Best Workplace Culture Certifications in 2024

As the competition for top talent intensifies, companies are increasingly seeking recognition from reputable organizations to validate their efforts in creating exceptional work environments. Certification from a trusted third party has become a cornerstone of an effective Employee Value Proposition (EVP) strategy.

Prospective employees often view anonymous feedback from current staff as the most trusted source of information when researching a potential employer's culture, as evidenced by the popularity of sites like Glassdoor and Blind. However, anonymous reviews can be unpredictable. Small employers may experience significant variance in their ratings on these platforms, while larger companies might receive lower scores than they deserve if disgruntled former employees leave reviews en masse.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, employee referrals provide a recommendation that is fully transparent to the applicant, employee, and employer. Referrals are a critical pipeline for talent as they are significantly faster, cheaper, and produce better hires than job boards. However, they are very difficult to scale.

Culture Certification from a reputable provider can bridge the gap between anonymous reviews and referrals, offering the best of both worlds. Using a third party allows employees to provide truly anonymous feedback, resulting in more accurate data for leadership to act upon. Some vendors take this a step further by facilitating follow-up conversations, transforming the typically one-way street of anonymous feedback into a two-way dialogue.

This approach not only provides valuable insights for companies but also offers job seekers a more balanced and comprehensive view of an organization's culture. As we explore various workplace culture certifications and awards in this post, we'll examine how they can serve as powerful tools in a company's employer branding strategy, helping to attract and retain top talent in an increasingly competitive, post non-compete job market.

Top Workplace Culture Certifications & Awards

Link to Remotivated Certification Page

Catering specifically to remote-first organizations, Remotivated is the authority on remote and hybrid work culture. Remotivated's survey methodology  is science based and focused on the issues that matter most to remote-first teams. It is also the only truly anonymous survey we are aware of which makes employees feel comfortable giving 100% authentic feedback. Because anonymous feedback leads to a one way street conversation, Remotivated also acts as a trusted third party to facilitate a follow up conversation where appropriate. Using more insightful questions and a powerful analytics dashboard, Remotivated provides compelling data points for use in recruitment marketing but also offers actionable insights to further improve your remote work culture.

Pros:

-Specialized focus on remote-first teams.

-The only truly anonymous employee engagement survey we are aware of.

-Science based survey methodology and ability to have a trusted 3rd party facilitate anonymous follow up conversations

-Employee trust and engagement. Remotivated is the authority on remote work culture and is trusted by remote workers.

Cons:

-Remotivated only works with remote-first companies. This does include hybrid organizations who either don't have an in-office mandate or who allow employees to work from home more than 50% of the time. Still, it means Remotivated is not a valid option for some organizations.

-Businesses who currently operate remotely could lose their certification if they implemented a strict RTO in the future. Remotivated does attempt to offset this by offering consulting services to help companies with digital transformations and the creation of remote-first policies but it is a limitation worth noting.

-As a relatively new company, Remotivated does not have the same broad recognition that their larger competitors have. Outside of the remote community, other offerings like Great Place to Work® are more well known. This likely won't bother remote companies however organizations that need to attract remote workers (say for their corporate office) but also want to attract in-person employees for retail locations for example, may end up needing to get multiple certifications from other vendors.

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Who is Remotivated a good fit for?

As you may have guessed, Remotivated is the vendor of choice for remote companies and hybrid organizations that operate remote-first. Remotivated provides powerful social proof to help remote organizations attract and retain the best talent. Companies who are not remote-first will need to look at the other names on this list although organizations that aspire to become more remote friendly may work with Remotivated to get to a point where they can earn certification (in addition to the other benefits of going remote).

Link to Purpose.Jobs Home Page

The Purpose Certification, offered by Purpose Jobs, is a program that recognizes companies that are purpose-driven, prioritize employee well-being, and foster a healthy, people-first culture. The certification aims to signal to job seekers that a company is committed to meaningful work, employee growth, and creating a positive work environment.

