How Top Workplaces are picked

For the fifth year in a row, WorkplaceDynamics of Exton asked employees around the region to rate their bosses and companies anonymously on behalf of those same companies and Philly.com.

Participation in the survey is free for companies, each of which receive an overview report highlighting their own company's top and bottom performing areas. WorkplaceDynamics is paid by participating companies who want to delve deeper into the data it collects so managers can get a true look at what their employees are thinking. Final results for Delaware Valley companies are shared with Philly.com at no charge.

The responses of 22 questions posed to workers are not used to formulate an average for the region, said Niki Reid, a data scientist with the firm. Instead, they provide a look inside some of the very best companies doing business here.

"It's meant for those companies that aspire to be a Top Workplace," she said.

"We're a B Corporation (a company that uses business as a force for good)," said Reid, who holds a master's degree in economics from Boston University. "We're driven by our mission to help companies create places where employees want to work. We truly want honest feedback."

This year, WorkplaceDynamics invited 1,430 companies with at least 50 employees in the region to participate in the survey. Of those, 163 firms with a total of 83,440 local employees were surveyed.

Of those employees, 54,342 received surveys, and 34,393 responded.

Surveys of all employees were encouraged by WorkplaceDynamics, but the required response rate varied depending on employer size. For those with fewer than 85 employees, at least 30 responses were required. Large employers could choose to randomly sample, but those with 2,500 or fewer workers must invite at least 500 employees to participate. Employers with between 2,501 and 5,000 local workers were required to distribute surveys to at least 20 percent of those workers, and employers with more than 5,000 workers in the region had to distribute at least 1,000 surveys.