Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to the most commonly asked questions about Top Workplaces

Top Workplaces Participation

How do we know which Top Workplaces awards we're qualified for and eligible to receive?

As a Top Workplaces participant, you have a comprehensive, single dashboard view of every award your organization is eligible to win. This includes Top Workplaces Regional, National, Culture Excellence, and Industry awards. And don’t forget, by completing one engagement survey, your company qualifies to participate in awards year-round.

 

The dashboard also enables you to plan resource allocation, inform strategic plans, and align timing with other initiatives, such as award announcements, recruitment and sales campaigns, company meetings, and more. 

If you haven’t registered yet, go here to get started

What are the requirements for Top Workplaces national awards?

The Top Workplaces national awards – including USA, Industry, and Culture Excellence awards – are open to all companies with more than 150 U.S. employees. To qualify, companies must achieve a Workplace Survey response rate of 35% or higher.

 

Top Workplaces national awards are open to all industries except those primarily regional, such as local real estate agents/brokers, local hotels, and K-12 educational institutions.

Do we have to survey every time we participate in a Top Workplaces award?

No! Completing a single Workplace Survey puts you in the running for year-round Top Workplaces recognition. This includes all national, regional, Industry, and Culture Excellence awards.

 

However, you can choose to refresh your survey data at any time. 

Here is the Top Workplaces national awards schedule.

Go here for the Top Workplaces regional program information.

Can international employees be considered in our Top Workplaces participation?

Because the Top Workplaces national program looks at U.S.-based employees, those who are based internationally are not considered.

 

You may, however, include them in your Workplace Survey

What are company size bands for Top Workplaces national awards?

The company size bands for Top Workplaces national awards are based on total U.S. employees as follows:

  • 150-499 employees
  • 500-999 employees
  • 1,000-2,499 employees
  • 2,500+ employees
How many companies were considered for Top Workplaces national awards?

Over the past year, Energage has invited almost 42,000 organizations to compete for our national awards, which include Top Workplaces USA, Industry, and quarterly Culture Excellence awards. 

 

Please note: The national awards are in addition to the Top Workplaces regional awards we offer through more than 55 media partners.

 

On average, fewer than 3% of eligible organizations earn a Top Workplaces designation, making these achievements clear differentiators among peers. Here is a breakdown of the percentage of invited organizations over the past year according to size band:

 

150-499: 54%

500-999: 15%

1000-2499: 13%

2500+: 18%

Which employees can we include in the survey?

Whether it’s for Top Workplaces recognition or for the purpose of collecting data, gathering feedback from all levels of employees is key towards building a strong workplace culture. Employee inclusion in the survey at the discretion of the organization, though Energage encourages organizations to include as many voices as possible.


While surveying all full-time employees is required (random sampling is available for large organizations), the following categories of employees are encouraged to participate in the survey, but are not required:

  • Part-time employees
  • Seasonal employees
  • Consultant/Freelance/Per Diem employees
  • Employees outside the U.S.
  • 1099/Individuals placed at a client by a staffing agency
  • Unionized employees
  • Employees on extended leave (i.e. maternity and paternity leave, or other FMLA related reasons)


*The above excludes real-estate and insurance organizations, which are required to survey all employees


​​​​​​Additional considerations:

  • Volunteers should not be included as they are not paid.
  • Those under the age of 13 should not be invited to take the survey.
  • New employees should be included if they started prior to the survey launching. There is no minimum time requirement an employee needs before being offered the survey.
  • Shareholders/partners should be included if they are actively working at the organization.


Remote employees – for regional Top Workplaces recognition, remote employees should be associated with the physical location that makes the most sense for the organization. This may be based on reporting structure, physical location nearest to the employee, or an alternative option that makes the most sense for the organization to distribute their remote employees. Each remote employee can only be counted toward one region for Top Workplaces participation.


For fully remote organizations (those without a physical office location), employees should be included in Top Workplaces regions based on where they physically live/work as determined by the organization.

