LinkedIn has today revealed its 2021 Top Companies Australia list, a ranking of the online business service’s “25 best workplaces for professionals to grow their careers”. But only one media company made the ranks.
Compiled from unique LinkedIn data examining “the career paths of millions of global professionals”, the list rates the top companies in Australia with more than 500 employees.
Professional services firm EY topped the list this year, followed by Optus, Macquarie Group, ResMed and Commonwealth Bank.
Omnicom, which represents the only media company on the list, was ranked 23rd.
According to LinkedIn, the 2021 list reflects the changing business landscape with strong representation from sectors such as professionals services, finance and retail.
There has also been a rise in medical devices and technology companies on the list, as these companies are responding to the challenges faced due to the pandemic.
LinkedIn’s Top Companies 2021 in Australia
| 1 | EY | 14 | Westpac Group |
| 2 | Optus (Singtel) | 15 | ABB |
| 3 | Macquarie Group | 16 | Allianz |
| 4 | ResMed | 17 | Atlassian |
| 5 | Commonwealth Bank | 18 | QBE Insurance |
| 6 | Bosch | 19 | Origin Energy |
| 7 | Woolworths Group | 20 | Wesfarmers |
| 8 | IBM | 21 | Bayer |
| 9 | Amazon | 22 | McKinsey & Company |
| 10 | Google (Alphabet) | 23 | Omnicom |
| 11 | UBS | 24 | Deloitte |
| 12 | Salesforce | 25 | Medtronic |
| 13 | National Australia Bank |
“We’ve witnessed unprecedented changes to the world of work and despite the extraordinary challenges, companies are putting employees first now more than now ever,” Capucine Yeomans, managing editor at LinkedIn News Australia, said.
“The Top Companies have shown great resilience and continue to focus on creating great career opportunities with flexibility in the workplace.”
An analysis of the Top Companies Australia list reveals some key trends.
Professionals are on the move
Between 2020’s international border closures, state lockdowns, proliferation of working from home and real estate booms, some professionals have been on the move.
An analysis at the Top Companies list suggests city regions Sydney and Melbourne had different experiences during 2020. In Sydney, the number of professionals working at Top Companies who listed Greater Sydney as their location grew from 7,485 in 2019 to 8,462 in 2020.
By contrast, the number of professionals working at Top Companies who listed Greater Melbourne as their location fell from 5,436 in 2019 to 4,319 in 2020.
Top occupations experiencing exponential growth
An analysis of some of the occupations among the Top Companies suggests that there are some traditional roles as well as new roles that experienced exponential growth from 2019 to 2020:
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- Commonwealth Bank: business banker (850 per cent)
- Amazon: talent acquisition specialist (678 per cent)
- Macquarie Group: operations associate (350 per cent)
- Woolworths Group: general manager (200 per cent), personal shopper (164 per cent)
Diversity is a key priority
An analysis of Top Companies shows that diversity is now a key hiring pillar, with companies setting targets for gender equity, particularly for senior roles.
Due to the pandemic, women have been impacted more negatively than men.
An analysis of the Top Companies shows that at the senior level, companies only hired 58 women for every 100 men, which is a decrease to 2016 levels, after a high of 71 women per 100 men in 2019.
The list shows that hospital and healthcare, and marketing and advertising lead the way in supporting workplace gender equity.
The construction industry, LinkedIn says, has the most work to do to narrow the gender gap.
In 2021, the fifth annual launch debuted LinkedIn’s all-new methodology, which has seven key pillars, each revealing an important element of career progression: ability to advance, skills growth, company stability, external opportunity, company affinity, gender diversity and educational background.
To be eligible to make LinkedIn’s top companies list, companies must have had least 500 employees in the country and reductions in staff (including attrition and layoffs) no higher than 10 per cent, based on LinkedIn data or public announcements.
Only parent companies rank on the list, with majority-owned subsidiaries and data about those subsidiaries are incorporated into the parent company score.
All data counts are normalised based on company size across the pool of companies eligible for the list. The methodology time frame is 1 January 2020 through 31 December 2020.
LinkedIn excludes all staffing and recruiting firms, educational institutions and government agencies. It also excludes LinkedIn, its parent company, Microsoft, and Microsoft subsidiaries.
