Here Are This Year’s Best Employers in Healthcare and Biotech

Forbes has rolled out its annual rankings of America’s top employers, and a bevy of healthcare companies have made the cut.

Novo Nordisk — recently in the spotlight for its diabetes and weight-loss drug semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) — took the No. 1 spot on the “Best Large Employers” list, while others in the top five were Cook Children’s Health Care System in Texas, which placed third, and Children’s Hospital Colorado, which placed fourth.

As for “Best Midsize Employers,” the Alzheimer’s Association, based in Illinois, grabbed the No. 3 spot, and Jupiter Medical Center in Florida finished fifth.

Overall, the annual rankings were conducted with market firm Statista, and were based on a survey of more than 170,000 U.S.-based workers at American companies, Forbes noted. Employers with 1,000 to 5,000 workers were considered midsize, and those with more than 5,000 workers were deemed large.

Survey respondents were asked to evaluate their employer based on criteria that ranged from working hours, salary, and opportunities for training and promotion, to gender pay equity, health benefits, and diversity, Forbes further noted. Respondents were also asked if they would recommend their employer to others, and were given an opportunity to rate other employers in their respective industries. Ultimately, all survey responses were tallied to generate a score for each company, and those with the highest scores made the final lists.

“New to the methodology this year,” Forbes stated, “was the inclusion of data from the past three years — with more recent data weighted more heavily — to better identify companies that have been rated well consistently over time.”

Below are 2024’s top performers in the healthcare sector and in the drugs and biotechnology sector for both the large and midsize lists, according to Forbes.

Top 10 Healthcare and Social Services Large Employers

3. Cook Children’s Health Care System (Texas)

4. Children’s Hospital Colorado

7. Houston Methodist (Texas)

9. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (Tennessee)

10. The University of Kansas Health System

25. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

34. New York-Presbyterian Hospital

36. Community Health Network (Indiana)

38. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York)

42. Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Ohio)

Top 10 Drugs and Biotechnology Large Employers

1. Novo Nordisk (New Jersey)

15. Amgen (California)

86. Takeda Pharmaceuticals (Massachusetts)

173. Johnson & Johnson (New Jersey)

176. Thermo Fisher Scientific (Massachusetts)

181. Sanofi (New Jersey)

203. Roche Holding (Indiana)

207. Bristol Myers Squibb (New York)

208. Merck & Co. (New Jersey)

216. Pfizer (New York)

Top 10 Healthcare and Social Services Midsize Employers

3. Alzheimer’s Association (Illinois)

5. Jupiter Medical Center (Florida)

12. Shriners Hospitals for Children (Florida)

17. Pikeville Medical Center (Kentucky)

19. Vizient (Texas)

22. Hendricks Regional Health (Indiana)

25. Oklahoma Heart Hospital

27. Boys Town (Nebraska)

31. AARP (Washington, D.C.)

40. Woman’s Hospital (Louisiana)

Top Drugs and Biotechnology Midsize Employers

73. Jackson Laboratory (Maine)

147. Argonne National Laboratory (Illinois)

199. Bio-Rad Laboratories (California)

211. Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Massachusetts)

273. Mallinckrodt (Missouri)

302. Bio-Techne (Minnesota)

Read more about Forbes‘ full rankings for “Best Large Employers” and “Best Midsize Employers.”

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