Best Fortune 500 companies to work for

I’ve worked for Publix Super Markets for just over 1 and a half. They have treated me very well. Not only do you have an opportunity to succeed and move up, but they pay great for a grocery store job. Who would’ve ever thought you get quarterly bonuses for basically just working there. And not to mention, depending on the store you work at, you can move up fast if you’re good. I was 16 when I first started and moved up to “Customer Service” by 17, a job that almost always requires you to be 18.

Concerning the methodology, I worked at a company that consistently made the list, and I can tell you that the selected companies chose to whom the surveys are given. It is by no means random or a cross-selection of employees, and the number of surveys is very low relative to the size of the companies.

I’d like to know the methodology used to arrive at the rankings. It is supposed to be by survey but let me tell you that I worked for a company that repeatedly makes the list but never once received a survey to complete and new of nobody who had. The pay was not competitive, the benefits were average and the workplace culture was below par. In the hiring process they would trot out the Fortune rankings to make the prospectives feel like all was well but it was a shell game if you ask me. I was never sure how they kept themselves on the Fortune list year after year but figured one of the Fortune editors must have been getting paid off big time.

I just want to say.Thank you Exxon/Mobil.We in America now know.You pay $1.00 for a barell of oil.
What kind of people are you anyway.Greedy,non caring individuals.There only care in the world is money.
You are constantly ripping people off.Got us hooked on gas.Im sure with governments help.Because we all know you are in bed with the Bush family,the Rockefellers,and certin other familys connected to your bunch.
But laugh now.You will soon lose this unconstitutional gouging at the pump.
People in America are fed up with your antics.You care nothing about Americans.You care more about the terrorists in Saudi Arabia than you do us.Proven fact.
We are starting a movement to have you tried on crimes against America.Supporting terrorism,and price fixing.
You are to blame.Do you not have a conscience.Your money will not go with you when you meet your maker.You will have to account for the countless horrors you have inflicted on the very people who made you who you are.Without America you dont make money.
We are boycotting anyone who buys gas from you.We will not buy it.So sink in your profits.The next 2 years hopefully will be your downfall.And we say GOODBYE to you sorry individuals for all your crimes against us.

One company which you expect would treat their employees well being that they are a Multi-Billion dollar company is Metlife. They overwork, underpay, Put a process in place and withing weeks change the process. Then get upset when you did not aclimate to the new process quick enough. Then when bonus time comes around in March , they find ways to cheat employees out of a well earned bonus that they break their backs for. Not to mention the people who have issues with upper management are brushed to the side. The company demands perfection with no errors. (Robots) Yet I have yet to see the upper management error free in their decissions of so called improvement. Pay is determined by the price of labor verses the price of living which does not apply to Florida due to the lack of competition. Plus, India is now in the picture for current jobs being transferring there. (An American based company that uses a foreign Country to sell it’s products). I guess you can afford to treat your employees like nothing and move services to foreign countries when you become wealthy off the sweat of the American people. Which do I prefer, Mom & Pop Companies treat their employees better because they need their employees to make them grow. Companies which are large forget their employees are what keeps them going. Face it, Anything above a Manager has no clue how to do the job the worker bee does.

I am Otieno kopiyo student accountant in stathmore university one of the best business school in Africa. well best big companies are better in the sense that it is stable in many aspect.However, personally i would prefer a small firm since such firms are realy competetive hence promote innovation. as young perrson i need growth rather than money and other incentives which are enjoyed in the big giant.

Has anyone worked for S.U.C.C.E.S.S. ?

How well do they treat their employers?

Thank you.

I agree to the notion that no matter where you work, it is the direct relashinships with you manager is what really makes the difference (unless you are the boss of your own making$$$)

I worked for 2 big comapnies, FMCG and later Oil company. Straight to the oil guys, they have good procedures, they show some care to their employees but they are really bogged down by processes that impede business. The 2nd largest American oil company – Know you know whome im talking about- dont boast a great sence of where they are going. Staffing is another big issue here. Politics, so damn obvious, and they still brag about diversity! Worst is, benefits are not that great.

