Update as of March 2022: After much consideration, we have decided to indefinitely suspend Top CEOs as an official Glassdoor Award. The expectations and priorities of today's job seekers and employees continue to rapidly evolve and we are refreshing our program to help people make even more informed career decisions. For more information about Glassdoor's Employees' Choice Awards, please see here.
Is your Chief Executive Officer (CEO) an extraordinary leader who employees love to work for? If so, you can help your company and your CEO win a Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award for the Top CEOs in 2021.
Today, Glassdoor is excited to share the Top CEOs awards criteria for 2021 to help employees and employers better understand what it takes to be considered.
Unlike other workplace awards, there is no self-nomination process or cost involved. To win a Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award, winners are determined based on feedback provided by those who really know a CEO best - their employees. If employees don't share reviews on Glassdoor during the year-long eligibility time frame, a CEO cannot be considered. That's why we encourage all employees to share a review today.
When providing a company review, employees are asked to share their opinion on some of the best reasons to work for their employer (pros), any downsides (cons) and are encouraged to provide advice to management. Employees are also asked to rate several factors tied to their employment experience, including sentiment around their CEO's job performance, in addition to rating workplace attributes such as senior management, among others. Specifically, when rating their CEO on Glassdoor, employees are able to choose from one of three options: approve, disapprove or no opinion of the CEO.
For the Employees' Choice Awards recognizing the Top CEOs in 2021, Glassdoor will feature six distinct categories, including categories for five countries. For each category, company reviews and ratings from current and former employees will be considered between May 2, 2020 and May 1, 2021. Reviews submitted after May 1, 2021 will be considered for next year's Top CEOs award.
While Glassdoor accepts reviews from former employees within five years of leaving a company, only reviews from former employees who have left the company in 2020 or 2021 will be considered for the Employees' Choice Awards for Top CEOs.
In addition, each list of winners is based on local-employee feedback shared on Glassdoor. For example, reviews from U.S.-based employees will be used to determine if a CEO is eligible for a U.S. list, while reviews from UK-based employees will be used to determine if a CEO is eligible for the UK list. A CEO can win a Top CEO award in multiple countries.
To determine the 2021 winners, quantity, quality and consistency of reviews and ratings will be taken into account during the eligibility time frame. The following information sheds more light on these three areas:
1. For quantity of reviews, a minimum number of ratings are required across two leadership attributes that employees can rate when submitting a company review. They include CEO job performance and senior management. If there are not enough ratings across both or either of the two leadership attributes, a CEO will not be considered. As part of the algorithm developed by the Glassdoor Economic Research team, a CEO's job performance is the primary factor taken into account, along with other factors including an employer's senior management rating.
To be considered for a specific category, a CEO and employer must meet the following requirements during the eligibility time frame:
100 Top CEOs - U.S. large companies: At least 100 ratings across the two leadership attributes from U.S.-based employees; at least 1,000 employees at the end of the eligibility time frame.
50 Top CEOs - U.S. small & medium companies: At least 35 ratings across the two leadership attributes from U.S.-based employees; fewer than 1,000 employees at the end of the eligibility time frame.
50 Top CEOs - UK: At least 35 ratings across the two leadership attributes from UK-based employees; at least 1,000 employees at the end of the eligibility time frame.
25 Top CEOs - Canada: At least 25 ratings across the two leadership attributes from Canada-based employees; at least 1,000 employees at the end of the eligibility time frame.
10 Top CEOs - France: At least 25 ratings across the two leadership attributes from France-based employees; at least 1,000 employees at the end of the eligibility time frame.
10 Top CEOs - Germany: At least 25 ratings across the two leadership attributes from Germany-based employees; at least 1,000 employees at the end of the eligibility time frame.
For all categories, a CEO's employer must have at least a 3.0 overall company rating and at least a 2.5 senior management rating during the eligibility period. A CEO must also currently be in the role and featured on their employer's Glassdoor profile as of May 1, 2021. In cases in which a company has multiple CEOs, Glassdoor recognizes the CEO(s) on the employer's Glassdoor profile as of May 1, 2021. Employee count displayed on Glassdoor as of May 1, 2021 is used to help determine category eligibility. Employers have until May 1, 2021 to update their current CEO and/or global employee count, or "size" as listed in the Overview section, on their Glassdoor profile with a Free Employer Account. In addition, the awards take into account various types of employment status, including full-time, part-time, contract and freelance. Intern company reviews are not considered. Reviews from employees at universities, multi-level marketing agencies and in the armed forces are not considered.
2. For quality of reviews, Glassdoor's proprietary awards algorithm takes into account what employees have to say that shows winning CEOs truly outshine the rest in the eyes of their employees. Quality reviews are those that help job seekers by offering insights and feedback into what it's really like to work under the CEO and her/his leadership team as well as at the company itself, including what's working well, what needs improvement and advice to senior management, which employees are asked to share when completing a company review on Glassdoor.
3. For consistency of reviews, Glassdoor's proprietary awards algorithm also accounts for trends over time as it relates to both the quantitative and qualitative insights shared by employees. In some cases, if a CEO and/or employer's reviews lack quality and/or consistency, it can impact results and/or eligibility. Tip: We encourage employers to check out free resources on what Top CEOs have in common to learn more.
Commitment to integrity for all employers: Glassdoor is committed to the highest level of data integrity and reviews quality in determining award winners. This includes treating all CEOs and employers equally regardless of whether or not they are a customer of Glassdoor. If the Glassdoor eligibility panel suspects and/or determines official company representatives have attempted to influence employee reviews or have tampered with the process of collecting authentic, unbiased reviews, including intentional or unintentional acts that violate the Glassdoor Community Guidelines and/or Terms of Use, a CEO and/or employer may be excluded from awards consideration. Exclusion from eligibility can be triggered by such acts as, but not limited to, management attempting to leave false reviews, management coercion of employees to submit positive reviews, or other activities and/or events that could damage employees' faith in the CEO, the employer, its senior leadership and/or adversely affect the validity of its overall rating on Glassdoor. A best practice is to encourage employees to leave an unbiased review every 12 months.
The 2021 winners will be announced in June 2021.
Want more information? Check out previous winners, free employer resources and award FAQs.
