WilmerHale achieved first place in The Washington Post’s 2019 Top Workplace ranking of large companies in the national capital region.
The firm achieved the honor based solely on employee feedback to an anonymously conducted, third-party survey by Energage Inc., which partnered with The Washington Post on the project. More than 150 employers, including businesses, nonprofits, government contractors, law firms and schools were included in the rankings. Thirty were in the large-company category. Only one other law firm was included in that category.
“This year’s top-ranked large company is a Washington law firm that has played a leading role in reimagining what ‘Big Law’ can be,” The Washington Post said in its profile.
The survey measured various aspects of workplace culture. They included the following categories:
- “Alignment: where the company is headed, its values, cooperation
- “Connection: employees feel appreciated; their work is meaningful
- “Effectiveness: doing things efficiently and well, sharing different viewpoints, encouraging new ideas
- “My manager: cares about concerns, helps employees develop
- “Engagement: motivation, retention and recruiting
- “Leadership: confidence in company leaders
- “The Basics: pay, benefits, flexibility, training, expectations”
The Top Workplaces special section included a feature article on the successes and challenges in promoting workplace diversity in which Catherine Carroll, partner-in-charge of the Washington DC office, is quoted at length.
The article cites some of the firm’s efforts to improve diversity and notes positive indicators of progress but acknowledged that there is much unfinished business. “I would not call it a success story—I would call it a work-in-progress story,” she said.
Robert Dunne, the firm’s chief human resources officer, and Enzo DiPietro, human resources manager, represented the firm at the event at The Washington Post headquarters the evening of June 20 where the rankings were revealed.