Certification
Frequently Asked Questions about Great Place To Work® Certification™
Great Place To Work® Certification™ helps organizations attract and retain top talent, improve productivity, strengthen their reputation, and gain valuable insights into their workplace culture. We understand that learning a new process can feel a bit overwhelming, which is why we are here to guide you every step of the way on your journey to Certification™.
Below, you’ll find answers to the most common questions we receive from employers like you.
Organizations partner with Great Place To Work®® to understand how leadership effectiveness creates the conditions for an overwhelmingly positive employee experience. Great Place To Work® provides the most reliable employee experience data, gathered from surveys of millions of employees worldwide. This data offers organizations valuable insights into how employees interact with the workplace and sets benchmarks for workplace conditions around the globe.
For more than 30 years, Great Place To Work® has placed employees at the center of the workplace experience. Today, our Trust Model™ provides an unmatched opportunity to identify what is really happening inside your organization. The Great Place To Work® survey and analysis give employers the ability to measure and track the employee experience against key metrics and industry leaders.
Earning Great Place To Work® Certification™ delivers many benefits:
Great Place To Work® is the global authority on workplace culture. Organizations around the world—including every company on the Best Workplaces™ lists—partner with Great Place To Work® to understand how effectively their leaders are creating the conditions for an overwhelmingly positive employee experience.
We provide world-class data on the employee experience, grounded in research and collected from surveys of millions of people worldwide. This data gives organizations invaluable insights into how their people engage with the workplace and establishes benchmarks for workplace conditions across the globe.
The Great Place To Work® Trust Model™, which we use to evaluate the employee experience and award Certification™, was built on thousands of hours of employee interviews and focus groups. This research revealed essential truths about the employee experience, which have been rigorously validated for more than 30 years through the survey responses of millions of workers worldwide.
To achieve Great Place To Work® Certification™, your survey results must show that roughly 7 out of 10 of your employees consistently have a positive workplace experience.
Once your organization has earned Certification™, you’ll receive an email from us with access to your survey results, your digital Certification badge, a social media toolkit, and press-ready materials. As an added benefit, your organization will automatically become eligible for all of our recognition lists during the 12 months that your Certification™ is valid.
The criteria for Great Place To Work® Certification™ are the global standard for measuring and comparing the employee experience. Using the Great Place To Work® Trust Model™ and the Trust Index™ survey, Certification™ evaluates your culture from the perspective that matters most: your employees’. It offers the most comprehensive view available of an organization’s internal health.
To be considered for Certification™, an organization must have at least 10 employees and complete a two-step process:
Positive employee responses on the Trust Index™ survey (four or more on a five-point scale) are averaged to provide an overall assessment of your workplace culture. Organizations that meet or exceed the threshold earn Certification™.
Surveys must also meet strict requirements for distribution and response rates to ensure that the feedback accurately represents the full employee population.
If your scores do not meet the required threshold for Certification™, we recommend making the most of the insights you’ve gained from your employee feedback. These results will help you identify areas of opportunity and plan your next steps.
You can also rely on the support of our Customer Success team and, as an additional service, our Culture Coaches—experts in workplace culture. Every effort you make to build a high-trust culture increases your chances of earning Great Place To Work® Certification™ in the future.
Rest assured, your organization’s participation is completely confidential. We do not disclose the names, information, or results of any client until Certification™ is achieved.
Absolutely! Regularly gathering and responding to employee feedback is essential to fostering a positive workplace. It’s critical to keep a steady pulse on how your people feel and evaluate whether your efforts are driving the desired results.
Renewing your Certification™ annually helps maintain a strong connection with your employees. It allows you to capture a year-over-year perspective on their feedback, and as workplace and social dynamics evolve, ensures you continue to deliver an exceptional employee experience.
An active Certification™ sends a powerful message to employees, candidates, and clients that you are committed to providing an outstanding workplace. When they see a consistent track record of annual Certifications™, they’ll recognize your long-term dedication to improving the employee experience year after year.
Yes. The Certification™ program fee covers the cost of administering the survey and analyzing the data to generate your Certification™ profile, employer branding assets, and reports that show how your workplace compares to the Best Workplaces™ in your country within your size category.
Partnering with Great Place To Work® gives you a competitive advantage by providing key insights to improve your culture and greater brand visibility in the talent marketplace.
You can add custom questions depending on your subscription plan. While our core Trust Index™ statements must remain unchanged to ensure your organization is eligible for Certification™ and recognition lists, we offer plans that allow you to include your own open-ended, demographic, or additional scaled questions.
Any additional statements will not be evaluated as part of our lists, meaning you can collect the most relevant feedback for your business without it impacting your Certification™ results.
Great Place To Work® Certification™ is awarded to organizations that meet specific criteria for workplace experience. It highlights organizations with a positive, motivating workplace culture. Partnering with Great Place To Work® gives you a competitive edge by providing essential insights to improve your culture—while also boosting your brand visibility in the job market.
The cost varies depending on your organization’s size and the specific services you choose. Contact our team for a personalized quote.
Su Certificación™ tiene una validez de 12 meses. Si su organización cumple con los requisitos de participación para nuestras listas, una vez Certificada, su organización será considerada automáticamente para todas las listas de Los Mejores Lugares para Trabajar® para las que sea elegible durante los siguientes 12 meses.
