20 NJ Companies Make Forbes' List Of Best Large Employers In 2022

NEW JERSEY — The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the workplace and what employees view as a good employer. Those changes are reflected in the release by Forbes of its annual inventory of America’s Best Large Employers.

Forbes compiled the list through a survey conducted by the market research firm Statista, which spoke to 60,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees.

Survey respondents were asked about such topics as their willingness to recommend their workplace to friends and family, as well as nominate companies other than their own. The final list represents the 500 employers receiving the most recommendations, Forbes said.

Among those 500 are 20 New Jersey companies, three of which made the top 100:

• 45. Merck & Co. The pharmaceutical company based in Kenilworth has 27,000 employees.
• 66. Johnson & Johnson. The pharmaceutical company based in New Brunswick has 46,000 employees.
• 95. Rutgers University. The state university of New Jersey has 24,800 employees.

Medical and pharmaceutical companies were nine of the 20 New Jersey firms that were ranked in the top 500. Financial and business services, real estate and a well-known designer brand also represented New Jersey on the list. (See the other NJ companies below.)

Forbes’ Top 10 big employers in the country are:

1. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (health care, social)
2. Georgia-based Southern Company (utilities)
3. NASA in the District of Columbia (aerospace, defense)
4. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York (health care, social)
5. South Carolina-based Michelin Group (automotive, automotive suppliers)
6. Ohio-based Sherwin-Williams (engineering, manufacturing)
7. Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic (health care, social)
8. Arizona-based Carvana (retail, wholesale)
9. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (health care, social)
10. Texas-based MD Anderson Cancer Center (health care, social)

Virginia-based Huntington Ingalls Industries, the largest military shipbuilding company, moved to No. 11 on the list from No. 387, the largest gain of any of the large companies.

Not surprisingly given COVID-19 restrictions, the largest drops were in the restaurant industry, with only 11 companies earning spots on the 2022 large employers list. California-based In-N-Out Burger was the only one to land among the top 200, coming in No. 23.

"We bend over backwards to try to do as many things behind the scenes to continue business as usual," the franchise owner and president, Lynsi Snyder, told Forbes in November 2020. "It obviously has not looked like business as usual with masks and nearly empty dining rooms."

U.S. employers are struggling to fill 10.9 million job openings in an environment of 4 percent unemployment.

"Whether working from home or the office, Americans’ priorities have changed," Forbes said, noting that "what makes a top employer has changed, too."

Paul McDonald, a senior executive director at Robert Half and a Forbes contributor, said "employees are in control at this point because there’s such a plethora of openings."

"With the number of job openings today and the choices that good candidates have, you have to move swiftly but diligently," he told Forbes. "A lot of organizations have realized that, through all the retention efforts and through all the resignations, they’ve had to re-recruit their current staff."

Forbes said many of the large employers on the list are wrestling with redefining their corporate culture with a largely remote or hybrid workforce where some employees report to the office and others work from home.

In the pre-pandemic era, Genentech, a California-based drug and biotechnology company that ranked 14th on the list, offered on-site benefits such as made-to-order sushi, day care and Friday night parties. Now, the company holds virtual office hours with executives and gives employees two hours of "protected time" when they can take a break or work uninterrupted on projects.

Here are the 17 other New Jersey companies that made the top 500:

• 107. Chanel. The company known for its perfumes and designer goods has its U.S. headquarters in New Jersey and employs 20,000 people.
• 115. Realogy. This company deals in residential services and oversees brokerage brands including Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Coldwell Banker Commercial, Corcoran, ERA, Sotheby's International and more. It has 8,600 employees.
• 118. BMW Group. The automaker's U.S. headquarters is in New Jersey. It employs 120,726.
• 160. Prudential Financial, 16,195 employees.
• 161. TD Bank, 25,000 employees.
• 194. Becton Dickinson is a medical technology company, making devices and equipment. It has 72,000 employees.
• 249. PSEG, 12,788 employees
• 307. Samsung Group, 113,753 employees
• 348. Novartis, a pharmaceutical and biotech company. 106,000 employees
• 359. Unilever, which makes personal care, home care and packaged foods has 155,000 employees.
• 365 Catalent, a pharmaceutical company, 17,300 employees
• 405. Sanofi, a biotech company, 99,412 employees
• 432. ADP Automatic Data Processing, a business equipment and services company, 56,000 employees
• 460. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, 8,000 employees
• 479. 22nd Century Technologies, an information technology company, has 5,200 employees.
• 490. Bayer. The pharmaceutical company best known for aspirin has 99,538 employees
• 494. Quest Diagnostics. The medical testing firm has 50,000 employees.