--- title: How TIME and Statista Determined the Best Employers of 2026 description: Read the methodology canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/08/26/best-employers-methodology-2026/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-08-25T13:38:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-25T13:41:13.130Z og:title: How TIME and Statista Determined the Best Employers of 2026 og:description: Read the methodology og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/08/26/best-employers-methodology-2026/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1f839779172924a/6a84d1ee0208b8b6cb3a280e/Best-Employers-2026-MAINimage.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1920 og:image:height: 1080 og:image:alt: Best-Employers-2026-MAINimage.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How TIME and Statista Determined the Best Employers of 2026 twitter:description: Read the methodology twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1f839779172924a/6a84d1ee0208b8b6cb3a280e/Best-Employers-2026-MAINimage.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How TIME and Statista Determined the Best Employers of 2026 by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 25, 2026 1:38 PM UTC  Photo-illustration by TIME; Hiroshi Watanabe/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 25, 2026 1:38 PM UTC TIME, in partnership with Statista, the leading global provider of market and consumer data and rankings, has published the second annual "Best Employers” ranking. Employers can help shape the workforce in a country. However, employee workplace satisfaction not only impacts company culture, but can influence productivity, innovation, profitability, and industry reputation. Here's how the winners were selected. ## Methodology The research project “[Best Employers of 2026](https://time.com/collections/best-employers)” was based on surveys conducted using several online access panels to guarantee a representative sample of employees across each country, starting with Brazil, India, and Australia. In Australia, 200,000 employer evaluations were conducted for companies from all sectors employing at least 200 people in the country. In India, 760,000 employer evaluations were conducted from companies employing at least 500 people in the country. In Brazil, more than 900,000 employer evaluations were conducted from companies employing at least 500 people in the country. Participants were asked, through an open-ended question with an auto-complete function, to name their current employer. This method ensures neutrality and prevents companies from influencing the selection of respondents. ### **Data collection** The survey was conducted using several online access panels to guarantee a representative sample of employees across the country. Participants were asked, through an open-ended question with an auto-complete function, to name their current employer. This method ensures neutrality and prevents companies from influencing the selection of respondents. ### **Scoring model** The final score combines two types of evaluations: employees’ willingness to recommend their own employer (direct score) and their willingness to recommend other employers in the same industry (indirect perception score), using data from 2025 and 2026. **Direct score:** Respondents were asked to rate their willingness to recommend their employer to friends and family. The responses were graded on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means “I wouldn’t recommend my employer under any circumstances” and 10 means “I would definitely recommend my employer”. **Indirect score:** Employees were also asked about their willingness to recommend other employers within their industry. Respondents were shown an industry list of employers and asked to give an opinion on those that stood out, either positively or negatively (Response options: “would recommend”, “would not recommend”, “no opinion”). Additionally, an open-ended question allowed respondents to name other employers. Greater weight is given to direct recommendations, as they provide the strongest reflection of employee satisfaction. ### **Ranking and recognition** This ranking reflects not only how employees view their own workplace but also how companies are perceived across their sector, creating a balanced and independent view of the top employers. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/08/26/best-employers-methodology-2026/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/08/26/best-employers-methodology-2026/"},"headline":"How TIME and Statista Determined the Best Employers of 2026","datePublished":"2026-08-25T13:38:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-25T13:41:13.130Z","description":"Read the methodology","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/08/26/best-employers-methodology-2026/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1f839779172924a/6a84d1ee0208b8b6cb3a280e/Best-Employers-2026-MAINimage.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1f839779172924a/6a84d1ee0208b8b6cb3a280e/Best-Employers-2026-MAINimage.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Best-Employers-2026-MAINimage.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/08/26/best-employers-methodology-2026/","name":"How TIME and Statista Determined the Best Employers of 2026"}}]}] ```