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How do the best places work? You’ve got to pay to play: It all starts with good compensation and a solid benefits package.
Ad Age Best Places to Work 2022 honors 50 companies that did a standout job last year as the ad business rebounded, the talent pool tightened and the specter of COVID-19 remained omnipresent at work, at home—and at work at home.
The winning companies outranked other workplaces in factors ranging from pay and benefits to corporate culture and leadership.
The winners—top companies with more than 200 employees and top companies with 200 or fewer employees—reflect the highest overall scores based on an analysis of questionnaires submitted by employers and survey responses from employees.
Pay and benefits are paramount.
Employees at winning companies felt better about their overall compensation package than did employees at companies in the competition that didn’t make the ranking.
For employees, the best places over-indexed on the survey’s two most basic statements on pay and benefits:
The winners outperformed on specific pay-and-perks points including:
The Ad Age Best Places to Work 2022 ranking was produced by Best Companies Group, a research firm specializing in identifying and recognizing great places to work. Ad Age partnered with Best Companies Group on some past Best Places reports, most recently in 2017.
Best Companies Group conducted the surveys, analyzed the data and determined the winners.
The 50 winners include a strong showing of digital agencies (14), ad tech ventures (13) and health care agencies (six)—three thriving disciplines that must compete in a tight labor market to retain and recruit the specialized talent needed to support their growth.
The list also includes ad agencies (seven), media agencies (five), marketing agencies (two), a branding agency, an event/experiential marketing agency and a public relations agency.
The employee engagement and satisfaction survey included a set of statements that employees responded to (from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”) along with some open-ended and demographic questions. This made up 75% of the overall score.
Beyond positive perceptions about pay and benefits, employees at winning workplaces gave their companies high marks on statements including:
The employee survey covered pay and benefits and seven other core focus areas. The best companies did better than the rest in all of these areas.
Pay and benefits were the biggest differentiators based on employee responses in those areas, with a nearly eight percentage point advantage in the percentage of positive responses for winners (92.5%) versus companies in the competition that didn’t make the ranking (84.8%).
The best places outscored other workplaces by about five percentage points in five areas based on employee responses: training, development and resources; corporate culture and communications; leadership; role satisfaction; and overall engagement.
The two remaining areas—work environment and relationship with supervisor—were comparatively small differentiators for the best companies versus others.
The employer questionnaire covered a company’s policies, practices, benefits and demographics. This made up 25% of the overall score.
On this questionnaire, the winning companies outscored other entrants in such areas as:
Pay and benefits:
Recruitment, training and development:
Work/life balance:
Family-friendly benefits:
The Ad Age Best Places to Work 2022 competition was open to agencies, ad tech firms, brand or corporate marketing departments or groups and in-house agencies of marketers.
To be eligible, a company must have headquarters in North America, or have a North America headquarters or main office if world headquarters is outside of North America; a minimum of 15 full-time employees; and be in business a minimum of one year. 
Read More
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No. 4: Basis Technologies
No. 3: Heartbeat
No. 2: PMG
No. 1: VideoAmp
No. 5: Undertone
No. 4: Stella Rising
No. 3: High Wide & Handsome
No. 2: Organic
No. 1: Confiant
