Best Places To Work: Employees Happiest At Airbnb, Google, NASA

The 50 best places to work in the United States are compiled into a list released by jobs and recruiting marketplace Glassdoor. For the past eight years, Glassdoor has been creating this list of the best companies to get a job at in the U.S.

What is this year’s best place to work? Airbnb. A newcomer to the rankings, the lodging website, which connects people around the world who list and rent rooms and houses, dethroned last year’s champion, Google.

Operations Manager for Airbnb Keau Katsunuma said, in a video produced by Glassdoor, that employees at Airbnb share a great work spirit.

“If I wake up in the morning and have a bad day, I know I’m going to be surrounded by people who collaborate together, people who are supportive, people who have a smile on their face,” he said.

The list of the best companies to work for is based on reviews written by the employees themselves, and that’s why it’s been given so much credit across businesses.

Tech companies such as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Adobe also made the list and remain popular employers, while Bain & Company, which was ranked first in 2014, placed in second. Third came Guidewire, another software publisher.

But Airbnb isn’t the only newcomer on this year’s list of the best places to work for. Red Bull, Delta Airlines, and Expedia are also within the 50 best.

The Employee’s Choice Award winner is determined thanks to employees’ voluntary and anonymous review of their company, in which they are asked to rate and review their work satisfaction, what they think of their CEO, and share the pros and cons of working at their company.

Not anyone can enter, however, as companies are required to have at least 1,000 employees and to have received at least 75 reviews from U.S.-based employees within a date range to be considered.

Of the 50 best places to work, 14 are based in Chicago, as reported by NBC News. Winner Airbnb received an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5, with a 98 percent approval rating for the CEO. The company offers great benefits such as generous vacation plans, free yoga, free breakfast and lunch, and 100 percent coverage of childcare costs for single employees.

Thanks to our employees for making Airbnb @Glassdoor‘s #1 Best Place to Work in 2016! https://t.co/5mnPWRn0by #BPTW

— Airbnb (@Airbnb) December 9, 2015

Employees are also encouraged to use their own “product” by being given $500 worth of travel vouchers every quarter.

The best place to work also has a relatively good ratio of male to female employee compared to other tech startups, but it isn’t exactly flying ahead in terms of ethnic diversity numbers. Google, which has been on the list since it was first released eight years ago, slipped this year to eighth position.

The only religious organization on the list of the best places to work is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Companies such as Chevron and Nike, which are regularly involved in scandals around the world, were respectively ranked 37th and 39th on the list of best places to work in the U.S. It’s worth wondering what sweatshop workers and the Amazon communities whose land was destroyed by Chevron’s oil extractions really think of these companies.

But even the best place to work in 2016, Airbnb, has had its share of controversies, as reported by Bloomberg. However, that doesn’t seem to have impacted its employees’ opinion or love for their jobs. Like many independent service providers, think of Uber’s impopularity with taxi drivers, Airbnb has made enemies within the hospitality sector, in particular with big hotel chains.

In New York, the Hotel Association complained the hotel industry had been suffering losses because of Airbnb’s increasing popularity. The company was also criticized on many occasions for offering no security or regulation the same way a hotel would.

Another survey, unrelated to Glassdoor’s but released at the same time, was the ranking of the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government, which data revealed a slight increase in employee satisfaction after four years of declining scores but, generally speaking, a much lower rating than scored in the private sector.

The report grouped 75 federal organizations, ordered in six mission areas: energy and environment, financial regulation, law enforcement, national security, oversight and public health. The FBI was the best agency in the law enforcement category and scored 69.9 among employees, while the Secret Service scored a low 33.4.

For the fourth consecutive year, NASA was ranked as the best place to work among large federal agency, with an overall score of 76.1.

If job hunting is your new year’s resolution, now you know what to aim for!

[Photo courtesy of Airbnb]