13 Best Workplace Awards to Apply For in 2024

Let’s be honest, we all love to win — a victory on the sports field, at game night, or over a frustrating challenge is deeply satisfying. And workplace awards are no exception. It feels great to have your organization recognized as one of the best places for your people to grow their careers, to innovate and create, and to achieve their goals.

These 13 best workplace awards all offer you a way to apply for formal recognition of your great employee experience, and there’s an option for everyone included, from small businesses to enterprises. This list covers the biggest national awards, but don’t forget to look for regional and industry-specific ones to apply for as well (we just didn’t have the space to do them justice!).

Best Workplace Awards for 2024

1. INC Best Workplace Awards

INC’s award for the best workplaces across the US focuses on the company cultures that do more than just survive in times of adversity — they actually thrive. Plus, they must help employees grow and advance at all levels, and continually redefine and enrich their workplaces. Their 2023 winners all exemplify this approach.

Deadline: early rate deadline December 8, 2023

How to apply: It’s open to US-based companies at least two years old with five or more employees and less than $1 billion in revenue — read more and submit your application.

2. PEOPLE® Companies That Care

PEOPLE’s annual list of companies that go above and beyond for their customers, empower their employees, and give back to their communities at every level is inspiring — just check out their 2023 winners for evidence. The award is part of the Great Place to Work family of awards, and so to apply for this award, your workplace must have a Great Place to Work Certification (like many awards on this list).

Deadline: January 23, 2024

How to apply: Learn more about the award and how to apply.

3. Gallup Exceptional Workplace Awards

Gallup is the expert on employee engagement and experience, so it’s no surprise that they have an awards program to celebrate the leaders in excellent workplace culture. They focus on highlighting companies that weave employee engagement throughout the entire employee lifecycle, as their 2023 winners show.

Deadline: January 26, 2024

How to apply: View the criteria and start your application.

4. Fortune Best Workplaces in [Bay Area, Texas, New York, Chicago]

Fortune magazine has multiple best workplaces awards — this segment is divided into the major metropolises of the US, with separate categories and applications for each region. Your company must be headquartered in the region where you apply, and you must have at least 10 US employees to be eligible.

Deadline: February 19, 2024

How to apply: Check out the calendar with links to all the regional applications — note they’re also a Great Place to Work award program.

5. Ragan Workplace Wellness Awards

Ragan takes a slightly different approach to finding the best places to work — their award program is focused on workplace wellness. They weigh wellness perks, total rewards, and employee well-being initiatives to determine their final list of winners in multiple categories.

Deadline: November 17, 2023 and November 15, 2024

How to apply: Learn more about the awards criteria, application cost, and the many categories you can enter on Ragan’s website.

6. Fortune Best [Medium, Small] Workplaces

Sometimes it can seem like the big companies get all the love from awards programs, but Fortune wants to celebrate the small and medium-sized companies with great work cultures too. For the purposes of this award, small companies have between 10-99 US employees, and medium ranges from 100-999 US employees.

Deadline: May 10, 2024

How to apply: Review the requirements and deadlines on the Great Place to Work 2023 award calendar.

7. Fortune Best Workplaces in [multiple industries]

Another one of Fortune’s workplace award efforts covers a wide variety of industries, so you can see how well you stack up in the rankings to other companies in the same line of work. The industries are:

-Manufacturing & Production

-Healthcare

-Consulting & Professional Services

-Financial Services & Insurance

-Advertising & Marketing

-Retail

-Real Estate

-Construction

-BioPharma

-Technology

Deadline: May 10, 2024

How to apply: Review the criteria and the brief, plus the application process on the Great Place to Work calendar.

8. Fortune Best Workplaces for Women

Fortune also breaks down its categories further into organizations that are specifically great for women, in terms of work environment and advancement potential. To qualify, you must employ at least 50 US women, have at least one female executive and a minimum of one out of five non-executive female managers. There are two separate categories: Large and Small/Medium companies.

Deadline: August 2, 2024

How to apply: Review the eligibility criteria and Great Place to Work deadlines on their website. https://www.greatplacetowork.com/best-workplaces/women.

Deadlines for 2025

While the deadlines for these 2024 awards have passed, you can mark them on your calendar to apply for the next year to celebrate your workplace culture.

9. Fast Company Best Workplaces for Innovators Awards

Fast Company has been highlighting and rewarding innovative organizations for over a decade now. Their Best Workplaces for Innovators award recognizes companies that have created a true culture of innovation from top to bottom, where employees at all levels feel free to invent and explore new ways of thinking. Companies and nonprofits of all sizes can apply, and it’s open to international applicants.

Deadline: TBD  

How to apply: You can read more about the award and sign up for a notification when applications open at Fast Company’s website.

10. USA Today Top Workplaces 2024

USA Today’s Top Workplaces award is designed to celebrate workplaces across America that center their employees and truly listen to them, creating a caring and compassionate work environment. Any organization with more than 150 employees can apply, and your employees will evaluate how you're doing with a 24-question survey.

Deadline: November 10, 2023 (check back for 2024 deadlines!)

How to apply: Applying is free, and anyone can submit a nomination for a private, non-profit, or public sector employer.

11. Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For®

Fortune has many best workplaces awards, but their most prestigious one is the 100 Best Companies to Work For list. The full application requires undergoing a Culture Audit, so it’s a little more involved than many of the other options on this list. Your company must have at least 1000 employees to be eligible.

Deadline: likely August 2024

How to apply: Review the application information and the full criteria.

Awards with No Application

Not every best places to work award requires an application — these two awards compile employee feedback and data to glean the best of the best every year.

12. Glassdoor Best Places to Work Awards

Glassdoor takes an unusual approach to their Best Places to Work Awards: instead of soliciting applications from companies, they only consider feedback that employees leave for your company on Glassdoor to make their selections. Check out their list of 2023 winners to see who came out on top last year.

How to apply: Read about the criteria and selection process.

13. LinkedIn Top Companies: The 50 Best Places to Grow Your Career

LinkedIn also uses employee feedback instead of an application to evaluate the companies where employees are positioned for the best experience in growing and developing their careers. They also look at metrics and benchmarks like attrition rate, average tenure, and recent layoffs to make their decisions.

How to apply: Read about the criteria and selection process

What Does it Mean to be a Best Place to Work?

But before you can craft a great application to be recognized as a terrific place to work, what does that really mean? Of course, it will vary by company and industry, but there are some generally applicable standards: treating your employees with respect and giving them autonomy and career development opportunities.

Anything that helps your employees to balance doing their best work with their full personal lives, to feel a sense of empowerment and belonging at work, and generally enables them to thrive makes your company a wonderful place to work.

How to Become a Best Place to Work

This list of awards is a great way to get external recognition of the effort you’ve put into your company culture and burnish your employer brand, but even the most prestigious award doesn’t tell the full story.

Your rates of employee engagement, retention and turnover, and employee satisfaction, among many other benchmarks, make up the whole sum of your employee experience. Working thoughtfully and strategically to improve those metrics for your valued employees is what makes you one of the best places to work, whether or not you receive an award for it.

If you’re looking to improve your employee experience but don’t know where to start, Cooleaf is here to help! Our all-in-one employee engagement, recognition, and connection platform makes it easy to build a better place to work. Chat with us!