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Summary: Some of the highest rated organizations are also some of the most established.
- Happy workplaces today might be the ones that are the most stable, due to the challenging economic conditions.
- Work/life balance, being connected at work, and flexible work schedules are some of the most important aspects of happiness in the workplace.
Career Bliss has come out with their annual happiest places to work list. In the number one position is Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant. Their third annual ranking that was recently published has been reported to about the happiest companies. However, the number two ranking organization is NASA, and it is obviously a federal agency - not a company.
The same is true of the Department of Defense, which is ranked number three. (This is only worth mentioning because the cultures of large federal bureaucracies can be different from company cultures.)
Positions four through ten are occupied by companies though:
4. KBR
5. Cisco Systems
6. Motorola
7. Avaya
8. General Electric
9. Qualcomm
10. Cognizant
KBR is a construction, engineering and private military contracting firm located in Texas with over 25,000 employees. User reviews from employees on Glassdoor say they like the flexible work schedule and very good benefits. Cisco Systems rates well with employees for work/life balance on the same site, and has been reviewed by over 2,500 users. Pfizer's user reviews there are slightly less enthusiastic, but CareerBliss had their own criteria for ranking the happiest workplaces.
Work/life balance is important, but they also focused on relationships with managers and co-workers, organizational culture, growth opportunities, and control over work.
Companies like Google and Apple, which are known to be very coveted places to work, didn't fare as well as some of the more conventional large companies. Google was just 18th, which seems a little odd - especially when one sees General Electric far above it in the eighth position. Apple is near the bottom, at no. 42. Zappos didn't even make the list, but this may be due only to their smaller size.
What are some of your most desired places to work?
Image Credit: NASA, Wikipedia
