As with every year for the past six years, business data analytics company Dun & Bradstreet unveils its ranking of the best companies to work for, highlighting who’s hot and who’s not. In a year marked by the global COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft retains its belt as the best company to work for in Israel - after dethroning Google last year.

5 Israeli companies, 5 multinationals

For the second year in a row, Microsoft’s Israeli R&D center continues to reign supreme, with former number one Google moving up one spot to second. Sitting comfortably at third is the first Israeli company, IronSource, which jumped up 5 spots from eighth last time around.  

Soluto and Playtika keep their fourth and fifth spots from last year, while Taboola dropped down from second to sixth. In seventh place sit Wix, coming up from ninth; with Facebook, Intel, and Salesforce following respectively - all three multinational companies operate an R&D center in Israel. With a lineup of 50 companies, this year’s ranking marked 16 new companies joining the list, such as monday.com, Lightricks, Moovit, NSO, Verizon Media, SciPlay, and Dynamic Yield, which was acquired by McDonald’s, among others.

Taking 1st place among the startup battle royal: BigID

Other than ranking Israel-based corporations, the list also ranks the top 20 Israeli startups. This year, first place was conquered by cyber-security startup BigID, which finds itself leading the pack in its debut entry. Coming in at second is last year’s number one - eCommerce security startup Namogoo; with Gong.io cementing itself at third, fresh off a $200 million funding round. After Gong, HoneyBook comes in at fourth, and closing out the top 5 is MedTech AI startup Zebra Medical Vision.

Behind the research process

Dan & Bradstreet’s ranking is based on data analytics and research of hundreds of high-tech companies and startups. As part of the research, HR executives are asked to fill out surveys about different parameters like the employee’s ability to impact, technological environment, career development and talent retainment, workplace environment, benefits, and general employee satisfaction.

Simultaneously, a questionnaire was sent to the employees themselves, checking their satisfaction on different aspects of employment, such as conditions, professional challenges, ability to influence, work-home balance (or thanks to COVID, home-home), an more. Furthermore, both HR and employees are asked who they think are the best high-tech companies to work for - regardless of their place of work.

In addition to the standard ranking parameters, this year’s survey also added a COVID response section. The companies were asked about their employment policies and conditions during the crisis, as well as how the crisis impacted company operations. The workers also got provide input by expressing their satisfaction with how their company managed the crisis.

So, what do employees say about crisis management?

Based on D&B’s database, which for the first time added a COVID category, 93% of employees who answered the survey responded being very satisfied with their company’s solutions to its workforce’s changing needs.

In addition, 89% were pleased with their company’s visibility throughout the crisis, and 91% were overly satisfied to see their company prioritize efficiency during the pandemic. The employees noted that complete visibility is key in managing the ongoing crisis.

Chief Data & Analytics at Dun & Bradstreet Efrat Segev, said that “one of the most meaningful parameters that we checked was, how the companies managed the crisis, and how did their actions impact their employees’ satisfaction.” Segev added that “there’s no question that COVID has been impactful on the employer-employee relationship. We have seen that companies that operate with full visibility and provide employment certainty, have further increased their employees’ confidence in their company, and in their leadership.”