34 Retailers Make “America’s Best Employers for Women”

To help women identify companies that serve their needs—and for businesses to evaluate their own treatment of women — Forbes magazine has compiled a ranking of America’s 400 Best Employers for Women.

Created in partnership with market research firm Statista, the list derives primarily from surveys of more than 60,000 workers at companies with at least 1000 employees. Those surveyed included about 40,000 women, who were asked to rate their company in areas such as working environment, salary and employee diversity, and then whether they would recommend their company to a friend or family member. Their answers were also compared to those of 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. Further research was conducted into each company’s presence of women in executive management or board positions.

All these categories were evaluated and combined to create a final score for each business. The 400 companies with the highest scores made the list.

The top five highest-ranking retailers, and their overall position on the list, are:

7. Costco Wholesale (Issaquah, Wash.)
8. H-E-B Grocery Co. (San Antonio)
9. Trader Joe’s (Monrovia, Calif.)

40. IKEA (Conshohocken, Pa.-U.S. headquarters)

89. Barnes & Noble (New York)
90. Wegmans Food Markets (Rochester, N.Y.)

Other retailers of note, and their overall ranks, include ALDI (115), Kwik Trip/Kwik Star (165), Sephora (208), Tractor Supply (239), Best Buy (285), Nordstrom (308), Target (311), Dick’s Sporting Goods (345), Neiman Marcus (359) and Whole Foods Market (386).

Click here for complete survey results.