Ten of the 50 Happiest Companies in America in New Zealand

The 50 Happiest Companies in America for 2013 have been revealed – how do they do it?

BY Rose Sneyd 14 Dec 2012

The 50 Happiest Companies in America for 2013 have been revealed by CareerBliss, the US recruitment website. Their annual survey analyses ‘independent employee-submitted reviews’ and this year’s results are based on more than 100,000 of them.

Each review was assigned an average score from 1-5 indicating the blissful nature of the company. Employees judged their companies on key, happiness-inducing factors, such as: work/life balance, employee relationships, compensation, growth opportunities, and the employee’s control over the work that they do.

“Unlike previous years, where companies like Google and Apple reigned in the top 10 and top 20, engineering, pharmaceutical and government ranked supreme in employee happiness,“ said Heidi Golledge, CEO – CareerBliss.

Ten of the top 20 of these 50 companies also operate out of New Zealand. Here’s the list with the original CareerBliss rankings and their “bliss” score following the colon:

Pfizer: 4.248 (out of 5)
Cisco Systems: 4.112
Motorola: 4.108
General Electric: 4.096
Qualcomm: 4.096
Cognizant: 4.064
Siemens: 4.063
Hilton Worldwide: 4.060
Adecco: 4.041
Ernst & Young: 4.032

Compensation seems to play a significant factor in the blissfulness of most of these companies: apart from two, the lowest salary is $US67,728! But Hilton Worldwide and Adecco punch above their weight, achieving high rankings on lower salaries: $US45,651 and $US37,551 respectively. Pfizer scored the top position thanks to good employee relations and support, according to a CareerBliss press release.

Not many of these companies are hiring in New Zealand at the moment, but the few that are (Pfizer, Adecco, and General Electric) stress professional and personal development opportunities. General Electric makes this superlative pitch: “No other company invests in the development, training and advancement of its employees the way we do, because we believe it is our innovative thinking that is our strength, and that strength is what enables GE to make a positive impact on tomorrow.”