To be eligible for consideration, organizations must:

• Be a publicly or privately held business
• Be a for-profit, not-for-profit business or government entity/municipality(1)
• Have a facility in Chicago(3)
• Have a minimum of 10 full-time or part-time employees(2) working in Chicagoland (3)
• Must be in business a minimum of one year

(1) Major departments of government entities and municipalities such as Departments of Transportation, Parks & Recreation, or Police may enter separately. For additional eligibility information or clarification, please contact Best Companies Group at 717-909-1570.
(2) To ensure credibility, organizations with 10-24 employees working in the Chicago region must have an 80% or better response rate on the employee survey (40% for employers with 25 or more employees). Temporary, per diem, PRN, seasonal, 1099 employees, independent contractors, non-employee real estate agents, consultants, interns and volunteers are not counted in the number of Chicago region employees or included in the survey process. For staffing companies, employees that are placed with other organizations are not eligible.
(3) The Chicago region includes the following counties: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake (Ill.), Lake (Ind.), McHenry, or Will County

How to enter your organization

All organizations will participate in one of three ways:

1. As an individual organization possessing one Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN).

2. As the parent/holding company of multiple organizations with one FEIN for all subsidiaries. The parent/holding company must register with all eligible employees working for that parent/holding company.

3. Subsidiaries of a parent/holding organization may register separately if each subsidiary organization possesses a separate FEIN. If the organization has multiple facilities, branches, factories, offices or stores, all locations must be included in the survey if they operate under the same FEIN.

Which employees to include

Include all current, full- and part-time Chicago Region employees in the survey process, from the CEO, partners, all the way to line-level employees, including remote employees. Remote employees are defined as employees that work from home or on the road in the United States who directly report to a supervisor physically working in the Chicago Region.

Exclude all temporary, seasonal or per diem employees, 1099 employees/independent contractors, volunteers, interns, outside consultants or staffing employees placed by other organizations.