Google stays top, Apple climbs to tenth

Since we published the first ranking by Statista of the 150 best employers in Israel, a year ago, the Great Resignation has been succeeded by Quiet Quitting, but the message remains the same: we’re fed up, and there’s no longer any shame attached to talking about it openly. Employees want different game rules in the labor market, but what exactly will these rules be? Penetrating that secret is one of the challenges facing employers today.

The current ranking indicates the kind of employer now perceived as attractive in the eyes of employees. Thousands of employees participated in the survey on which the ranking is based, most of them (65%) in jobs with some degree of autonomy at work, or in management roles. 43% of them have been employed at their workplaces for five years or more, 38.2% have been employed for between one and five years, and 18.2% have been at their workplaces for less than a year. Here are some of the most interesting findings from the participants’ responses.

1. The top ten: Apple jumps from 70th place

Despite the crisis in the industry, the major technology companies have consolidated their places among the top ten employers. Google retains first place from last year, but whereas then it was joined at the top by just one other tech company, this year the international tech giants take seven out of the first ten places. Up there with Google are Microsoft, Meta (Facebook, which did not make it into the rankings at all last time), Intel, SAP, IBM, and Apple, which leapt from 70th place to tenth. In seventh place is Tidhar Group, eighth is Israel Railways, and ninth is Ezer Mizion.

Since it is almost impossible to compare working conditions between such disparate industries, alongside the ranking of the ten best employers we present rankings by industry (see "About the survey" below), and there is a great deal of movement within them: companies that crossed the threshold for inclusion in the list of 150 this year, while other companies made the list last time but not this. So, for example, in the Internet Ecommerce and Gaming category, Meta (Facebook) entered the list this year, pushing Wix down to third place, as did eBay, pushing Amazon down from third to fifth.

2. Age, length of service, position, all significant for satisfaction

Satisfaction with an employer is a matter of age, as the survey shows. Respondents aged under 20 and over 60 are the least happy (giving scores of 6.49 and 6.99, respectively, out of ten). The happiest age group is 40-49, with an average score of 7.38. Perhaps this is because this is the age-group mostly found in management roles. Managers are the employee group that expressed the highest satisfaction - their average score is 7.71. Immediately after them come employees who enjoy a modicum of flexibility in where they work and how, with a score of 7.46. The least happy are employees with little flexibility at work and whose tasks are mainly repetitive. The average score they gave is 6.57.

In the breakdown by age, the sense of being worn down that has become the most talked-about phenomenon in the post Covid period manifests itself in the figures as well. The longer that people stay with a particular employer, the lower their satisfaction, with one exception. Scores decline with length of service (workers with under one year to two years at an employer gave the highest average score - 7.71), until we come to workers with ten years service or more, whose score climbs back to 7.13.

3. The Great Resignation: One third of employees want to leave

When Statista’s survey got underway this year, one of the burning issues concerning workers and managers was the "Great Resignation" phenomenon, a wave of people who decided to change their career paths and reset their work-life balance. A study by Microsoft found that 41% of people in the global workforce were considering leaving their places of work, and a survey by Deloitte Israel found that the figure in Israel was even higher - 71% of those surveyed said they were thinking of changing jobs.

The figures in the current Statista survey are more moderate. Almost a third of participants (31.7%) said they were thinking of leaving their current employer within two years. Of them, 63% mentioned at least two reasons for their desire to resign, and 40% cited three reasons or more. The most commonly cited reasons are low pay (59.2%), a desire to do something else (39.2%), and too little opportunity for personal development (36.4%). Surprisingly, problems with the direct manager, generally considered one of the main reasons for employees to resign, were among the three reasons cited least. Just 14.2% mentioned this. 11.5% cited moving home as a reason for leaving, and 5.7% cited difficulties with colleagues.

4. Believing in equality, wanting higher pay

A demand that has become standard among job candidates is the option of working from home, and according to the Statista survey, most employees think that their work can be done from home. 61% of the respondents said their jobs could be done remotely. In addition, when respondents were asked with which statements they agreed, the statement "I can organize my work" won the most widespread agreement. Other popular statements were "I’m proud of the company’s product" and "Women and men are entitled to equality of opportunity in the workplace".

On the other hand, as in the previous year’s survey, the statements "Pay is commensurate with responsibility" and "The company pays well" won the least agreement. Experts almost universally stress that pay is not the number one factor in employee retention, but the survey indicates that it actually does play a large part.

