Great Place To Work determines the list using our proprietary For All methodology to evaluate and certify thousands of organizations in America’s largest ongoing annual workforce study, based on over 1 million employee survey responses and data from companies representing more than 6.1 million employees, this year alone. Over 568,000 responses were from employees with parenting responsibilities.

Our survey enables employees to share confidential quantitative and qualitative feedback about their organization’s culture by responding to 60 statements on a 5-point scale and answering two open-ended questions. Collectively, these statements describe a great employee experience, defined by high levels of trust, respect, credibility, fairness, pride, and camaraderie. In addition, companies provide organizational data like size, location, industry, demographics, roles, and levels; and provide information about parental leave, adoption, flexible schedule, childcare and dependent health care benefits. 

To determine the Best Workplaces for Parents™ list, Great Place To Work measures the differences in parents’ survey responses to those of their peers and assesses the impact of demographics and roles on the quality and consistency of parents’ experiences. Statements are weighted according to their relevance in describing the most important aspects of an equitable workplace to parents. 

Survey data analysis and company-provided datapoints are then factored into a combined score to compare and rank the companies that create the most consistently positive experience for all parents. Many companies survey every employee, even though workplaces with more than 5,000 employees can survey a random sample with a minimum of 5,000 invited. While company datapoints provide important context for rankings, only survey data can garner a list placement.

To be considered for the list, companies must be Great Place To Work-Certified™ and have at least 50 responses from parents in the US. We require statistically significant survey results, review anomalies in responses, news, and financial performance, and investigate any employee reports of company incompliance with strict surveying rules to validate the integrity of the results and findings. Data is also normalized to compare companies fairly across sizes and industries. Companies with 10 to 999 people are considered for the small and medium category; companies with 1,000 employees or more are considered for the large category.