Final verdict from sombody whos been around, IT offers the best benefits

Starbucks is NOT a good company to work for. True, the company offers benefits, but 90% of the workers are underpaid and the turnover rate is appalling. It may be a fun summer job for a college student, but growth in the company is nearly impossible. I am open to working for a corporate giant in the future, but I will never return to Starbucks.

I worked for Walmart.However I didn’t like my job at all. Then,I applied to Exxon Mobil.I still work there,and I love it.I work as an Assisant Manager. As much as they care about their employees, they pay well. I am proud to work for the gaint company,EXXONMOBIL!

I have had the opportunity to work at several large companies throughout my career. I worked at Motorola for 4 years. Working at Motorola, I was definitely ‘just a number’. I felt like I was working in a sweat shop with a grand master cracking a whip. I was pregnant and had to frequent the ladies room. An issue was raised as a result of my frequent bathroom trips. They claim to be family oriented, but are definitely not. After the birth of my baby, I tried taking personal, or vacation days when my child was ill. If it wasn’t absolutely convenient for them, I couldn’t get the days off. I quit Motorola and now work for Honeywell. What a difference! My salary is twice what it was at Motorola. The environment is so friendly and relaxed! I absolutely LOVE coming in to work, how many people can say that?! Yes, there are strains and worries with every job, but I look forward to solving them. I am treated as a person – part of the team. Honeywell’s Leaders hold quarterly meetings giving company updates. Honeywell is family oriented. They pay for a large portion of Wee Care (day care for mildly ill children) or if I prefer to stay home with my sick child, I’m allowed to work from home. Honeywell holds a number of family events. To be a large corporation, Honeywell gives me that ‘warm blanket and cup of cocoa’ feeling as opposed to the ‘pins and needles’ from Motorola.

I have worked for Wal-Mart (Cashier) and Bank of America (Teller). I also wrote my senior thesis based on the interviews collected from my fellow Wal-Mart employees. From my experience, both corporations pay similar wages. Entry level wages range between $8-9/hour. The advantage Wal-Mart workers have is that they are able to navigate through various positions in the store (when openings arise), therefore increasing their salary. Whereas, in a typical bank branch, there will only be 8-12 open positions (2-3 mgrs, 5-9 tellers) therefore limiting any “easy transfers” which would result in a pay increase. For entry level jobs, bank tellers tend to get more respect from customers. On the corporate level, I’m sure both of these companies are great to work for.

I think at the beginning of one’s career there is some benefit to working for a small company. You get to learn a lot, do a variety of different jobs and gain an understanding about the politics of the workforce. Without experience, a big company can tend to be limiting. However, once you gain a variety of experience, working for a big company allows more mobility.

I’ve worked for American Express for 10 years, and although it is true that there are frequent reorganizations etc., it’s been the best 10 years of my career. Amex really cares about their employees; there’s enormous opportunity for career growth, and most importantly, they operate not only with an eye to the bottom line, but with a sense of integrity and corporate responsibility. My life…my card…it’s all American Express.

I work for Station casino’s and don’t think station great.I am disabled and they moved the parking far away from were we clock in and out and away from the office were we have are preshift matter of fact a Team Member the other day almost fell while walking to the new parking as a disabed person and at times am not able to walk and if I injure myself there will be a big law suit.No accessible for the Disabled.Station Casainos needs not be on this list again they stink.

I work for one of the top companies stations casinos..a bunch of my coworkers and I don’t understand how they made the list..they are a terrible company to work for..unless you need to become a U.S. citizen, then I guess that’s the only good thing about the company..

When it comes to companies, size doesn’t always matter. Direction and, thus, corporate culture comes from the top.

