The first project to independently verify the best startups workplaces in Australia.

We surveyed the employees at each startup, and each employer submitted evidence of their company practices. The full ranking methodology is at the bottom of the page.

To be considered a Verified Top Startup Employer and eligible as a finalist for Top Startup Employers 2023, each startup below met the following requirements:
  • eNPS of 30+: We ask employees 'How likely are you to recommend your employers as a place to work?'. An eNPS of 30+ is impressive and difficult to maintain.
  • 4.2/5 or greater employee survey average (questions below)
  • minimum 30% employee participation

How it works

1. Someone from your startup (most likely, whoever is in charge of talent/HR) fills out a 5-minute form to nominate your startup.

2. If your startup makes the shortlist, you will need to pay an entrance fee of $200.

2. We will send you a survey link to share with your company. The questions are along the lines of 'How likely are you to recommend X as an employer', or 'From 1 to 10, how supportive is your workplace'?.
We will stop accepting survey responses on 16 December 202
3. We compile the results, our judges get together and we rank the startups

Important things to note

- The more people that respond to the questionnaire (as a % of your startup), the stronger the entry
-

What do you get?

- The more people that respond to the questionnaire (as a % of your startup), the stronger the entry
-

Eligibility criteria

1. Someone from your startup

Important dates

16 December 2022: We stop accepting entries

30 February 2022: We produce the inaugural Top Startup Employers list for 2022

The Process

Top Startups for Early Careers

Startups are a great place to start your career. We will identify the best startups for people early in their career in each of the startup phases: Early, Growth, and Scale-up.

This report will be distributed by our industry partners, including UNSW, UWA, UTS, and other universities.

Top Startups for Women

The top startups for women in Australia. These startups have demonstrated excellence in their approach to improving gender equality in the startup space.

We will identify the best startups for women in each of the startup phases: Early, Growth, and Scale-up.

Features

A deep-dive into each startup finalist and their employee value proposition.

For an example of what a successful startup feature looks like, head here.
There were two components to the assessment process: (1) Employee survey, and (2) Employer submission.

The employee survey had to be filled out by 30% of the company, and asked for feedback on:
  • how likely the employee was to recommend the employer as a place to work
  • how inspired they are by the company's leadership and vision
  • how much the organisation values employee feedback
  • how psychologically safe the company is
  • the strength of managers
  • opportunities for training and development
  • whether people have enough resources and support to perform their job
  • employee recognition
  • flexibility
  • transparency
  • how fun the company is
  • employee benefits
  • how committed the employer is to addressing issues relating to gender discrimination, bias, and representation.
  • how fair compensation is
  • whether the job provides a sense of purpose and meaning
  • how likely the employee is to remain at the company for the next 12months
We then tallied the results.

The company representative then submitted information about the company's commitment to improving diversity and inclusion, and how they approach training and development of staff.

We then compared this information against what 'best practice' or '5/5' looks like. If a company was, on average, around 80% of the way towards best practice, we gave the company a 4/5. This process was challenging as every company's approach was different.

This competition was about finding the best workplaces as rated by employees, so we weighted the sections 75% (employee survey) and 25% (employer submission) when we combined the two scores.

As the final step, we adjusted the score for participation rate - i.e. we gave a small increase to companies that had a higher proportion of their overall headcount participate.

Judging was completed by Rachel Zerr and Tim Atkins.
Our guide to getting a startup job is written by folks from:
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