Dive Brief:

• Pariveda Solutions took the top spot of Fairygodboss's Best Companies for Women in 2019. Described as an employee-owned strategic services and IT consulting firm, Pariveda Solutions earned the highest score (99) from its employees for being a workplace offering clear career advancement, pay transparency, a mentorship program and an Esprit de Femme program to help women share and discuss new ideas. Along with Pariveda, the top five companies include Ultimate Software, Protiviti, ZS and Boston Scientific.
• Fairygodboss said its "best company" lists are based on direct feedback from women in its community. To be eligible for the listing, companies must have received more than 30 reviews. Scores are calculated as an average of workers' responses to questions about: 1) overall job satisfaction, 2) equal treatment at work, and 3) whether women would recommend the company to other women.
• "From our research at Fairygodboss, we know that women's job satisfaction is directly related to the amount of gender equality she experiences at work," said Georgene Huang, Fairygodboss co-founder and CEO, in a media release. "We're excited to showcase these top companies and CEOs as leaders in the movement for gender equality in the workplace and they should be proud that their female employees feel so strongly that they're great places for women to work."

Dive Insight:

Employers struggling with how to attract, engage and retain workers might look to employers on "best places to work" lists for guidance. Ratings are based on workers' evaluations, which makes Fairygodboss' list even more valuable; instead of just assuming what benefits, perks and advantages appeal to workers, employers can directly discover what satisfies and motivates them.

Extensive PTO, equal pay for equal work and paths toward advancement contribute to the employee-centric culture that appears to be present in the ranked companies. Giving employees opportunities to give this feedback is also a component of an inclusive culture — one that will ensure women's concerns, needs and preferences are heard.

The top company on the Fairygodboss list, Pariveda Solutions, takes employee participation one step further: "In 2007, we created an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and today it owns 34% of the company. Over time, the company will be 100% owned by the ESOP," the company's website says. "We believe employees who are company owners take better care of our clients and each other because their focus is on the long run and on maximizing the value of the company for themselves as owner employees."

ESOPs are nothing new, but recent proposals have expanded on their core ideas. As more boomers retire from positions of ownership in their companies, policy advocates have proposed employee ownership as an alternative to consolidation.  A right of first refusal arrangement, which would give workers the option purchase a business from its owners before the business is closed or sold to an outside buyer, could give workers greater autonomy if adopted by policymakers. As with ESOPs, this kind of worker ownership could also improve engagement by giving workers a serious stake in their organizations.