Caring to your individuals means investing within the communities the place they dwell.
A thriving neighborhood depends on the assist of companies. In return, a wholesome neighborhood can spur firms to new heights, serving to to draw high expertise and gas progress.
“Companies are important pillars within the communities the place they function,” says Michael C. Bush, CEO of Nice Place To Work®. “Caring to your individuals and your neighborhood isn’t one thing you do after you construct a profitable enterprise; it’s the best way to make your enterprise profitable.”
Corporations make the PEOPLE® Corporations that Care Checklist by going to extraordinary lengths to reply to the particular wants of their individuals, typically investing closely within the communities the place they dwell.
No. 1 on this 12 months’s listing is The Fantastic Firm, an agricultural producer within the Central Valley in California, which meets with native households in one of many poorest areas within the U.S.
Within the Misplaced Hills neighborhood, the place half of the households have a number of Fantastic staff, firm leaders went door-to-door, conducting 40-minute interviews to study neighborhood points and the place they might assist. The corporate invested practically $100 million to construct a brand new neighborhood middle with soccer fields and sports activities services, a full-service neighborhood kitchen, and a mile-long walkway for residents to trip bikes, push strollers, or take a lap.
The Fantastic Firm additionally partnered with a nonprofit and the U.S. Division of Agriculture to construct reasonably priced housing, together with 60 multifamily houses and 21 single-family houses, with rents set at reasonably priced charges for agriculture staff.
Advocating for Colleagues
Corporations additionally made this 12 months’s listing by serving to to unlock the fervour and spirit of their workforce, elevating causes that immediately have an effect on the lives of staff.
One instance: Salesforce, No. 11 on the 2025 listing, launched a brand new “Worker Affect Hub” to empower staff and assist scale their volunteering efforts. The hub has opened alternatives for workers like Brooke Eby, a enterprise improvement supervisor at Salesforce dwelling with ALS.
Eby and her colleagues created an inner group known as ALSforce to assist drive consciousness and lift funds for ALS-related causes. The group has over 700 members and has raised a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars}.
The assist from her colleagues has been deeply significant to Eby. “Work for me has been such an additive a part of my life,” she shared in an interview. “The quick assist from everybody in my community and within the Salesforce ecosystem was overwhelming.”
At Energy House Transforming, No. 43 on the 2025 listing, staff have rallied collectively to lift funds for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Basis, a nonprofit devoted to discovering cures for childhood most cancers. Via payroll contributions and self-driven fundraising efforts, together with kickball tournaments, auctions and extra, Energy staff raised $2.26 million.
In every of the corporate’s 21 territories, groups partnered with a neighborhood Alex’s Hero household, supporting all of them 12 months.
“The donations we’ve made to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Basis have modified the lives of so many, however this group has additionally made a big impact on us. A lot so, that ALSF’s mission has change into intertwined with our POWER id,” says Energy House Transforming co-founder Adam Kaliner.
Investing in improvement
Essentially the most caring firms additionally put money into providers that individuals want, like schooling.
At Wegmans Meals Markets, No. 4 on the listing, schooling has been a storied precedence. The corporate has awarded $145 million in scholarships to almost 47,000 staff since 1984. One of many first staff to obtain a scholarship in 1984, Mary Beth Stalter, used her schooling to advance from a job as a cashier to change into director of payroll, advantages, and retirement at Wegmans.
“Wegmans was as invested in our success as we have been,” Stalter says. “After which once we graduated and needed to make these selections (about our future), successful the scholarship opened my eyes to what Wegmans needed to provide, whether or not within the retailer or within the workplace.”
Defending the setting
One other approach firms present care is in defending the setting the place staff and clients dwell, work and play.
At Dow, No. 33 on this 12 months’s listing, its “Enterprise Affect Fund” permits staff to pursue initiatives targeted on water, lowering plastic waste, and fostering financial improvement. Staff submit proposals, which may additionally earn funding from exterior accomplice organizations. Since 2016, this system has supported 58 initiatives in 22 international locations.
Dow has additionally set bold targets to maintain plastic waste out of the setting. By 2030, Dow will rework plastic waste to commercialize 3 million metric tons of round and renewable options yearly. It additionally plans to make 100% of Dow merchandise offered in packaging functions designed for reusability by 2035.
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