The companies on this year’s newly-released Fortune 500 list show that high revenues don’t have to come at the expense of staffers’ health and happiness: some of the United States’ highest-grossing companies are leaders in employee well-being, too.
Companies across the list are embracing programs to help their employees de-stress at work and disconnect outside of it. Google (whose parent company Alphabet arrives at number 27 on the list) encourages its employees to take advantage of on-site massages and nap pods to reduce workplace stress. Salesforce (number 326 on the list) offers a monthly “wellness reimbursement” for money that employees spend on activities ranging from yoga to smoking-cessation programs. Edward Jones (number 403 on the list) prides itself on its flexible workweek policies, which allow employees to adjust their schedules to spend time with their families at whatever points in the day work best for them.
“Offering flexibility helps our associates balance their work with the rest of the priorities in their lives,” said Edward Jones Managing Partner Jim Weddle, after his company was named one of Fortune’s “Best Workplaces for Flexibility” last year. “We are best able to meet the needs of our clients when we can also meet the work/life challenges of our associates.”
Another encouraging bit of news from the list: its companies are run by more female CEOs than ever before in the list’s 63-year history, with 32 female CEOs this year to last year’s 21. Along with representing a meaningful (if small) step forward in gender equality, this news also bodes well for workplace culture. A recent article in The Atlantic called “When Women Run Companies” describes how, under female CEOs, “workers may see better working conditions and fewer layoffs.”
Explore the Fortune 500 here.
Originally published at medium.com