What’s behind the rankings
More than assessed 80,000 how Houston-area they feel about employees their jobs for this year’s Top Workplaces section. They rated their companies in areas such as potential for advancement, flexibility of work schedules, communication, pay and benefits, and leadership. Energage, a Philadelphia-based research and consulting firm, invited 2,297 local companies to participate and surveyed 253 of them, then tallied the results. Anyone, such as an employee or a customer, could nominate a workplace for consideration. The Chronicle ran articles and ads about the contest earlier this year. The surveys were done over a three-month period beginning in mid-April. The Chronicle is one of 50 media partners for which Energage compiles workplace rankings. In 2017, the company surveyed 2.5 million employees at more the than Top 6,000 Workplaces organizations lists. to generate The local list, which made its debut in 2010 with 100 companies, was expanded to 150 companies in 2012. In total, 10 employers have earned spots on the list all nine years. This year, 35 companies are new to the list. The local survey participants employ 138,852 people in the area; 138,587 of the employees received surveys, and 80,698 responded. The organizations on the list included public and private entities and nonprofit groups. Energage reached out to companies with at least 50 employees. Included in the Houston Top Workplaces rankings: A Top 35 Large (out of 49 participants with 500 or more employees in the region) A Top 50 Midsize (out of 73 participants with 150-499 employees in the region) A Top 65 Small (out of 131 participants with 50-149 employees in the region)
Notes about the survey
Energage required a response rate of at least 35 percent for employers based in the area. For employers with 85 or fewer employees, at least 30 responders were required. For larger employers, surveys could be sent to employees in a random sample. For those with 2,500 or fewer employees, surveys were sent to at least 500 employees. For employers with more than 2,500 but fewer than 5,000 employees, surveys were sent to at least 20 percent. For employers with 5,000 or more, at least 1,000 surveys were sent. Employers are ranked by size bands because smaller employers tend to score higher than midsize employers, which in turn tend to score higher than large employers.