LinkedIn Top Companies 2017: Global Edition

From Siemens to Salesforce, the 2017 Global LinkedIn Top Companies represent the firms around the world that are wooing today’s top talent. They are respected brands and innovators—and all attract outsize attention by global job seekers.



The Top Companies list is based on the billions of actions taken by LinkedIn's millions of members and looks at three main pillars: interest in a company's jobs, interest in a company's brand and employees, and employee retention


Creating the future: For those who want to tackle big issues, some division of Alphabet is working on it: from putting self-driving cars on the road to fighting extremism online. As CEO Larry Page says: “You need to stay a bit uncomfortable to stay relevant.”
Global headcount: 72,000
Innovation focus: More than 27,100 employees globally work in research and development, and Alphabet devoted $13.9 billion last year to R&D. That dedication has produced new products like Google Home and cutting-edge research like a deep learning algorithm that can detect a specific eye disease.


The everything store: Amazon is transforming how the world shops and consumes entertainment. This past year, Amazon delivered its first package by drone in the UK, launched Prime Video in India and opened brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S.
Global headcount: 341,400
“The best place to fail”: “People are often surprised to hear that working at Amazon is much like working for a series of startups. We’re constantly piloting, testing and launching new products, businesses and services,” Amazon told LinkedIn. “We take risks and make big bets, and when we fail, we apply the lessons learned and keep moving.”


The global network: Facebook believes it’s only ever 1 percent done, an ethos physically reflected by its headquarter offices. The unfinished look is “on purpose,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “When you enter our buildings, we want you to feel how much left there is to be done in our mission to connect the world.”
Global headcount: 17,000
Application advice: "Know or explore your passion around connecting the world, because it is at the heart of every single thing we do here," says Miranda Kalinowski, Facebook’s Global Head of Recruiting. "Once you know it, be able to demonstrate it.”


Driving forward: Uber is one of the most valuable startups, worth some $68 billion. While culture issues have plagued the company over the last several months, it still attracted outsize attention from global job seekers looking to boost their careers. LinkedIn’s Caroline Fairchild talked to experts as well as former and current employees to find out why Uber keeps attracting top talent even as its culture faces questions.
Global headcount: 12,000
Get acquainted: Worldwide nUbers, as new employees are dubbed, descend on the company’s headquarters for the three-day Uberversity program where they get to meet directly with the leadership team.


The work: Apple designs and develops some of the world’s most-popular gadgets, and it’s not done innovating yet. CEO Tim Cook recently debuted the company’s newest innovation: the HomePod. He also plans on doubling the size of Apple services, like iTunes, Apple Pay and more, over the next four years.
Global headcount: 110,000
Retail reach: Nearly 67,000 of Apple’s employees work in its 463 stores around the world. These positions don’t lack the perks of a traditional corporate gig: They get the same benefits, including shares in the company and education aid.


The work: Salesforce is famous for bringing customer relationship management to the cloud, and now it’s pushing CRM further into the future by pairing it with artificial intelligence via its new Einstein AI. It’s creations like this and Einstein Vision (which enables image recognition) that reflect CEO Marc Benioff’s drive for ongoing innovation.
Global headcount: 25,000
Island life: Benioff’s fascination with Hawaii informs Salesforce’s “Ohana” culture. (It means "family" in Hawaiian.)


Worldwide influence: From healthcare to retail, McKinsey staffs employees who are the best fit, regardless of location. About 40 percent of its consultants have at least one international engagement per year. “Our approach is to bring the best expertise to clients no matter where in the world that expertise is,” the firm told LinkedIn.
Global headcount: 25,000
Personal time: Want to learn a new language or go on a dream trip? McKinsey allows its consultants to take off an extra five to 10 weeks per year beyond vacation time to pursue personal interests and passions.



Luxury across the board: LVMH brings the French concept of “art de vivre” to consumers around the world via its 70 luxury houses across a range of sectors like fashion and leather goods, perfumes and cosmetics, watches and jewelry and wine and spirits.
Global headcount: 135,000
Moving on up: With such a wide range of brands, LVMH offers a lot of internal mobility. Nearly 75 percent of management positions are filled through internal promotions.


Beauty queen: L’Oréal may have 36 brands in 140 countries, but it’s best known for one thing: cosmetics. The company raked in $28.6 billion in sales last year, making it the top beauty company worldwide.
Global headcount: 83,000
Rising the ranks: Attn: students and recent grads. Thanks to the company’s philosophy that you are “never too young to lead,” 30 percent of L’Oréal’s hires last year were young graduates. L’Oréal’s current CEO even started as an intern himself in 1978.


Digital transformation: Dell Technologies has come a long way since founder and CEO Michael Dell created his first PC in 1985. Thanks to the company’s $60 billion acquisition of storage provider EMC in September, it’s now a global IT leader with seven tech powerhouses under its hood.
Global headcount: 145,000
Flexible working: If you want to work from home, set your own hours or even change career paths, Dell can make it happen. The company aims to have at least half its employees participate in its Connected Workplace program by 2020.


Connecting the unconnected: Cisco’s husband and wife co-founders created the multi-protocol router when they weren’t able to email each other from their respective offices. Today, Cisco continues to shape the future of the Internet via cutting-edge technology, including products and services like WebEx, OpenDNS, and its Tetration Analytics.
Global headcount: 73,000
Giving back: Cisco employees get five days off in addition to regular paid time off that they can use to volunteer. Last year, Cisco employees logged 227,000 volunteer hours.



Energy innovation: Not only is Tesla leading the transition to sustainable transportation with its electric vehicles, the company is also making strides in renewable energy generation and storage through its investments in solar panels and products like Powerwall.
Global headcount: 30,000
Fun-filled future: Because Tesla is not yet profitable, its employees don’t receive the kind of extravagant perks that the tech industry is known for. CEO Elon Musk says that will soon change. In a recent email to employees, Musk revealed free frozen yogurt stands and an electric pod roller coaster are on the horizon.