Some large companies handle employees poorly, treating them like mindless commodities. Some industries (retail and food service come to mind) don’t invest much in management training, so you often get people who think that being a manager is all about yelling or power or being distant from their employees.

I was VP of CorpCom for a medium-sized company of 450 employees. Everyone was treated with respect and programs were accommodating to employees’ family needs. When the company was growing and we reached $25 million in sales, the founder took everyone and their significant other to Hawaii for a week (in shifts). We had many wonderful components in our employee relations program, such as an annual paper airplane contest and no-holds-barred Q&A meetings of all employees and execs, and we won a couple of awards.

After a few years, the Board decided it was time to sell the company. Out went those who were the heart of the organization and in came someone who was like a “Chainsaw Al”. His employee philosophy? Shut up and sit down, and you’re lucky you still have a chair.

I’ve had clients who were large companies but treated employees well, and small companies with founders who thought employees’ only purpose was to make the founder rich.

I’ve given a number of talks on employee relations, and teach a section on the subject. It’s too bad more employers don’t realize the impact good/bad employee relations can have on their bottom line.

I’ve been working for Whole Foods Market for 5 years and I can’t imagine working for anyone else. I see people complaining about lack of leadership, management focus on (only) money, petty office politics, etc. Every company has those challenges, get used to it people. This company has vision, opportunities, excellent benefits, and a desire to give people the best chance to succeed. Yeah, there are complaints (from me, too), but I’ve never seen a company care more about its employees than its bottom line. Every company should be modeled after WFM.

I’m currently with a large MGM-Mirage property in the Southeast in professional capacity and am astonished that the company benefits (especially time off) are so out of line with other employers for jobs of this level. It’s one week of paid vacation after one year of service, going up to two weeks in the third year. No accruing vacation time. No accruing sick leave or PTO. This may be competitive for the hourly jobs like food servers, casino clerks, retail associates, etc., but not for salaried IT or marketing professionals and the like. This company also does no performance evaluation or merit raises. The only way to get more money is to being promoted to a new job title. Naturally, I didn’t know this (would’ve never occurred to me, frankly, based on companies I’ve work for previously) prior to taking the position. Very backwards.

I’ve worked at International companies, some medium, some huge. The best company and most fun job decided to cut overhead by taking the best managers to train people in India. Needless to say, employee morale hit an all-time low, the company lost some of their biggest clients and they only maintain the “International” portion of their name because of India.

Corporate Exxon takes the cake, though. My salary was fabulous but I felt dirty every day, and I didn’t work in the field! I had the dubious distinction of working for them after they acquired Mobil. I was so glad to get out of there, I didn’t even say I was leaving.

My last company would work you to death, dare you to go to the doctor, refuse to acknowledge injuries unless there was blood; even then, they’d just ignore you. All for a few measly dollars an hour. As much as I hated Exxon and their politics, Metzler was SO much worse! But I’m pretty sure they’re on everyone’s **** list.

To those who defend Exxon Mobile’s profits:

The assertion that people who complain about the rise in gasoline prices are uneducated and poor is not only condescending, it’s flat wrong.

What a stupid assertion that I should stop whining about higher gas prices, I should go back to school and make more money. I have a graduate degree and make a fairly decent living. I take public transport and ride a bike.

If you suggest gas prices are higher because of geopolitical risk, then it sounds a lot like you don’t know what you’re talking about. Risk is a word for the unexplained difference between the cost and price. A fairly tale word to legitimize ill-gotten gains.

At 49, I thought that joining JPMorgan Chase after being an IT professional at EDS, was a career gem. That was very short-lived,(fired during my 90 days probation). HP hired me nearly a year ago, I now feel valuable again. Thank you HP!

