Dive Brief:
- Amazon leads LinkedIn's list of the top 50 companies to work for in 2018. Based on the actions of LinkedIn’s more than 546 million users, it says it chose companies that are respected brands and innovators.
- The top companies were judged on four main pillars, LinkedIn said: interest in the company, engagement with the company’s employees, job demand and employee retention. LinkedIn excluded itself and parent company, Microsoft, from the list.
- Perks and benefits from the top five companies include a 90-minute crash course in "customer obsession" from Amazon; free cafes, dog parks and indoor fire pits at Google; 20 days of bereavement leave from Facebook; a focus on social causes from Salesforce; and, from Tesla, company stock and a carpool program that allows employees to drive a Tesla to work and keep it on weekends.
Dive Insight:
Employers on "top companies" lists, such as Indeed's and Fortune's, offer different benefits, perks and advantages, but all appear to have one thing in common: a solid brand. Companies such as Google and Facebook are constantly scrutinized and face high-profile litigation over their alleged practices. But none of that scrutiny seems to have significantly harmed the brands or their ability to attract employees — at least not so far.
Employers can use these lists to see how their own practices, including benefits, compensation, and engagement and retention strategies, measure up against best-in-class companies. And if anything else is to be learned from this list, it's that uniting your employer brand with your external image — your product, projects and other consumables — can go a long way in attracting talented people.