Pros

  • Rigorous evaluation process that assesses a company's mission, employee benefits, diversity and inclusion efforts, and overall commitment to purpose and culture.
  • Provides a trusted third-party validation that can differentiate a company in a competitive talent market.
  • Helps purpose-driven job seekers quickly identify employers that align with their values and priorities.
  • Purpose Jobs' employer branding services can boost a company's visibility and appeal to top talent.

Cons

  • Certification process can be time-consuming and may require significant internal resources to complete.
  • As a relatively new program, the Purpose Certification may not have the same brand recognition as more established workplace culture awards.
  • The certification's criteria and standards may not perfectly align with every company's unique culture and employee needs.

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Who is Purpose Jobs Certification a Good Fit For?

The Purpose Certification is an excellent fit for companies that have a strong, mission-driven purpose at their core and have made a concerted effort to create a positive, employee-centric work culture. Organizations seeking to attract and retain purpose-driven talent, particularly in the technology and startup sectors, would benefit from this certification. Smaller to mid-sized companies looking to build a reputation as a great place to work and differentiate themselves from larger competitors may find the Purpose Certification particularly valuable.

Link to the Flexa Home Page

Flexa is a UK based directory of employers with flexible work perks. They track a staggering array of flexible options from dog friendly offices to parental benefits, hybrid and remote options. Companies are assigned a FlexScore from 50-100 and receive a company profile page to show of their FlexScore, their list of flexible perks and employee reviews. Flexa also offers a job board where job seekers can filter by different flexible work perks to find an employer that suites their particular needs.

Pros:

-Customers can be featured in the annual Flexa100 list of the most flexible companies.

-Flexa's job board sends job seekers straight to your careers page.

-Job seekers can search and filter by many different flexible perks allowing flexible companies and employees who require that flexibility to find each other easily.

-Flexa has a very strong presence in the UK with over 80% of their traffic coming from the UK.

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Cons:

-Flexa's methodology can be a bit confusing. The initial FlexScore is based on a small sample of feedback from the company or a handful of employees who happened to fill out the form. Organizations that become paying customers then have employees verify the results with a survey however it seems only 25-30% of employees must complete the survey to achieve verification. This is less than most competitors allow for and may impact how much job seekers trust the certification.

-FlexScore calculations are purely about perks and do not include Diversity, Inclusion, Culture, Mission or Salary.

-Flexa is well known in the UK but less so elsewhere.

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Who is Flexa a good fit for?

Flexa is a great fit for companies that have a long list of flexible perks. Companies that offer in-office or hybrid perks can often achieve a FlexScore as high as remote-first companies which makes Flexa a great option for those organizations. Remote-first companies may not enjoy having office-bound peers with similar scores to them however. Flexa's strong presence in the UK market makes them a top choice in the UK but a less compelling option for companies based elsewhere.

Link to the NABR Home Page

The NABR (formerly Best and Brightest) focuses on identifying and honoring companies that excel in employee satisfaction and innovative workplace practices through its "Best and Brightest Companies to Work For" program. This organization serves a broad spectrum of industries and offers a variety of tools and resources to help companies improve their leadership and strategic planning. The NABR’s emphasis on community building and excellence makes it a valuable ally for businesses looking to enhance their reputation and operational success.

Pros:

-Offers awards for both the organization and CEO or leadership team

-Also owns CORP! Magazine and a podcast for cross promotion

-Best and Brightest winners are listed in an advertisement published in The Wall Street Journal annually

-Executive Leadership summit (2025 will be in Detroit)

-Peer Groups and Discussion Roundtables for HR leaders at Best and Brightest winning organizations

-On demand educational library for leaders

Cons:

-Limited brand recognition

-Does not allow startups

-US Companies only

-Analytics are an upcharge add-on and limited in scope

-Focus is not on remote or hybrid organizations, rather geographically focused

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Who is the National Association for Business Resources a good fit for?

