BMW recognized as most attractive employer worldwide

Randstad Holding nv announces that BMW is the winner of the Global Randstad Award 2014. Out of the Global Top 50 eligible companies, BMW is recognized as the most attractive employer and the first company in the 14-year history of the Randstad Award to become the global winner. 61% of the respondents worldwide would like to work for BMW. The company scores #1 in the categories ‘competitive salary & employee benefits’, ‘pleasant working atmosphere’ and ‘strong management’. The first runner-up of the Global Randstad Award is Sony, the 2nd runner-up is Samsung.

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In today’s increasingly mismatched global labor market, strong employer brands are crucial to attract and retain the right talent. Reasons why people choose certain employers differ greatly. There is no single set of characteristics that will attract everyone. Employer branding is highly nuanced, individual and multi-dimensional and creating a compelling brand is therefore more of an art than a science. Countries, companies, and even people within them all want something slightly different and the employer brand should therefore seek to articulate and convey the rich and varied traits that make an organization unique.

Jacques van den Broek
CEO of Randstad

The Global Randstad Award survey reveals interesting insights into the perception of potential employees. The attractiveness of employers has increased 4% worldwide compared to last year. This suggests that confidence in people’s own prospects and the wider economic outlook is increasing.

The most attractive industry sector to work in is IT, according to the respondents, followed by Life Sciences, Consulting, Automotive, and Technology.

Managing perceptions

Regarding the most important functional attributes or hard values, a remarkable shift has occurred. ‘Long-term job security’, value #1 in insecure times, has lost its top position to ‘competitive salary & employee benefits’. The strong scores for ‘pleasant working atmosphere’, ‘good work-life balance’ and ‘interesting job content’ underline the multiple dimensions in making an employer attractive and that money is rarely enough to make people want to work for an organization. The importance of an organization’s values and contribution to the communities in which it operates have also continued to grow in recent years and these are now decisive factors for a significant proportion of people.

The soft values or human features of organizations and brands were also measured. Worldwide, ‘honest’ and ‘reliable’ are the most important values, while traditional business values such as ’masculinity’ and ‘high status’ score low.

Different audiences, different needs

Men are more attracted by ‘career prospects’, ‘strong management’ and ‘financial health’ of employers, while women see ‘atmosphere’, ‘work-life balance’, ‘accessibility’ and ‘flexibility’ as more important.

‘Salary’, ‘job security’ and ‘financial health’ gain importance as people get older; while ‘training’ and ‘career development’ prospects are typically sought out by younger people.

The higher the level of education, the greater the importance of ‘career development’ and ‘job content’. ‘Job security’, ‘atmosphere’, ‘accessibility’ and ‘flexibility’ are more important to people with less education.

Methodology Global Randstad Award survey

The Randstad Award is the largest independent employer branding study in the world amongst the general public, covering over 200,0000 respondents in 23 countries. The winner of the Global Randstad Award is elected from a list of the top 50 largest companies based on a set of objective criteria:

  • largest numbers of employees
  • corporate/profit (governmental organizations are excluded)
  • operating in at least 25 countries
  • same company name in all countries
  • min. 30% of employees outside the home country

about randstad

Randstad is a global talent leader with the vision to be the world’s most equitable and specialized talent company. As a partner for talent and through our four specializations - Operational, Professional, Digital and Enterprise - we provide clients with the high-quality, diverse and agile workforces that they need to succeed in a talent scarce world. We help people secure meaningful roles, develop relevant skills and find purpose and belonging in their workplace. Through the value we create, we are committed to a better and more sustainable future for all. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Randstad operates in 39 markets and has approximately 40,000 employees. In 2023, we supported 2 million talent to find work and generated a revenue of €25.4 billion. Randstad N.V. is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam. For more information, see www.randstad.com.

for more information

Elise Martin-Davies
+31 (0)6 1322 5136
press@randstad.com