On cloud nine: Oracle has been making a move to the cloud: bringing its traditional software businesses online to better rival the likes of Salesforce and Workday. The move seems to be paying off. Third quarter sales of its cloud-based products rose 62 percent.
Global headcount: 135,000
Corporate citizenship: Oracle takes social responsibility to a whole new level. It built a public charter school on its headquarters campus and recycled or reused 99.5 percent of its electronic waste in its most recent fiscal year.


At the core: Siemens’ breadth is impressive, including divisions devoted to energy, healthcare and financial services. Across those units, the company is innovating new ways to power the world, automate work and push into software and data analysis.
Global headcount: 351,000
Staying power: Siemens employees stick around. The company has the longest average employee tenure of any on this list: Siemens workers stay 8.6 years, on average, according to LinkedIn data.


In your pantry: Consumer goods behemoth Unilever is parent to more than 400 well-known brands used by billions of people each day from Suave to Lipton to Lifebuoy. The company reports that 57 percent of its business is in emerging markets.
Global headcount: 169,000
Cool job: Being a “Tea Expertise Director” at Unilever includes tasting 1,000 cups of tea per day and touring fellow employees through tea plantations.



The happiest place: From worldwide theme parks to consumer goods to hitmakers on the big and small screen including ABC, Marvel and Pixar, one important element connects Disney’s multiple divisions: storytelling. “Disney employees play an important role in bringing to life what others only dream of,” the company told LinkedIn.
Global headcount: 195,000
Calling all fans: Trainers on the Disney English team use Disney stories and characters to teach children English in China.


The prescription: Johnson & Johnson’s mission to improve lives through healthcare is carried out by a family of 275 companies around the world, including pharmaceuticals and consumer products. It’s a decentralized structure, meaning each company has autonomy to make the best decisions for its market.
Global headcount: 126,000
Uniting purpose: The company’s 70-year-old credo emphasizes responsibility — to healthcare professionals, employees, communities and stockholders.


Building the future: “I believe the most disruptive and transformative trend is now in front of us, and it’s cognitive,” says IBM CEO Ginni Rometty. IBM is ready to pounce on this new era with computer systems like Watson that know how to learn and reason.
Global headcount: 380,000
R&D: IBM employs its own technology in the hiring process, using Watson to match resumes to open positions.


Get packing: At auditor and consultancy Deloitte, international experience goes beyond overseas travel. Employees may take on assignments abroad, transfer to one of the more than 150 countries and territories Deloitte operates in or manage global teams. Last year, the firm saw more than 6,000 such arrangements.
Global headcount: 244,400
Hit the books: Leadership center Deloitte University has campuses in the US, Singapore, Belgium, France, India and Canada where employees can boost their professional skills.


Snack attack: PepsiCo’s 22 iconic brands, like Lay’s, Gatorade and Tropicana, are sold in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. The company’s now on a mission, dubbed Performance with Purpose 2025, to develop healthier product options, limit its environmental footprint and support a diverse workforce (including ensuring pay equity).
Global headcount: 264,000
Innovation: PepsiCo has increased its spending on R&D by 45 percent over the past six years, creating new products that have generated more than $5 billion in net revenue since 2013.


Problem solving: Accenture is one of the largest professional services firms in the world with consulting, technology, strategy and operations projects in more than 120 countries. It works with 75 percent of the Fortune Global 500 across more than 40 different industries.
Global headcount: 401,000
Family friendly: Accenture offers 16 weeks maternity leave, 8 weeks of primary caregiver leave, up to one year of local work after returning from leave and free breast milk shipping for mothers who choose to travel for work.


Accounting and beyond: EY, one of the “Big Four” accounting firms, provides assurance, advisory, transaction and tax services to companies in more than 150 countries. The firm is growing rapidly and is expected to reach a global workforce of 300,000 employees by 2020.
Global headcount: 250,000
Making an impact: EY in Germany launched a pilot refugee internship, a four-month training program where participants are paired with mentors and offered a full-time job at EY after completing the program.


Powering the world: France-based Schneider Electric creates the technology behind electric car charging stations, solar power storage systems and energy management software for factories and office buildings. It’s been in business for over 180 years and it has projects in over 100 countries.
Global headcount: 144,000
Making moves: Schneider Electric’s Global International Mobility Center helped 400 employees make the move to a new country in 2016. It’s part of the company’s overall strategy to encourage wider transfer of knowledge and skills among its employees.


Design standard: Adobe is the reigning king of creative software, and it doesn’t look to be letting go of that title anytime soon. The company has made a successful transition to the cloud, with its Creative Cloud suite boasting over 9 million subscribers, according to analyst estimates.
Global headcount: 15,000
Adobe Kickbox: To encourage employee creativity, Adobe offers an “innovation in a box” kit that contains a $1,000 prepaid credit card, a Starbucks gift card, a candy bar, and a few instructions to any staffer who is interested in testing out new business ideas. The company has given out more than 1,000 boxes.


A return to its industrial roots: GE has undergone a massive transition in recent years, returning to its core industrial businesses, selling off pieces of its finance arm and doubling down on what it refers to as the “industrial internet.” The company is now focusing on turbines, aircraft engines and big data rather than credit cards and personal loans.
Global headcount: 350,000
Leadership training: GE runs eight different leadership programs, giving recent graduates hands-on experience and training in a wide range of disciplines, including engineering, human resources, operations and finance. Some 25 percent of GE senior management graduated from a GE leadership program.

Photo credits courtesy of Getty Images and companies.
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