Forbes World's Best Employers List for 2021 Revealed, From Amazon to Apple

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The 2021 ranking of "The World's Best Employers" by Forbes has been revealed on Tuesday.

The business magazine's annual list, compiled in partnership with market research firm Statista, is based on surveys conducted among 150,000 full-time and part-time employees in 58 countries working for businesses with global operations.

Participants in the surveys, which were conducted anonymously, were asked to rate their willingness to recommend their employers to family and friends.

The workers were also asked to evaluate other companies in their respective industries that stood out to them either positively or negatively.

They were also asked to rate their satisfaction with their employers' response to the COVID-19 pandemic, scoring their companies based on "image, economic footprint, talent development, gender equality and social responsibility," Forbes explains.

The 750 companies that had the highest total scores made the final cut for this year's list.

This year's list features 236 U.S. businesses, joined by 91 German companies as well as 57 employers in China, according to Forbes.

Engineering and manufacturing firms claimed the bulk of the rankings. But the top 10 were dominated by technology companies, including Amazon, amid the company's recent racial and pregnancy discrimination allegations and claims of pay inequities.

The vice president of workforce development at Amazon, Ardine Williams, told Forbes: "We are absolutely committed to an employee population that can best serve our customers."

Among the major retailers on the list is Target, which climbed 117 spots from last year's list, according to Forbes.

A Target store in New York.
People walking in front of Target store in New York back in March. Target was among the major retailers to make "The World Best Employers List" ranked by "Forbes" magazine this year. Emaz/VIEWpress

The top 10 ranking of 2020's list was dominated by technology and electronic companies, including Samsung, the South Korean electronics giant, which topped the list. LG was the other major South Korean electronics brand that made last year's list in fifth place.

The rest of the 2020 list was dominated by six American companies, including Amazon (second place), Microsoft (third), IBM (fourth), Apple (sixth), Adobe (seventh) and Alphabet (eighth), the California-based technology conglomerate.

But which companies made this year's list?

Forbes 2021 List: The World's Best Employers

Here we look at the companies in the top 20 ranking of the latest Forbes' The World's Best Employers list. See the Forbes website for the full list of 750 companies that made this year's list.

  1. Samsung Electronics (South Korea)
  2. IBM (U.S.)
  3. Microsoft (U.S.)
  4. Amazon (U.S.)
  5. Apple (U.S.)
  6. Alphabet (U.S.)
  7. Dell Technologies (U.S.)
  8. Huawei (China)
  9. Adobe (U.S.)
  10. BMW Group (Germany)
  11. Costco Wholesale (U.S.)
  12. Coca-Cola (U.S.)
  13. Cisco Systems (U.S.)
  14. Adidas (Germany)
  15. Siemens (Germany)
  16. Southwest Airlines (U.S.)
  17. Airbus (The Netherlands)
  18. Dr. Oetker (Germany)
  19. Dassault Systemes (France)
  20. Delta Air Lines (U.S.)
A Samsung logo seen on a window.
A Samsung logo displayed on a glass door at the company's Seocho building in Seoul, South Korea, seen on October 8. Samsung topped the Forbes 2021 list of the world's best employers. JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images

About the writer

Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in travel, health, home/interior design and property/real estate. Soo covered the COVID-19 pandemic extensively from 2020 to 2022, including several interviews with the chief medical advisor to the president, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Soo has reported on various major news events, including the Black Lives Matter movement, the U.S. Capitol riots, the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. and Canadian elections, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Soo is also a South Korea expert, covering the latest K-dramas—including the breakout hit Squid Game, which she has covered extensively, including from Seoul, the South Korean capital—as well as Korean films, such as the Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated Past Lives, and K-pop news, to interviews with the biggest Korean actors, such as Lee Jung-jae from Squid Game and Star Wars, and Korean directors, such as Golden Globe and Oscar nominee Celine Song. Soo is the author of the book How to Live Korean, which is available in 11 languages, and co-author of the book Hello, South Korea: Meet the Country Behind Hallyu. Before Newsweek, Soo was a travel reporter and commissioning editor for the award-winning travel section of The Daily Telegraph (a leading U.K. national newspaper) for nearly a decade from 2010, reporting on the latest in the travel industry, from travel news, consumer travel and aviation issues to major new openings and emerging destinations. Soo is a graduate of Binghamton University in New York and the journalism school of City University in London, where she earned a Masters in international journalism. You can get in touch with Soo by emailing s.kim@newsweek.com . Follow her on Instagram at @miss.soo.kim or X, formerly Twitter, at @MissSooKim .Languages spoken: English and Korean


Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in Read more