NABR and it's Best and Brightest awards are a good fit for mid-size organizations that are focused on recognizing their leadership or positioning their CEO as a thought leader. NABR offers solid recruitment marketing assistance for organizations that are looking to target a broad employee persona. Their additional educational and event offerings help make up for some weakness in their award branding and the actual utility of their survey and analytics offering.

Link to the Great Place to Work Home Page

Great Place to Work® offers a global standard for benchmarking the internal health of an organization, focusing on trust, pride, and camaraderie among employees. Companies that earn certification from Great Place to Work® benefit from increased recruitment metrics, higher business profitability, and enhanced employer brand awareness. Their partnership with Fortune for creating lists like the "Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For®" provides significant visibility and prestige.

Pros:

-Most recognizable certification badge for non-remote companies

-Winners are considered for recognition in Fortune top 100 lists

-Annual "For All Summit" (2025 is in Las Vegas)

-Provides data points and graphics that can be shared on social media

-Proprietary analytics dashboard

Cons:

-Culture brief is onerous for leadership to fill out and requires data that is collected in the survey anyway

-Methodology is not truly anonymous

-Survey asks for geographic data and doesn't contain many remote or hybrid specific questions

-Has a reputation among some employees for being "Pay to Win"

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Who is Great Place to Work® a good fit for?

Great Place to Work is the best partner for large enterprise companies with physical locations that would benefit from making their many "Best Places to work in X city/state" lists. It is also a great option for companies that are primarily interested in having a very recognizable logo for their recruitment marketing and don't mind some of the extra legwork involved with working with a large organization. Great Place to Work provides better analytics than some of their smaller competitors and although the simplicity of their survey questions limits the utility of that data, they do provide handy graphics for use on social platforms and some cross promotional opportunities for their larger customers. They also offer discounts for multi-year contracts although this may feed into the impression seen on review sites that they have a "pay to win" model.

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Final Considerations When Selecting a Culture Certification

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When selecting the right Culture Certification program for your organization, be sure to consider your overall EVP strategy. Look for vendors whose offerings align with the employee personas you are trying to attract and whose technology and services will most improve your recruitment marketing efforts. Certifications are about building trust so be sure to select partners that have earned the trust of your audience. For some organizations a single certification is enough to buoy their EVP strategy. Others pursue several either to further solidify their position as a premium employer or because their talent needs necessitate having multiple channels to attract different employee personas.

Keep your overall goals in mind. If you are only looking to boost your recruitment marketing you may want to go with vendors with the broadest reach and brand recognition for your audience. If continuous improvement of your culture is an important factor, prioritize vendors whose methodologies align with your values and who offer tools and analytics that will help you to build on your culture.

Be sure to scope out the effort involved for you and your team as a customer. While most of the companies above strive to create a seamless process, some do have very time intensive onboarding while others can have you up and running effortlessly. If you have limited bandwidth, consider selecting a partner who will help you through onboarding and who administers any engagement surveys themselves.

After you've achieved certification you'll want to spread the word. The best partners will make this easy for you by providing social media ready graphics with compelling data point to aid your recruitment and marketing efforts. Some partners offer white glove services around this while others expect you to do it yourself in their application. Select a vendor whose approach aligns with the bandwidth your team has to create recruitment and marketing content that highlights your culture.

It is important to consider not only where you are now but where you are trying to go. Working with one of the vendors above can help you to pivot the way your Employee Value Proposition to better align with the needs of your business in the future. Whether you are looking to attract the best remote talent, mission driven employees or those who value flexibility, the right culture certification can help you to reposition and begin attracting the best possible talent for your organization.

Finally, consider how your recruitment marketing fits into your larger marketing and brand awareness strategies and select a vendor whose image and methodology aligns with your overall goals. A larger vendor with broad recognition may work best for a company who just needs a good logo and badge to put on their website. Other may be better served by the small-mid size vendors in the space who offer customized company profiles as well as blog content, podcast appearances and so on.

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