Forbes and Newsweek Recognize Duke as a Top Place to Work in 2024

Forbes lists the university among “America’s Best Employers,” and Newsweek ranks the university among “America’s Greatest Workplaces for Women”

Duke Chapel
Photo courtesy of University Marketing & Communications.

Duke University earned recognition from Forbes on Tuesday as one of “America’s Best Employers,” while Newsweek last week listed the university as one of the “America's Greatest Workplaces for Women” in 2024.

Forbes ranked Duke 288th on its list of 600 employers with 5,000-or-more U.S.-based employees. Duke received a rating of four-and-a-half out of a possible five stars on Newsweek’s list of its best 1,000 employers for women.

Antwan Lofton, Vice President for Duke Human Resources, said the recognitions are particularly special given Duke’s Centennial year.

“Here we are, celebrating 100 years as a university, and I know several employees who have 50 years of service,” Lofton said. “It’s not that people come here and leave, many come here and commit not just their time and their efforts, but they commit their lives to serving Duke and bettering our community, which in turn, helps people go on from Duke to better the world.”

Forbes “America’s Best Employers”

The 2024 list of “America’s Best Employers” was produced by Forbes and market research firm Statista. The findings are drawn from survey responses from more than 170,000 U.S.-based employees working in organizations across several industries.

Respondents were asked to directly evaluate their employers, employers in their industry, and the organizations that employ family and friends. In total, the 2024 rankings are based on 3.5 million employer evaluations.

Among the factors evaluated were benefits, employee recognition, opportunities for advancement and a sense pride in their work.

In 2023, Forbes named Duke University and Duke University Health System among the “Best-In-State Employers” and “Best Employers for Women.” Also in 2023, Duke University Health System was named among “America’s Best Large Employers.”

“People know Duke as a place where students can do great work academically, where faculty can conduct amazing research and where patients can find world-class care,” Lofton said. “And I’m delighted to also see Duke recognized as a place where everyone who does the hard work of making Duke great can thrive.”

Newsweek’s “America’s Greatest Workplaces for Women”

Newsweek partnered with data firm Plant-A Insights Group to produce its list of “America’s Greatest Workplaces for Women.” The 2024 list recognized employers that rated highly in metrics such as compensation, work-life balance and proactive management on diversity.

Duke was one of 31 employers based in North Carolina to appear on the list and, among them, the university was the only educational institution.

“Duke provides great role models for women and clearly values women in leadership roles,” said Dr. Mary E. Klotman, Duke University School of Medicine Dean and Executive Vice President for Health Affairs. “I’m the second consecutive woman to serve as Dean of the School of Medicine, and when I became dean in 2017, seven of the nine deans at Duke were women. Duke offers a strong slate of resources and opportunities to support faculty development and advancement. The university and region are family-friendly, and of course Durham is in a great location and offers a lot of activities for families.”

Newsweek’s list was based on a multi-layered evaluation process that included interviews with Human Resources professionals about the top drivers of employee satisfaction, a survey or more than 142,000 female employees which resulted in more than 848,000 company reviews, research about factors such as the number of women in leadership roles, and monitoring companies’ media coverage.

“I’m continually impressed by how gracious and collaborative people are at Duke,” said, Tracy Futhey, Duke University Vice President and Chief Information Officer. “It’s great to be at a place where all of our voices are heard, and as a result, we get to better solutions.”

Newsweek recently included Duke in its 2024 list of “America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity.” In 2023, Newsweek listed Duke among “America’s Greatest Workplaces,” “America’s Greatest Workplaces for Women,” “America’s Greatest Workplaces for Parents and Families,” and “America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity.”

Duke offers employees opportunities to grow with the help of professional development programs and educational benefits, such as the expanded Employee Tuition Assistance Program, and robust health, retirement and time off benefits.

In recent years, Duke has expanded its parental leave benefit and increased the number of lactation spaces on campus.

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