University News

Forbes Ranks UVA One of America’s Best Places To Work

August 30, 2023 • By McGregor McCance, cmm9vg@virginia.edu McGregor McCance, cmm9vg@virginia.edu

Forbes magazine has ranked UVA among the nation’s top employers for women based on working conditions, diversity, compensation, potential for development, company image and other categories. (Photo by Erin Edgerton, University Communications)

The University of Virginia is one of the best places to work in the state and among the best employers for women in the nation, according to workplace rankings produced by Forbes magazine.

In its most recent edition of “America’s Best Employers By State,” Forbes lists UVA as the 10th-best employer operating in Virginia and the fourth-best employer based in Virginia. The three top-ranked employers operating in Virginia, are respectively, Google, Apple and Navy Federal Credit Union – the latter being the highest ranked Virginia-based employer.

UVA was the highest-ranked college or university on the Virginia list. UVA Health was ranked No. 17.

Forbes partnered with research firm Statista to anonymously survey 70,000 employees at companies with at least 500 employees in every state. Survey respondents were asked if they would recommend their employer to others and to evaluate them on “working conditions, diversity, compensation packages, potential for development, company image and more.”

“It is gratifying and energizing to see the University earn high marks as a terrific place to work,” Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer J.J. Wagner Davis said. “And I’m proud to see such positive results among women about our workplace.”

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Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer John Kosky said information from independent sources, especially those that are gathering feedback directly from employees, helps inform the University’s human resources efforts.

“We have a constant need to recruit, hire and retain talent amid incredibly fierce competition,” Kosky said. “Our goal is for UVA to be viewed as the destination employer in our market – and beyond our market for the many jobs that recruit regionally, nationally or even globally.”

In July, Forbes announced a related list, “America’s Best Employers for Women,” and UVA ranked No. 21 nationally.

Partnering again with Statista, Forbes developed the list of Best Employers for Women based on responses to surveys of more than 60,000 workers at companies with at least 1,000 employees. In all, some 40,000 women were asked to rate their employer on work environment, salaries, diversity, and if they would recommend their workplace to someone else. Responses were compared to those from 20,000 men “to assess any significant differences in workplace perception.”

“Women were also asked to rate their employer based on factors such as pay equity, parental-leave policies, leadership training programs for women, representation of women in upper management, and employer response to incidents of discrimination,” Forbes reported. “Further research was conducted into each company’s presence of women in executive management or board positions.”

The 400 companies with the highest scores made the list; the top three on the list were the University of Oklahoma, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Google.

Building and sustaining staff and developing robust career paths are key components of UVA’s “Great and Good” strategic plan.

The plan states that UVA will “prioritize the recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce and the creation of an inclusive and supportive environment, in which staff are recognized as integral to the success of our mission.”