BY ALANA SEMUELS
BIG TECH HAD A TOUGH YEAR, LAYING OFF TENS OF THOU-sands of workers since January. But the biggest tech companies are also the ones doing best for investors, employees, and the planet. Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet (the company that owns Google), and Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) were the top four companies in a new statistical ranking of 750 of the World’s Best Companies, by TIME and the data platform Statista. The rankings are based on a formula of revenue growth; employee-satisfaction surveys; and rigorous environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG, or sustainability) data.
Tech companies performed well, alongside IT and consulting firm Accenture and financial-services company American Express, in part because their carbon emissions are lower than those of companies with significant physical footprints like airlines or big manufacturers. But they also ranked well because their employees are largely happy—the top four got the highest marks in employee satisfaction—and because they’ve posted such big financial gains over the past three years while still committing to social-governance principles like lowering their emissions and appointing more women to their boards.
Microsoft, for example, the top company in the global rankings, made $72 billion in its most recent fiscal year, a 63% increase from 2020, while reducing overall emissions by 0.5%. In its most recent annual report, it also said that both racial and ethnic minority and women employees in the U.S. earned more, on average, than their counterparts who are men. “The way I think
