Trust, pride and friendship make for good employers : Qualities should be highlighted in focus on great places to work

Purpose The aim of this paper is to examine characteristics of good employers that have often had inadequate emphasis in previous research. Design/methodology/approach This paper investigates three different ranking schemes, Fortune’s 100 Best Employers, Glassdoor.com ’s Employees’ Choice Awards, and Careerbliss.com’s 50 Happiest Companies in America, to test several hypotheses. Findings Significant hallmarks of great places to work are an employer’s trustworthiness, employee pride and the camaraderie that should exist among workers. Originality/value While there are no insights or findings that will surprise readers, it widens the debate on factors that make for good employers as well as concluding with ideas for further research.