I have worked for Publix Supermarkets for 10 years and currently have family members working there. How can you say it is a top company to work for. they take money away from you ifthey feel you are not doing a good job. If you are not liked by a manager you will lose money and thier justification is that you are not a role model. Management should be the role models. also If an associate is doing a bad job isn’t it up to the management to make sure that they get properly trained to succeed? Managers are supposed to set the associate up for success not failure

HYATT ::: If there’s a company which cares about PEOPLE ( read customers,employees and its owners),,, its this…
Man I’ve been working for this company for just 11 months and I just can’t believe ho much they care for their employees and their cutomers ofcourse.
HATS OFF to HYATT !!!

You’re doing your readers a disservice by only including large companies from the Fortune 1000 (all of which are organized as corporations, right?). What about Edward Jones, which has spent eight years in a row close to the top of your “Best Companies to Work For” lists, and is quite large–but which happens to be employee-owned rather than incorporated?

I’ve been with Microsoft for over 12 years. Its ranking goes down every year and I know exactly why!!! A crash is inevitable when a sales guy runs a technology company.

I have worked for Wal-Mart and just like any company I’ve worked for, your knowledge and skill level is dependent on what you take away from that job. You are the reason who you are. You control your life. I worked my way up to Management with no educational degree from a cart pusher position. I took what I learned and shared with others so that I could learn more from them. The Health Benefits, etc. are great, but people often forget that Wal-Mart isn’t hiring the elite of the workforce most of the time. They give people with desire and motivation a real chance to grow. Better positions bring better benefits. You’ll see! Time does tell……

Don’t understand why AMEX is on this list. They are restructuring again and terminating the employment of all Project Managers for IT. Additionally AMEX requires an 80% outsourced contract rate for employees.

I am current working at Google. I have worked for both big and small companies, but I must ay Google is EVERYTHING that the Fortune list said about it. A Great company to work for indeed!

I’m shocked to not see WellPoint.

Microsoft, the company that has made me and tenths of thousands of others millionaire, is a place so little bureaucratic and so enjoyable that I’m not leaving anytime soon…

While working for a “Fortune 500″ company (Valero, in my case) is wonderful because it has excellent benefits to offer its employees, there is nothing like working for a small company when it comes to having the feeling of working for a “family”. I experienced what it was like to work for a winery in Sonoma, CA which was owned by a three German families. It was great! Then Allied Domecq bought the winery and everything changed dramatically….and not for the better. There was longer that “personal” touch…everyone was just a statistic, a number….just part of the bottom line. It was a sad day when Buena Vista lost it’s old world charm.

I worked for a very large petroleum Company in India for 8 years. This gave me insight to very matured processes followed in the industry. I got to know the compliances required to be fulfilled as well as the business needs. Often many of these thinks were not appreciated then by the sub-conscious mind.
I joined a start-up then. The experience was very, very useful in defining new processes ~ most of them had to be done without external help since resources were crunch. In my next 5 years to follow, this small start-up has become a 1400 employee company and is know acquired by one of the largest Software Services Company in the World.
Today, I lead this large Company as one of their leaders in India.
To me, experience of both these Companies have had impact. Big or small, Companies need to survive and it calls for matured processes, dynamic leadership, excellent hard-wroking environment, open culture and values which bring together. Thanks. Lalit Lahoty, Fujitsu Consulting India Limited, Delhi, India.

I think Boston Scientific should be on this List.

Public companies exist to make money, thats a fact. In some you can find a relatively good environment that can be good for your career, within limits, enabling you to make money, develop some skills and create a foundation for more success. This does not apply equally across the board…it is a function of how you fit with the culture. Politics is everywhere though having worked in Top 100 F co’s and much smaller private concerns I would lean towards the smaller companies being more political…the rub is when you are favored in a small company its better for you and the impact is clearer…when you are less favored you are probably safer in a larger company due to numbers. Often you can end up on the wrong side by trying to stick up for the “mission” or ethics the company espouses only to find thats PR not to be mistaken as operating or a basis for decision making. Even Google seems to have forgotten bout not being “evil”.

