WCU named to Forbes’ list of ‘Best-In-State Employers’
Now the rest of the country knows what Western Carolina University employees have known all along – the university is a great place to work.
WCU was recently named to Forbes’ second annual ranking of America’s “Best-In-State Employer.” Forbes partnered with market research company Statista to pinpoint those organizations liked best by employees. The list is divided into 51 rankings – one for each state, plus the District of Columbia.
Out of top 100 organizations to make the North Carolina list, WCU ranked No. 66.
“This is tremendous recognition for Western Carolina University and is a testament to the hard-working, dedicated faculty and staff who make WCU such a special place,” said Cory Causby, WCU’s associate vice chancellor of human resources.
The rankings were compiled after 80,000 Americans working for organizations with at least 500 employees were surveyed. The surveys, which were anonymous, were conducted from October 2019 to May 2020.
The respondents were asked to rate their employers on a variety of criteria, including safety of work environment, competitiveness of compensation, opportunities for advancement and openness to telecommuting. Statista then asked respondents how likely they’d be to recommend their employer to others and to nominate organizations in industries outside their own.
The number of businesses ranked in each state was dependent on two factors – the number of qualifying employers and the size of the state’s workforce – and those with operations in more than one state had the opportunity to be listed multiple times. The final list ranks the 1,461 employers that received the greatest number of recommendations in each of the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia.
“On the whole, our faculty and staff are very engaged in the life of the institution,” Causby said. “This high-level engagement has created a shared sense of purpose that has resulted in a collaborative community of faculty and staff who are invested in the success of our students and our mission as regional institution.”
