GreatPlaceJobs Q2 Employment Study: Great Workplaces Continue to Outperform and Weather the Recession Better

Atlanta, GA, July 10, 2009 --(PR.com)-- GreatPlaceJobs is excited to share the updated results from their ground-breaking study comparing layoff trends between top-rated and other Fortune 100 companies. The new findings, which consist of data from the first half of 2009, continue to clearly demonstrate that the biggest employers are not necessarily the best.

The study shows that the nation's largest companies conducted layoffs at a rate of almost twice that of a group of companies recognized as great workplaces. Only 44% of excellent employers laid off workers from the beginning of 2008, while a shocking 86% of the Fortune 100 companies have laid off employees in the past year and a half.

The revenue growth rate at great workplace companies in Q1 2009 was 2.3% better than the rest of the Fortune 100, and the average stock price of the excellent employers was 1.1% higher as of June 30, 2009 (compared to January 1, 2009) than typical Fortune 100 companies.

“Despite the fact that the award-winning employers have also been hurt by the current recession, most remain committed and loyal to their employees and have not included layoffs in their cost-cutting actions,” said Miriam Salpeter, co-founder of GreatPlaceJobs. “I always advise my job-seeking clients to focus on identifying an organization to target, and this new information further confirms the fact that great workplaces, such as those who post opportunities on GreatPlaceJobs, are a terrific choice."

The GreatPlaceJobs Great Workplace Employment Study compared the employment, financial and operating data of the Fortune 100's largest U.S. companies with the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For. Though both groups suffered lower revenue levels in Q1 2009 compared to Q1 2008, the average year-over-year revenue growth rate in Q1 2009 was 2.3% better at the great workplace companies. The excellent employers saw their Q1 2009 revenues decline by 7.1% from the previous year's quarterly revenues, while revenues at the Fortune 100 largest companies decreased by 9.4% from Q1 2008.

A clear sign of the great employers’ competitive advantage and resilience is evident in the fact that nine of the Fortune 100 largest companies from 2008 filed for bankruptcy or were bailed out by the U.S. government in 2008, while none of the great workplace companies failed on this magnitude.

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A complete copy of the GreatPlaceJobs Great Workplace Employment Study and additional information about the methodology may be requested via email: contact@greatplacejobs.com. For more information about GreatPlaceJobs, visit www.greatplacejobs.com. To receive regular updates about new and interesting data and reports, visit and/or subscribe to the GreatPlaceJobs blog (http://www.greatplacejobs.com/blog) and follow them on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/GreatPlaceJobs).

About GreatPlaceJobs

GreatPlaceJobs offers the largest collection of job listings exclusively from award-winning companies that have been recognized as "great workplaces." The database currently includes tens of thousands of open jobs from excellent employers from across the U.S. GreatPlaceJobs offers job seekers both free and premium subscriptions to its database of job listings.