A recent ranking by the Burning Glass Institute, Schultz Family Foundation and Harvard Business School’s Managing the Future of Work Project found W.W. Grainger and nine other companies to be those where workers can best find growth in their professional lives.
Industrial supply company W.W. Grainger received the first-place on this year’s edition of the American Opportunity Index, which its creators said "reveals which large U.S. companies are doing the best to advance the careers of their employees and grow the middle class" in the job market.
The index considered factors like hiring, pay, promotion, parity and culture at numerous major America-based companies over five years to determine the order of the list that Grainger placed first on. The ranking uses data about the "career trajectories" of over 5 million workers and pays particular attention to positions that don’t require a college degree, it said.
The American Opportunity Index gave Grainger, which employs over 26,000 people, scores of 4 for hiring, pay, parity and culture, and a score of 3 for promotion.
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"The foundation of the Grainger Culture is an unwavering belief that every team member deserves the opportunity to have a meaningful and fulfilling career. This recognition is a testament to our investment in attracting, developing and retaining the best people so we can continue to achieve our purpose – We Keep the World Working – for our customers and communities," Grainger CEO D.G. Macpherson was quoted as saying.
The industrial supply company climbed two places from third last year to reach the No. 1 spot in 2024, according to the index.
The nine other companies that made the top-ten operated in the retail, financial, technology, transportation, food and insurance industries.
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According to the American Opportunity Index, the companies that received the overall highest rankings this year included:
1. W.W. Grainger
UKRAINE - 2021/04/04: In this photo illustration the Grainger, Inc logo is seen on a smartphone and a pc screen. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) (Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)
2. Costco Wholesale
Costco logo displayed on a laptop screen and a small shopping cart are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on February 22, 2024. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)
3. Capital One Financial
MCLEAN VA- FEBRUARY 08: The sun flares over the top of the Capital One logo outside of their corporate headquarters complex on February 8, 2024, in McLean, Va. (Photo by J. David Ake/Getty Images) ( J. David Ake/Getty Images / Getty Images)
4. Meta Platforms
Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta is seen on smartpone in front of displayed logo of Facebook, Messenger, Intagram, Whatsapp and Oculus in this illustration picture taken October 28, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration / Reuters Photos)
5. ServiceNow
CHINA - 2024/09/21: In this photo illustration, a ServiceNow logo is displayed on the screen of a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) (Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)
6. J.B. Hunt Transport Services
Signage outside a J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. freight depot in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022. J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. is scheduled to release earnings on January 18. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
7. Coca-Cola
Signage outside the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Albany, New York, US, on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. Coca-Cola Co. is scheduled to release earnings figures on February 13. (Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
8. PepsiCo
The new manufacturing facility is 1.2 million-square-feet, according to a PepsiCo spokesperson. (Kennedy Hayes/ Fox News)
9. MetLife
MetLife logo of a life insurance company is seen on a top of a building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 31 January 2022. (Photo by STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images) ( (Photo by STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
10. Bank of America
Signage at a Bank of America branch in New York, US, on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Bank of America Corp. is scheduled to release earnings figures on Oct. 15. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The 2024 placements of three of those companies – J.B. Hunt, PepsiCo and MetLife – marked jumps into the top-ten. They were No. 21, 19 and 16, respectively, last year, per the index.
The American Opportunity Index features a total of 395 major American companies, with 100 being dubbed the "top performers."
When it came to 100 companies that ranked most highly specifically for pay, their workers received a whopping 130% more in compensation than those at companies that placed in the bottom 100 for that category, according to the American Opportunity Index.
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Meanwhile, workers at employers in the top-100 for international promotion had 130% higher chances of getting moved up in their companies compared to the bottom-100, it also found.
