Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are still working from home, at least for a couple of days each week.
Hybrid and remote work weren’t just pandemic solutions. They’ve become foundational to how people work. In fact, many employees actively seek out flexible work arrangements, and businesses that offer them are seeing stronger retention and higher productivity.
Our annual Top Workplaces report spotlights the rise of remote and hybrid work. We examine how the most effective workplaces support remote workers and make in-office days productive and purposeful. After hastily making work-from-home arrangements during the height of the pandemic, many organizations are now perfecting their approaches.
Flexible work arrangements aren’t an option for every industry. Construction, manufacturing and health care are just a few of the sectors where on-site work is essential. But companies that are able to embrace hybrid work, including many that are recognized this year as Top Workplaces, say it offers a host of benefits.
How did we select the top workplaces? The Tribune partnered with Energage of Exton, Pennsylvania, a workplace survey and improvement specialist, which surveyed nominated Chicago-area employers with at least 75 employees.
The Tribune did not pay Energage, and organizations did not pay any fees to have their employees surveyed or to win a Top Workplaces designation. The Tribune used news coverage as well as advertising to seek nominations. In total, 8,108 organizations were asked to survey their employees, and 236 agreed to do so.
Energage used a 26-question survey that asks employees for feedback on factors such as pay and benefits, direction, leadership, meaningfulness and appreciation. Energage scored companies based on the responses.
Employers earn Top Workplaces recognition if their aggregated employees’ feedback score exceeds national benchmarks. Energage has established those benchmarks based on feedback from about 30 million employees over 19 years.
Based on the survey feedback, 185 Chicagoland organizations earned recognition as Top Workplaces.
Our list of top organizations is divided into three categories: small (fewer than 250 employees), midsize (250 to 999) and large (1,000 or more). Beginning this year, employers are grouped by the overall size of their organization, and the number of employees invited to the survey, which might include employees outside Chicagoland.
The list of companies that were not designated a Top Workplace was kept confidential by Energage and was not shared with the Tribune.
This is the 16th year the Tribune has partnered with Energage to honor the best places to work in the Chicago area, and it’s not too soon to think about next year. To participate in the 2026 Top Workplaces awards, or for more information, go to the nomination page at chicagotribune.com/nominate.
