Thirteen Virginia organizations have been named to Forbes’ ‘Best Employers for Women’ list

Published August 2, 2018 by Robert Powell, III

Thirteen Virginia organizations have been named to Forbes’ “Best Employers for Women.”

Forbes partnered with the market research company Statista  to develop its first national list of 300 companies that are supporting women employees by providing pay equity, advancement opportunities and family leave.

The Virginia employers include some of the commonwealth’s biggest publicly traded companies, such as Booz Allen Hamilton, Leidos, Hilton, Northrop Grumman and Dominion Energy.

The group also includes three of the state’s largest public universities: the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and James Madison University.

Here is a breakdown of the Virginia employers and their rankings:

No. 21: Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, 23,300 employees.

No. 36: University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 28,000 employees.

No. 51: Leidos, Reston, 32,000 employees.

No. 65: Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Lorton, 15,000 employees.

No. 90: Hilton, McLean, 62,289 employees.

No. 92: Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, 25,696 employees.

No. 115: Navy Federal Credit Union, Vienna, 14,000 employees.

No. 162: Northrop Grumman, Falls Church, 67,000 employees.

No. 172: James Madison University, Harrisonburg, 1,375 employees.

No. 200: Dominion Energy, Richmond, 16,200 employees.

No. 227: Serco, Reston, 100,000 employees.

No. 256: Norfolk Southern, Norfolk, 28,044 employees.

No. 261: SAIC, McLean, 15,000 employees.

To come up with the list, Statista surveyed 40,000 U.S. employees, including 25,000 women, who work for companies with workforces of at least 1,000 people.  To encourage openness, the surveys were anonymous.

Survey participants first rated their employers on areas as working conditions and diversity. They also were asked how willing they were to recommend the company to others.

Statista then asked female respondents to rate their employers on factors such as parental leave, discrimination and pay equity.

Women also asked to nominate employers in industries outside their own.

The final list ranks the 300 employers that received the most recommendations and have the most gender diverse boards and executive ranks.

The top company on the list is Principal Financial Group, which is based in Des Moines, Iowa. The investment management and insurance firm employs 9,978 U.S. workers, 59 percent of whom are women.