As artificial intelligence reshapes hiring and entry-level jobs become scarcer, a new workforce analytics project offers hard data on which employers actually foster career growth. The project, called Where You Work Matters, grades 1,750 of America's largest employers based on the real career outcomes of their workers, drawing on a database of 12 million career histories across 1,800 companies. The findings are sobering: only 22 companies earned Platinum ratings across every measured category, and in many roles, a handful of firms stand out as true career builders.
Matt Sigelman, president of the Burning Glass Institute, and Rajiv Chandrasekaran, managing director of the Schultz Family Foundation, discussed the research on the podcast You Should Know, hosted by William Tincup of WRKdefined. Sigelman explained the methodology in plain terms, cutting through employer marketing claims to focus on empirical outcomes. "If two people start in the same role at directly competing firms, how likely are they each to move up? How likely are they each to stay? How does their pay change over time?" he said, describing the core question behind the American Opportunity Index and its successor project.
The research measures promotion velocity, retention, pay growth, and regrettable turnover—the latter being a metric that Tincup argues is more important than raw turnover. Chandrasekaran and Sigelman agreed, adding that transparency benefits workers and job seekers alike. The project's website now features an occupation finder tool for the class of 2026, surfacing roughly 6,000 highly rated entry-level openings.
The findings defy expectations. For example, of the hundreds of firms employing financial analysts, only 27 rated as great across early career, growth, and stability stages—and only six of those were in banking or financial services. Standouts included General Mills, Liberty Mutual, and Nike. At Whole Foods, food preparation workers fare surprisingly well because prepared foods drive margin, illustrating how industry context shapes career outcomes.
The research also highlights the disappearance of entry-level jobs, a trend flagged in a recent Harvard Business Review article, which threatens the future talent pipeline. Sigelman and Chandrasekaran emphasized the concept of "mobility muscle," and how firms like Procter & Gamble, Lockheed Martin, Salesforce, Apple, and Whole Foods stack up role by role. Chandrasekaran cited conversations with CHROs at top-rated firms who point to intentional manager conversations about career trajectory as the practice that separates leaders from laggards.
For HR leaders, the implications are clear: career development is not a perk but a measurable driver of retention and talent attraction. For workers and job seekers, the data offers a powerful tool to evaluate employers beyond marketing claims. As AI continues to transform hiring, understanding which companies invest in their people's growth will become even more critical. The full Where You Work Matters dataset can be explored at whereyouworkmatters.org.
