In a job market that’s remained remarkably strong over the last year, Dallas-Fort Worth organizations have been striving to attract, retain and motivate great workers. And the best are succeeding. They’re doing it by offering competitive pay and benefits, greater flexibility in work schedules, and opportunities to learn new things daily. In short, they’re listening to their workers — and they’re treating them with kindness. Micromanaging is out. Trust is in.
Some companies have even added “dream managers” to their staffs to help employees grow and stay engaged. The result of their efforts can be seen in our 2024 Top Workplaces D-FW awards, which recognize those employers who cultivate an outstanding culture in the eyes of those who know them best: their employees. This is the 16th year The Dallas Morning News has partnered with Energage, a Pennsylvania employee survey firm, to determine the best places to work in the D-FW region. A scientific survey of workers means only a select few organizations are honored. Not every entrant gets a blue ribbon.
Energage’s survey asks workers to offer feedback about leadership, appreciation, pay and benefits, and more. Then Energage crunches the data and scores the companies based on the responses. Employers earn Top Workplaces recognition if their aggregated employee feedback score exceeds national benchmarks. Employers are grouped into similar sizes to best compare similar employee experiences.
This year, 6,817 local organizations were invited to survey their employees, and 313 agreed to do so. Surveys went to 130,650 workers in D-FW, and 74,106 responded. Based on those survey responses, we ranked the 150 Top Workplaces and honored an additional 50 companies that exceeded national standards.
In 2024, 41 organizations appear on the Top Workplaces list for the first time. And Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers returns as a winner for the 16th time — the only company to have made the list all 16 years.
Top Workplaces is open to any D-FW employer with 50 or more employees. There’s no cost to participate and no obligation to purchase any product or service. Survey results are valid only if 35% or more employees from an organization respond; employers with fewer than 85 workers have a higher response threshold, requiring responses from at least 30 of the workers.
There are several reasons why a particular company may not have made the list. Maybe the organization didn’t want to participate. Or the employee survey feedback might not have been strong enough to merit recognition. It also might not have been large enough to meet participation standards, or not enough employees responded. In some cases, Energage may choose to disqualify organizations if, for instance, a number of employees said they felt pressured into answering positively.
As you read about this year’s winners, we hope you’ll learn something that might be useful for your own organization. If you’d like to participate in the 2025 Top Workplaces awards, go to the program’s nomination page at dallasnews.com/nominate.