5. Worried about the future? Free financial consultancy, mainly for senior managers

One of the questions that the survey participants were asked was whether their employer provided them with free financial consultancy on pensions, savings, and insurance. 56% answered positively, which is consistent with the fact that most of the participants are in managerial roles or in jobs with a degree of autonomy, that is, not junior positions. When the answers are matched to role, it emerges that 60% of those in these kinds of positions receive financial consultancy. In lower level positions, the proportion falls to 46%. Among students and internees, the proportion is even lower - 38.6%.

About the survey

The Israel 2023 Survey of Best Employers an extensive study analyzing the attractiveness of various employers on the basis of an independent employee survey. The survey took into account the opinions of thousands of employees and was based on the scores awarded to each employer. The 150 employers who received the highest scores make up the list of leading employers for 2022.

Who conducted the survey?

The survey was conducted by Statista. Statista publishes globally established rankings and company listings with high profile media partners. Its research and analysis service is based on the success of leading data and business intelligence portal statista.com, which provides statistics, business relevant data, and various market and consumer studies/surveys.

Statista’s partners in media and communications include "The Financial Times", "Forbes", "The Independent", "El Mundo", "Frankfurter Allgemeine", "Business Insider", and LinkedIn.

 The sampling process 

Statista conducted preliminary research to form a list of 1,800 employers eligible to take part in the ranking using last year’s list, industry records, databases, and desk-based research. Companies with more than 200 employees in Israel are eligible for the ranking.

After identifying 1,800 companies with more than 200 employees, Statista conducted an anonymous survey through online panels provided by professional survey companies. Such panels are frequently used to assist in consumer research among specific target groups. In these panels, the registered participants were asked to respond to the survey's questions according to their socio-demographic profile.

In addition, during the period of the survey (June 7 to July 19, 2022) "Globes" readers were also invited to take part and fill out the survey, which was available on the globes.co.il website.

Why was the 200 employees threshold set?

According to Statista's experience around the world, this is the minimum size at which a company can afford to build a significant human resources department that handles complex hiring procedures and nurtures employees and the work environment. Of course there are many exceptions, but a threshold had to be set. In countries with larger populations and economies, the entry threshold is set at 300-500 employees.

How was the ranking determined?

In the survey, employees were asked to rate their readiness to recommend their employer ("direct recommendations") to friends and family. The responses were analyzed on a scale of 0 to 10: from 0 - "I wouldn't recommend my employer at all" - to 10, meaning "I would absolutely recommend my employer."

Employees were also asked about their readiness to recommend other employers in the sector in which they work ("indirect recommendations"). Respondents were presented with a list of these employers, which were categorized in advance by Statista into 25 different industries, and the respondents were asked to give their opinions about which of them stood out either positively or negatively (the options were: "I would recommend," "I wouldn’t recommend," "No opinion").

On the basis of the assessments of the respondents, the employers received an overall score, which was calculated from the direct and indirect recommendations. Finally, the employers were ranked according to their overall scores. Scores could theoretically reach a high of 10 and a low of 0.

Statista also considered the previous year’s recommendations, to take into account the ongoing reputation of an employer. Considering recommendations from two years helps to broaden the base of recommendations and thus lessen volatility. Because last year’s recommendations aren’t as up to date as this year’s, they were given a lower weighting.

A larger base of recommendations, and hence lower volatility, leads to more stable development of company scores over the years, eliminating excessive impact of extreme recommendations of one year, and giving a better overall reflection of the development of a company as an employer.

About 12,000 reviews were obtained through the panels and about 3,000 reviews were obtained through the Globes website (for both years).

Why is the ranking by industry?

The division by industry is especially important in the recommendation process. After all, conditions are not equal in each different industry - but that is not a reason for employees of companies that aren't rich in resources to think that their employers are not worthy of appreciation compared with other employers in the same industry. This is also one of the reasons that the number of companies in each different industry in the list of 150 companies is not equal. The participants in the panels ranked each company in relation to the industry in which it operates. Entry into the list of 150 companies is only according to this score - and this means that there are industries with small representation and those with large representation.

Was additional information gathered on the recommendations?

For additional analyses, the respondents were asked to express their opinions on about 25 statements relating to the work environment. They were asked to rank their employer on various aspects (from salary and the work-private life balance, through to development potential and promotion prospects); the work environment (colleagues, hierarchical structure of the company, technical equipment); and the reputation of the employer (image and growth of the company). The extent of agreement/disagreement with these statements was measured on a scale of 0 to 5. This process was not taken into account in the scoring; its entire aim was to form a deeper understanding of Israel's labor market. These attributes are presented separately in the findings.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 11, 2022.

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