Ready to strengthen your talent attraction strategy?
See a step-by-step guide to the Certification™ process.
Broadly speaking, the Great Place To Work® Trust Index™ survey measures the level of trust within your organization and the consistency of the employee experience. In other words: how often can employees count on certain things happening in their workplace—such as clear and honest leadership, fair treatment, and recognition?
More specifically, the Trust Index™ evaluates employees’ individual experiences across five key dimensions of a high-trust workplace culture, through 60 statements and two open-ended questions: Three dimensions relate to leaders’ actions and building trust: credibility, respect, and fairness. The other two dimensions capture employees’ experience with peers and the organization as a whole: pride and belonging.
Together, these five dimensions create a culture where people feel empowered and motivated to do their best work. Great Place To Work® research shows that high-trust cultures outperform competitors in talent attraction and retention, productivity, innovation, and financial results.
Survey responses are rated on a five-point scale, revealing employees’ most common workplace experiences. Scores are then averaged to provide an overall assessment of workplace culture: the Trust Index™ score.
Employees respond to 14 demographic questions, 60 statements on a five-point scale, and two open-ended questions. On average, the survey takes between 10 and 20 minutes to complete.
We take our ethical obligation to survey respondents very seriously. Employees can be confident that their participation is completely confidential and voluntary.
Responses go directly to Great Place To Work®. Employees cannot see who has completed the survey while it is active. Once the survey closes, we remove all unique identifiers.
For employees, both participation in the Certification™ program and survey results remain fully confidential. We never disclose client names, information, or scores publicly.
Yes. Once your survey is complete, you’ll receive a summary of your scores, allowing you to see how your employee experience measures up against our key assessment areas and compare it with Best Workplaces™ benchmarks—available exclusively through the Great Place To Work® survey platform.
If you’d like even more detailed reports and benchmarks, you can connect with your sales advisor to learn about the different options available.
Yes, our survey is available in more than 50 languages at no additional cost.
Nuestra plataforma está diseñada para apoyar diversas necesidades de recopilación de feedback. Puede usarla para obtener insights de diferentes grupos dentro de su organización, ya sea que realice encuestas de compromiso, evaluaciones de onboarding, pulse checks u otras mediciones internas.
This flexibility allows you to include different types of employees depending on your goals, such as contractors, interns, or even franchise employees.
Sin embargo, los criterios de elegibilidad para la Certificación™ son específicos y deben cumplirse rigurosamente. Si no está seguro de cómo recopilar feedback de diferentes grupos dentro de su organización, o tiene preguntas adicionales, nuestro equipo estará encantado de orientarle.
You must include all individuals who are legally employed by your organization, receive direct pay, and are classified under one or more of the following at the time of survey launch:
Important: Intentionally or accidentally excluding any eligible group, or failing to invite the required number of employees, may affect your Certification™ process and eligibility for Best Workplaces® lists.
Do not include individuals who are not legally employed by your organization at the time of the survey launch, such as:
Great Place To Work® is the global authority on workplace culture, employee experience, and the leadership behaviors proven to drive market-leading revenue and innovation. We help organizations worldwide survey their employees, compare results, identify areas for improvement, and strengthen their culture. We are the only national recognition program based on rigorous methodology and validated employee feedback.
In general, organizations that:
Para obtener la Certificación™, las organizaciones deben encuestar a sus colaboradores utilizando nuestra herramienta Trust Index™ (Encuesta de índice de confianza), y completar un Culture Brief™/Culture Audit™.
Some lists may require a higher minimum number of employees (50 or more). Contact us to learn the specific requirements for a list of interest.
We use our For All™ Model and methodology to evaluate the community of Great Place To Work® Certified™ organizations. The top-performing organizations are recognized as Best Workplaces™.
Tenga la seguridad de que los resultados se mantienen completamente confidenciales. Nunca revelamos los nombres de las organizaciones que participan en el proceso y no son reconocidas. No tienes nada que perder.
Aunque puede ser decepcionante no aparecer en la lista deseada, el proceso sigue siendo altamente valioso. Obtendrás los beneficios de la retroalimentación de tus colaboradores y podrás usar nuestros informes y análisis para obtener insights prácticos sobre tu organización. Y cuando estés listo, ¡puedes volver a intentarlo!
The Great Place To Work® Model is a research-backed framework that defines a great workplace as one where employees trust their leaders, take pride in what they do, and enjoy working with their colleagues. This model emphasizes creating a consistent and inclusive experience for all employees, regardless of their role or background.
The Trust Index™ survey is a globally recognized assessment tool developed by Great Place To Work®. It measures key elements of workplace culture such as trust, leadership effectiveness, and the overall employee experience. Its results allow organizations to benchmark their performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
Organizations that implement the Great Place To Work® Model experience stronger employee connection, lower turnover, better financial performance, and a stronger employer brand. In addition, Certified™ organizations are more attractive to top talent and achieve higher levels of productivity.
Llene el formulario y prepárese para desbloquear un mundo de oportunidades con Great Place To Work® como su aliado en Cultura Organizacional.
