About the Best Places to Work in IT

A note from Foundry’s Global Editorial Director:

Thank you for your interest in Computerworld’s Best Places to Work in IT.

IDG

We’re excited to announce that the Best Places to Work in IT program is expanding in 2022! As a global company we want to recognize the achievements of companies all over the world. To enable worldwide participation in this popular program, we are making some significant changes this year:

• The survey will be open to all companies with 5 or more IT employees, and 100 or more total employees worldwide.
• There will not be an employee survey component this year. Nominated companies will still complete a company survey and be given the opportunity to tell us about their successes in multiple areas, including retention and engagement; diversity, equity, and inclusion; benefits; career development; and training.
• Regional panels of judges consisting of industry leaders within and outside of Computerworld will evaluate entries and confirm the honorees.
• Honorees will be recognized within their country and/or region. As in the past, overall and category awards will be named within three company size categories.

We are planning to open nominations on May 31, 2022. We’ll be promoting the program online and via social media. The FAQ list below answers many questions about participating in the Best Places to Work in IT program. Additional questions can be emailed to bestplaces@computerworld.com.

We look forward to learning more about what your organization is doing to provide the best possible work experience for your IT employees.

— Matt Egan, Global Editorial Director, Foundry

About the Best Places to Work in IT program

Computerworld conducts an annual survey to identify the best places to work for IT professionals. We invite readers, PR professionals and other interested parties to nominate companies they consider great employers for IT workers. You may nominate your own company. We then ask those nominated companies that meet our basic criteria to participate in our survey.

This year for the first time, nominations will be open for companies outside of the United States! We are excited to expand this program, which has a 29-year history in the United States, to companies worldwide. Nominees will be evaluated against other participating companies in their region.

The employers in the Best Places list are evaluated by company size: Large companies have 5,000 or more employees; midsize have between 1,001 and 4,999 employees; and small companies employ 1,000 or fewer workers.

To be eligible, companies must have a minimum of 5 IT employees. Companies must have a minimum of 100 total employees. We consider IT employees to be those IT workers who provide technology support and services to their own company — or to multiple companies through their work at an IT service provider. Workers who would *not* be included are administrative support staff for the IT department, staff who work in communications or PR for the technology department, IT contractors, or those staff whose primary role is in product development for outside sales.

In most cases, we prefer to have the parent company, rather than subsidiaries or affiliates, apply for the Best Places to Work in IT list. However, a subsidiary or affiliate may be eligible, providing that it stands out as a separate entity from the parent company, with separate business functions, IT leadership and so on. A subsidiary may also be eligible to apply separately if its parent company is a holding company. In those cases, the parent company and subsidiary may be able to apply separately. We encourage companies to complete the nomination form or contact us at bestplaces@computerworld.com, and our Best Places research team will evaluate the submissions on a case-by-case basis.

Questions about the Best Places to Work in IT program can be emailed to bestplaces@computerworld.com.

Frequently asked questions

Survey requirements and eligibility

Does my company have to be nominated to complete the survey?

No. Companies may participate even if they were not nominated. In lieu of a nomination, please send an email to bestplaces@computerworld.com with the name and contact information (including email address) of the individual who should receive the company survey and other information; we’ll take care of the rest.

Does the Best Places to Work in IT list include public companies only?

No. The survey includes private as well as public companies.

What criteria must my company meet to participate?

To be considered for our Best Places to Work in IT list:

• Companies must have a minimum of 5 IT employees.
• Companies must have a minimum of 100 total employees worldwide.
• In most cases, we prefer to have the parent company, rather than subsidiaries or affiliates, apply for the Best Places to Work in IT list. However, a subsidiary or affiliate may be eligible, providing that it stands out as a separate entity from the parent company, with separate business functions, IT leadership and so on. A subsidiary may also be eligible to apply separately if its parent company is a holding company. In those cases, the parent company and subsidiary may be able to apply separately. We encourage companies to complete the nomination form or contact us at bestplaces@computerworld.com, and our Best Places research team will evaluate the submissions on a case-by-case basis.

