Forbes 2024 Americas Best Employers By State

by Rachel Rabkin Peachman, Forbes

New research from the recruiting and consulting firm Robert Half found that a growing number of workers are content to remain in their current jobs. According to the survey, only about 35% of workers plan to look for a new job in the second half of 2024, which is down from 49% during the same period last year. "Over the last few months, employee retention has increased as workers have chosen stability in the face of global uncertainty," says Becky Wallace, head of people at LearnUpon, a corporate learning platform. "The declining job market, dubbed the 'Big Stay' by the CIPD [the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development], is a huge win for HR leaders who have been working hard to retain staff following years of increased attrition."

Retaining top talent, however, requires vision and effort. "When employees are in their roles for longer, leaders need to consider how they can ensure that they are providing challenges and development opportunities for that member of the staff to keep them engaged, satisfied, and productive," says Wallace. Training and advancement programs are, according to a new global workforce report by ADP Research, an effective way to do just that. The report found that less than 50% of workers think their employer invests in the skills they need to advance. "Skill building helps employees feel invested in and engaged, while also preparing them for their next career step," which could very well be an internal promotion, says Wallace.

Which organizations are doing what it takes to retain their employees and keep them satisfied? For the answer, look no further than to our list of the Best Employers By State 2024.

The results:
World Wide Technology ranked 50 in Illinois and 32 in Missouri

To create the list, Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to survey more than 160,000 employees working for companies with at least 500 people within the United States. Survey participants were asked how likely they were to recommend their employer on a scale of zero to 10. Respondents were also asked to evaluate employers they'd worked for within the past two years, and organizations they knew within their industry or through friends or family who worked there.

Responses—which were received from all 50 states and Washington, D.C.—were then tallied and incorporated into a scoring system, along with survey data from the past three years. Greater weight was given to the more recent data and to the responses from current employees within the state. Companies that received the highest scores in each state made our list, with each state ranking between three and 101 employers, depending on the size of the state and the number of responses received. Ultimately, 1,294 organizations landed on our list of America's Best-In-State Employers 2024, which is presented below.

As with all Forbes lists, companies pay no fee to participate or be selected.