent pipelines, enabling them to meet the disruptions and opportunities that will emerge."
Zoom in: The 22 highest-rated companies (Platinum badges, with Platinum recognition across all three categories) were Boeing, DocuSign, Fidelity Investments, Fisher Investments, GM, HubSpot, Jamf, Liberty Mutual, Lockheed Martin, MathWorks, Mayo Clinic, Northrop Grumman, Northwell Health, Philadelphia Insurance, Procter & Gamble, Progressive Insurance, Qualcomm, Qualtrics, Stryker, Texas Instruments, Tyler Technologies and West Monroe.