Who should complete the survey?

An individual familiar with employment statistics, benefits, policies and programs of your IT department and your company should complete the survey. This could be a human resources representative, a CIO or corporate PR representative — or a team of all the above.

Survey contents and procedures

What does the company survey ask?

Our online survey includes questions about companies’ benefits, training and development, IT salary changes, percent of IT employees promoted, IT turnover rates, and the percentage of women employees in management in IT departments. In addition, we will collect information about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, remote/hybrid working, and company growth.

Which employees are considered “IT workers” in this survey?

Answers to the survey should be based on those IT workers who provide technology support and services to their own company — or to multiple companies through their work at an IT service provider. Workers who wouldn’t be included are administrative support staff for the IT department, staff who work in communications or PR for the technology department, IT contractors, or those staff whose primary role is in product development for outside sales.

What happens if I leave a question blank on the survey?

You can’t leave a question blank if it is required. Many of the questions on the survey are required; the survey can’t be processed if they aren’t answered. Please answer to the best of your ability for questions with lists or options included. If any open-ended/text based questions aren’t applicable to your company, please indicate “NA” for “not applicable.” If there is a question you can’t answer fully given the format of the survey, you may briefly explain your answers in an addendum field that follows each survey section.

Companies that withhold information used to rank the finalists will have points deducted from their ranking. Answers that are left blank or have unexplained N/As will be assumed to be 0 (zero).

Companies must provide answers to questions related to data we run in our feature story and graphics in order to be considered. Please see below for the types of required information that are typically shared publicly.

Can I save my survey and come back to it at a later date?

Yes. You will be able to save your partially completed survey and can save a partially completed survey as many times as necessary. Please save your unique ID and password to re-enter the survey. When you return to the survey, you will be able to review/modify questions that you have already answered. However, we will continue to provide a printer-friendly version of the survey, and we recommend that you complete this survey, then enter your answers online.

How should I send my company’s information to Computerworld?

We accept company information from the online survey only. Please enter all data as accurately as possible. Provide company name, location, web address and other information, as you would like it to appear in print.

Can I get a copy of the survey to review before I go to the online survey and submit my company’s information?

Yes. A printer-friendly version of the 2022 Best Places company survey can be viewed here, for reference. We encourage participants to complete this version offline before filling out the online survey.

Will Computerworld provide us with a copy of our submitted survey?

Upon survey submission, Computerworld will email you a password-protected link to view your company’s survey responses.

Is there an employee portion to the survey?

This year there will NOT be an employee survey portion to the survey. Computerworld decided to make this change to streamline the process for global participation and to enable companies with smaller IT departments to participate. In lieu of the employee survey portion of the program, Computerworld will be inviting a panel of judges consisting of industry experts from both within and outside of Computerworld to evaluate entries and confirm this year’s honorees. More information about the judging panels in each region will be posted here as it becomes available.

List publication and notification

When will the list of honorees be published?

The Best Places to Work in IT honorees will be announced in late fall on Computerworld.com.

When can I find out if my company is on the list?

Computerworld will notify companies that will be honored as a 2022 Best Place to Work in IT several weeks in advance of publication. Computerworld’s marketing group contacts honorees to offer assistance with press releases.

Is there a timeline to which I can refer for survey action items?

Below is the 2022 Best Places to Work in IT timeline.

What information will be shared publicly?

Computerworld tries to avoid printing information that a company may consider competitive. The following information may appear publicly:

• Company name
• Location
• Industry
• Website
• Total number of employees
• Total number of IT employees
• Percentage of IT employee turnover
• Percentage of IT employee promotions
• Number of training days offered per IT employee
• Information from a 300-word essay outlining what’s special about your company and IT department

Please note that revenue, overall IT budget and other sensitive information will not be reported. Such information will be used only in aggregate format or for ranking purposes.

What if I have a question that was not answered in this FAQ?

Please email your questions to the following address: bestplaces@computerworld.com.

In the subject line, please include your company name and be as descriptive as possible in the subject line as to the nature of your inquiry.