The rankings don’t matter much for most of you as a normal job seeker. In your typical tenure with an employer you may not be able to make the best out of all the “goodies” on offer, the work place etc. Most of the employees have a typical tenure of 2 – 3 years with an employer. And in these 2 – 3 years, all you normally would want to experience is a nice work place, a good boss, decent team members, a good learning experience and some good growth and lots of money. Now, no best place to work can really ensure that you (i.e all employees and job seekers) get a balanced dose of all these essentials. The fact is, being able to leverage all that’s on offer at a best place to work is also not every ones cup of tea, you have to be able to be at the right place at the right time to leverage the possibilities.
As a lateral, when one is looking for a new job, most of the time people are desperate for a switch, and the prime factor that’s on their mind is money and the role. While most of us also may not always have choice of jobs at the best employer brands, it is also true that not many people bother with work place environment etc. Most of us have a habit of looking short term, and there fore best places to work rankings is not for most of us as a job seeker. And, any ways how many of you notice company’s below top 10 or top 20. Does it mean every one should aspire for those top 10 – 20 companies only ?
The best places to work surveys, and best employer rankings may actually make sense if you are looking at your first job as a campus hire. As a campus hire in a business with best people practices and people focus you can really end up with an amazing growth path in your first five years at least. There may be lots of opportunities for learning, growth exposure etc.
These surveys, and their results may also be important for HR guys looking for their next job. If a company is in the best places to work list, you can safely assume that the company would have some amount of respect for HR, for HR guys, and may allow a good learning and polishing ground for HR guys. These companies may also be more liberal on HR budget handed over to the HR team. There by allowing the HR guys the opportunity of playing around with new processes, new training programs, fun at work stuff, engagement activities, etc.
Finally, lets get serious. If you are pondering over two job offers from two employers in same industry, once in a while it may not be a bad idea to refer to the best places to work rankings as a reference point. It may actually be a better experience working with a ranked best place to work employer.
Praveen is the Founder & Principal Consultant of KHEdge, a boutique HR & Business Process Advisory firm. Over last 15 years he has advised & worked with promoters, founders, business leaders, HR leaders in areas of - Business Strategy, HR Strategy, Organisation Design etc.