If you're currently on the market for a job and looking for a role you can grow in, some companies may be better at cultivating their employees than others.
Data research company the Burning Glass Institute recently partnered with Harvard Business School and the Schultz Family Foundation to rank the 250 biggest U.S. public companies in terms of their investment in their workforce, a report entitled the American Opportunity Index.
"The index is designed to measure companies based upon the level of opportunity they create for their workers," says Matt Sigelman, president of the Burning Glass Institute, adding that, "we are specifically focusing on the roles at the Fortune 250 that are open to people without a college degree."
Researchers tracked the progress of 3 million workers over the course of five years (2017-2021) focusing on five main metrics: career growth, career launchpad, career stability, advancement without a degree and growing talent. Each measures elements such as hires' level of experience, median wage for the various occupations studied and number of promotions a worker in a given role got over the five-year period.
Here are the 10 companies that ranked highest among the 250 for all metrics, including the kind of opportunities for growth they offer, their size and some of the roles they're currently hiring for on LinkedIn.
10. Southwest Airlines
Airline company Southwest Airlines ranked among the best companies for advancement without a degree, career growth, career stability, or firms offering "good, well-paying jobs without significant churn," according to the study and growing talent, or "firms that are most likely to fill roles by promoting from within."
Workforce: 55,000
Open roles: Senior market strategy and performance analyst, fleet transactions consultant, lead accountant.
9. International Paper
International Paper creates packaging products and pulp for diapers and personal hygiene products like tissues. The company was among the best for career stability and growing talent.
Workforce: 38,000
Open roles: Assistant maintenance supervisor, mill financial analyst and production machine operator, which is hiring for $17.66 per hour with a $1,000 signing bonus.
8. Liberty Mutual Insurance Group
The insurance company came in among the best companies for advancement without a degree, growing talent and career launchpad, or "firms that have the best track record of hiring workers without experience, training them and preparing them to move on to higher-level positions elsewhere."
Workforce: 45,000
Open roles: Underwriting consultant, equipment breakdown risk engineer and insurance agent, which pays between $65,000 and $85,000 per year.
7. HF Sinclair
HF Sinclair, or HollyFrontier Sinclair Corporation, is an energy company selling products such as diesel fuel, gas and renewable diesel. It was among the top ranked companies for growing talent.
Workforce: 4,200
Open roles: Plant manager, pipeline technician and crude oil accountant.
6. Fiserv
Fiserv sells tech to companies in financial services such as banks, credit unions and insurance companies. It ranked among the best companies for career launchpad, career stability and advancement without a degree.
Workforce: 44,000
Open roles: Windows system engineer, client technical support representative and outside sales business consultant, which pays between $51,350 and $112,950 per year, if you're based in New York or California.
5. Microsoft
Tech giant Microsoft came in among the top companies for career stability, growing talent and advancement without a degree.
Workforce: 221,000
Open roles: Researcher for real world reinforcement learning, cloud and AI strategy and development manager, and content strategist, which pays $108,200 to $162,200 per year.
4. PG&E
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company provides natural gas and electric services to millions throughout California. It ranked among the best companies for career launchpad, career stability and advancement without a degree.
Workforce: 23,000
Open roles: Supervisor for electrical testing and design, principal product manager and expert customer communications representative.
3. Cisco Systems
Cisco is a digital communications technology company which sells networking hardware, software and telecommunications equipment. It ranked among the best companies for career launchpad, career stability, growing talent and advancement without a degree.
Workforce: 79,500
Open roles: Technical writer, user experience and business process architect.
2. American Express
Financial services firm American Express ranked among the best companies for growing talent and advancement without a degree.
Workforce: 64,000
Open roles: Travel consultant, manager of global client management and colleague communications manager, which pays $80,000 to $155,000 per year in New York.
1. AT&T
One of the largest telecommunications companies in the world, AT&T came in as the American Opportunity Index's No. 1 company to work for in terms of general advancement. More specifically, it ranked among the best companies for career launchpad, career growth, growing talent and advancement without a degree.
Workforce: 203,000
Open roles: Director of product research and analysis, senior software engineer and part-time retail sales consultant, which earns between $13 and $22 per hour, plus possible commissions.
Big picture, when it came to all 250 of the companies included, "good practice was widespread," says Sigelman. Of those measured, "161 were in one of the six top 50 lists that we created," he added.
However, even of those that scored well, companies were "generally not on more than three or four of those six lists," he says. "So that says that there's a lot of scope for companies to continue to improve their game" when it comes to helping their workforce advance.
For those job seekers out there looking for a clear trajectory to the top, remember, this index only measures some of the biggest companies in America. "When you're looking at the hierarchy ladder, it can be 15 different levels for an established company," says Sinem Buber, lead economist at ZipRecruiter. In contrast, at a startup, "it's just two or three" levels of hierarchy and a different sort of climb.
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