Accounting Firms Make Appearance in Fortune’s 100 Best Workplaces for Women

Right on the heels of releasing its Best Workplaces for 2022 list, Fortune magazine, along with the website Great Place to Work, has come out with its ranking of the 100 Best Large Workplaces for Women—and public accounting firms are dotted throughout the list.

To be considered for the list, companies must be Great Place to Work-Certified and employ at least 50 women, at least 20% of their non-executive managers must be female, and at least one executive must be female.

The list is determined based on nearly 1.2 million employee survey responses and data from companies representing more than 7 million employees, this year alone. More than 640,000 responses were from women.

The survey asked employees to share confidential quantitative and qualitative feedback about their firm’s culture by responding to 60 statements on a 5-point scale and answering two open-ended questions. These statements describe a great employee experience, defined by high levels of trust, respect, credibility, fairness, pride, and camaraderie, according to Fortune. In addition, firms provided organizational data like size, location, industry, and the number of women in the workforce and management positions.

Great Place to Work then measured the differences in women’s survey responses to those of their peers and assessed the impact of demographics and roles on the quality and consistency of women’s experiences. Statements were weighted according to their relevance in describing the most important aspects of an equitable workplace for women. The website also analyzed the gender balance of each workplace, how it compares to each company’s industry, and patterns in representation as women rise from front-line positions to the board of directors.

Survey data analysis and women’s representation figures were then factored into a combined score to compare and rank the companies that create the most consistently positive experience and opportunities for all women, regardless of their role or demographic background, according to Fortune.

This year six public accounting firms were among the top 100 workplaces for women. The highest-ranked firm was Deloitte at No. 16. Of its 80,138 U.S. employees, 44.1% are women. In addition, 41.7% are women in non-executive management positions, while 40% are women in executive or management roles.

Here is where all six public accounting firms were ranked in the top 100, with the percentage of women employees in parenthesis:

16. Deloitte (44.1%)
23. RSM US (47%)
37. KPMG (45.8%)
41. Baker Tilly (51.7%)
46. Plante Moran (N/A)
86. PwC (46.6%)

The No. 1 best workplace for women in 2022 is Hilton, followed by Pinnacle Financial Partners in second and Cisco in third.