There are large companies and small where there actually is some concern for the workforce especially where there are manager-owners and the company is consumer oriented. But in many, the customers are something to be tolerated…a necessary evil and the same for the workers. I would not have believed this 25 years ago coming out of business school but I was naive. Now having achieved high levels of management, I am amazed at the attitudes of some of the CEOs, CFOs etc I have worked with…it caused me to resign one position as VP/COO of a large operation as well as leave another F500 company. The ceos simply didnt care about the employees or customers or shareholders other than themselves. Decisions bad for the company in the long run or short, but good for them in terms of compensation prevailed.

In most large companies you are often best building your skills, gaining experience and benefits. Then you need to save and invest aggressively because once you achieve a certain level and age youoften become too expensive to some cost-cutting C-level guy looking to gut expenses and future plans to make his bonus and incentive comp kick in. Unfortunately, his board, if publicly traded, will support these decisions because the members are friends, associates and most importantly cut from the same cloth. You become a member first and foremost because of your similarity in background, collegiality (read ability to go along) and understanding of the “rules”.

Bottom line, “best” companies exist but the idea of best is not the same as “ideal”….the best probably would only get a “B” if you were grading them…sketchy overall but good when the average onthe curve is “C-”.

I worked for a Fortune 100 insurance company, which, as it should, was interested in the bottom line. My former company, however, will never make the list of the best big companies for whom to work. My former company does not value its employees, nor encourage creative thinking. If you suggest a new strategy, it is rejected because “we’ve always done this way”.

I would discourage anyone from joining a large company.

I worked for Synovus’ credit card company for 13 years and left them the year after they were #1 on Fortune’s list of the best 100 places to work. While their retirement benefits are great, their take home pay was low. Also, promotion and visibility seemed to be determined more by who you knew and not by what you knew. That being said, they are a truly great company, and I have very fond memories of the time I spent there. I wish I had held on to my stock when I left.

I have noticed a lot of complaints that Fortune 500 companies are out for “Money” only. I have to say that I work for one of the medical device comanies (St. Jude Medical) and have to say the primary focus across the company is new technology to benefit the patients that recive our devices and quality. In addition is is a wonderful company to work for.

I would certianly say that the focus of the company depends on the industry. I am sure banks and oil companies have a much greater drive to profit at any cost than other industries represented in the list.

I have worked in small/medium sized firms as I had passion to learn and deliver.
I have realized that at end of day: the results and satisfaction in working in a large company outweighs everything else. In small company one works hard
for same benefits ! ;-(
“Work smart, not hard” are the golden words.

The abundant resources, good benefits and the number of talented people you come across in a large company is definitely a plus.

Working in small company makes sense only if you own it or fresh out of college/school.

Bottom line: big companies excel in
many ways for employee career and benefits.

I spent one year at GE and it was the darkest year of my life. Rampant politics, singular focus on net income, and inept management.

Great benefits and a few good people were the only things that made it bearable. Some people thrive in that environment–I wanted to pile my car into the median on the drive home everyday.

I worked for Starbucks and I have to say it was very dissapointing. The company lacks IT strategy, and are very tribal. It is not what you know but who you know. The environment is strange and they constantly force feed you “diversity”

Work is all like a purchase and individuals consider quality, value, convenience and cost. I worked for Pitney Bowes for less money than a competitor because my wife and I were trying to have a baby and they paid all but $20 for 2 in vitro-fertilizations. What became valuable to me later changed so I looked for more money and no longer needed the incredible Pitney Bowes benefits.

I’ve worked for American Express. The company has a lot of perks, but the management is lame and politics runs wild. It does not matter how well you perform tour job, it’s who you know.

The systems they use are old and always going down. Quality is not a priority. They make stupid decisions like spending $1B on a system to process their cards only to find out that it can manage only 5% of the card base. I’m surprised they are able to remain profitable.

