June 27, 2013
Wondering what it would be like to work in another city? Perhaps you are thinking of moving and want to know about employment conditions elsewhere. Glassdoor, a jobs and career-focused online community, has released its Employment Satisfaction Report Card, which offers helpful insight into what it is like to work in 50 of the largest U.S. metropolitan cities.
According to a Glassdoor blog post, the report provides city-specific information on overall employment satisfaction, compensation and benefits satisfaction, senior management satisfaction, expectations for company outlook and the number of employers hiring in each city. The San Jose Mercury News reported that ratings are based on some 500 anonymous local employee reviews that were submitted to Glassdoor between May 2012 and May 2013.
Business Insider noted that the California cities of San Jose and San Francisco took first and second place, respectively. Both earned a 3.4 out of 5 for overall employment satisfaction, and they scored a 3.4 and 3.3, respectively, for compensation and benefits satisfaction. This is not much of a surprise considering the fact that these two cities are also home to a number of companies on Glassdoor's Top 50 Best Places to Work for 2013. Such companies include Google, LinkedIn, Agilent Technologies, Apple, Facebook, Riverbed Technology and Salesforce.com. According to the San Jose Mercury News, many employee reviews praised Silicon Valley for its workplace culture and talented, innovative workers.
"Lots of perks (gym, free soda, company planes that fly between campuses)," wrote an Intel finance analyst, as quoted by the San Jose Mercury News. "In general the people are really smart, hardworking and fun to be around."
Glassdoor's senior vice president of people, Allyson Willoughby, commented, "We know that the Bay Area is a great place to live and that plays into how satisfied they (employees) are at work. For instance, in the top three cities -- San Jose, San Francisco and Seattle -- employees note a healthy work-life balance."
Rounding out the top five U.S. metros were Seattle in third place, followed by Salt Lake City and Washington DC. Business Insider also named other cities that appeared high on Glassdoor's list: Orlando, San Diego, Boston, Memphis and Austin.
If you are looking for a new job in a different city, the Glassdoor blog post noted that New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC and San Francisco could be your best bets, as these five cities had the highest number of employers hiring.
Compiled by Heidi M. Agustin
Sources:
"San Jose Best City To Work In; Glassdoor Employment Satisfaction Report Card By City," glassdoor.com, June 21, 2013
"San Jose No. 1 in employee satisfaction," mercurynews.com, June 21, 2013, Dan Nakaso
"The 10 US Cities With The Happiest Workers," businessinsider.com, June 24, 2013, Vivian Giang