Top Workplaces USA Award

What do Top Workplaces USA award winners receive?
  • National recognition in USA TODAY
  • High-level survey snapshot
  • Shareable company profile on topworkplaces.com.

Access to and use of the Top Workplaces USA award badge requires an Employer Branding subscription.

Go here for more information

Where can I find the list of Top Workplaces USA winners?

The Top Workplaces USA lists can be found here.

Top Workplaces Industry National Awards

Which industries were recognized in 2023?

The following industries were recognized in 2023:  

  • Construction
  • Distribution
  • Financial Services
  • Healthcare
  • Manufacturing
  • Nonprofit
  • Technology

Organizations that meet the national Top Workplaces benchmark are awarded as Top Workplaces industry winners. The list is published alphabetically by employee size band.  

Go here for more information on how Top Workplaces are determined. 

Go here for the complete timeline of Top Workplaces national awards. 

Where can I find the list of Top Workplaces national industry award winners?

Go here to explore the Top Workplaces national industry awards: 

Construction

Distribution

Financial Services

Healthcare

Manufacturing

Nonprofit

Technology

Top Workplaces Culture Excellence National Awards

How are the Top Workplaces Culture Excellence awards determined?

Top Workplaces Culture Excellence national awards are based on Workplace Survey statement(s) responses. Some awards, including DE&I Practices, Woman-Led Companies, and Remote Work, include additional considerations. 

Go here for more details about each of the Culture Excellence awards, including a list of winning companies.

Where can I find the Top Workplaces Culture Excellence awards?

You can find the full list of Top Workplaces regional and national awards here.

If my company won a Top Workplaces national award, how do I access our badge?

Use of Top Workplaces national award badges – including USA, Industry, and Culture Excellence awards – requires an Employer Branding subscription. Go here for more information

Top Workplaces Survey and Methodology

Can I remove statements from the Workplace Survey?

Because Top Workplaces uses the same standard employee engagement survey for all programs, we cannot remove any survey statements. 

Can we use our Workplace Survey results to qualify for multiple awards?

Yes! Completing one Workplace Survey qualifies your organization to participate in all eligible awards for up to 12 months, including National, Regional, Industry, and Culture Excellence recognition.

Here is the Top Workplaces national awards schedule.

Here is information about Top Workplaces regional awards.

How are Top Workplaces lists determined?

All lists are based solely on employee feedback. There are no subjective elements to the process, making Top Workplaces the most credible, authentic employer recognition program.

 

Top Workplaces are determined on quantitative employee feedback and the statements and demographic information that we collect within Workplace Survey. Because we have collected data from more than 23 million surveys at over 70,000 organizations, the Energage benchmark is the most accurate benchmark available.

Go here for more information about Top Workplaces Methodology.

 

You can also learn more about what makes a Top Workplace from Dr. Greg Barnett, Energage Chief People Scientist:

Watch What Makes a Top Workplace

What language options are available for the survey?

The Workplace Survey is available in these languages: Arabic, Burmese, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, French–Canadian, German, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Nepali, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Spanish – Castillian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese.

Additional languages can added for a fee.

Is there a minimum survey response rate required to be eligible for a Top Workplaces award?

A 35% response rate is required to be considered for Top Workplaces designation. For organizations with fewer than 85 employees, 30 survey responses are required.

How are employee email addresses used?

We have surveyed over 27 million employees via email and never have and will never release a single email address to another party or use a survey-taker email address for any purpose other than inviting the individual to take the workplace survey.

Are individual employee survey responses confidential?

Yes, Energage takes confidentiality extremely seriously. Without confidentiality, this survey would not provide the candid feedback which makes the results so valuable. We only show survey results that are the aggregate of at least 5 employees. For certain results views we require 10 responders (to display the department associated with a comment) and 30 responders (to show a heatmap).

Your company’s survey results are not shared with any third party.

How are surveys distributed?

We provide access to an online survey.

Online survey: If you provide us with your email addresses, we can send a link to the online survey directly to your employees. Each survey has a unique survey code, which makes the process more robust as each employee only has access to one survey code and can, therefore, only complete the survey once.