I have since cut up my Amex cards and started using a Citi Mastercard. There have been rumors for some time that Citi will buy Amex. I’m hoping that happens. I’m sure Citi will do some house cleaning and improve operations.

I started in the semiconductor business at Prekin Elmer, then went to IBM, but I found a home at Texas Instruments. I’ve been there 13 years now, and it is the longest tenure of the three, mostly because the two previous employers disappointed me in one way or another. TI is good work, if you can get it…

I have worked for large and small companies since graduating from college in 1986. Having a boss sucks no matter where you work. I have always tried to avoid politics by keeping my head down and doing my work. Good benefits can exist in large or small. As far as I am concerned, the best company to work for would be working at any nice golf course. It’s all individual perspective.

I worked at Texas Instruments for 27 years. It was a great place to work. Then our department of 750 people got sold. The new owners decided they did not need about half of us so they had a lay-off/retirement suprise for us. Of course about half of us had spent our lives at TI. That was a sad day when we were sold. I still tell people how good TI is.

I have worked for a company that was quite small and grew into a 500 company in the last 10 or so years I have worked for them. I like working for small firms because I feel my contributions have more of an effect on the success and bottom line.

Also as the company I work for grows it seams executives become more and more detached from operations and sometimes kill the goose in search of golden eggs.

Fortune 500 companies are as bureaucratic as our government. And they are ALL about the money, not the service or products or “cause” they are offering…all they care about is the bottom line. And being a woman working at a Fortune 500 company is actually harder than working at a small company…it’s hard to break through the “good ole boy” mentality. And don’t always believe what they tell you or you read or see about working for one of the “best companies for working women”…there are a lot of smoke and mirrors.

I find all of Fortune’s corporate superlative lists to be highly subjective and probably more indicative of advertising dollars spent on full-page spreads than actual facts. Why anyone would want to work at Starbucks schlepping coffee (high on the list of “best companies to work for”) rather than Merrill Lynch (not on the list at all) is beyond me. Gimme a break.

I worked for Texas Instruments for six years. They were and still are a wonderful company to work for as a single working woman. They have been in the top 100 best companies listed in Working Woman for years now. I would still be there had I not moved out of state. Thank you, TI.

I have worked for the one of the top 20 companies for the past 7 years and I have not a bad word to say about how I have been treated or the compensation and benefits I have received. After 5 years of working for small companies I think the big corporate environment is much better. The politics exist if their are 50 employees or 50,000. At least with 50,000, you can get benefits from being part of the group. And if you think that any company, large or small, gives a throw about you then you are sadly mistaken. In small, they took the risks, they came up with the ideas, it is theirs. In large, they are professional executives. They don’t know or care anymore about you then a professional politician does.

No wonder Exxon is the most profitable- they charge about $0.10-$0.20+/gal more than ANY other gas station in our town- which probably has 50+ gas stations.

People should stop complaining about ExxonMobil (and all Fortune500 companies) and buy some stock in them. Then they can be happy with their profits.

Fortune 500 companies are not all about products and/or services or even the customer. They are ALL about the M-O-N-E-Y! ANYONE who believes differently is very naive. They may have began that way, but when they reach a certain milestone with revenue earnings they turn to building the type public perception that they want to public to BELIEVE that they have. It is a huge facade! I worked with United Parcel Service for 30 years. If you or anyone else believes they give a damn about you (the customer) or any one else for that matter, you better think again. It is a very cold world….

I’m thrilled to be employed by QUALCOMM. I’ve never worked for a company that was more in tune with it’s employees, and that took more time to truly understand (and act on) how to retain talent. Not only is there catered dinners for those who work late, we also get dry cleaning services, have an onsite doctor, a traveling eye-care truck (between our 40+ buildings in San Diego), and a mobile dental truck, but they also encourage us (and pay our time) to participate in a Community Emergency Response Team. Internal training is not only provided but encouraged. I hope to retire from QUALCOMM.