If you were to ask the average American worker what the top priority for the company they work is, they’d likely tell you their employer cares most about its shareholders, then at a distant second, its customers. The workers themselves come last.
That’s what Just Capital, an organization founded by the likes of Deepak Chopra and Arianna Huffington to measure how well companies perform on ethical measures, found in its latest survey. Around 59% of Americans believe shareholders are a company’s top priority, followed by 21% who believe its customers, and 20% who say employees. But in the same survey, Just Capital found that American people think that how companies treat their employees–including fair pay, good benefits, and safe working conditions–is the most important issue to them.
This is hardly surprising: In the past several decades, salaries for workers have largely stagnated, and many companies are moving to employ more independent contractors to avoid paying them benefits. That’s why Just Capital worked with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to creating healthy communities, to identify companies that are bucking this trend. They created a list of 100 companies that are prioritizing workers and delivering other benefits that contribute to their overall health and well-being, including strong community investments and reduced pollution levels.
Number 1 on the list? Microsoft, followed by Cigna, Intel, Humana, and Medtronic. Just Capital hopes that by creating this ranking, a link can be drawn between how people and communities are treated by businesses, and their health overall. The idea is also to provide crucial benchmarks against which other employers could measure themselves in these respects. To see if your company is on the list, have a look right here.