Top Places to Work in Massachusetts: Explore the winners lists and more – The Boston Globe

Day-to-day work can be a grind — the same slog to the office or job site, the same bad coffee, the same Zoom squares.

But the world of work itself is ever changing.

Employers must constantly make room for a new generation of workers, the current crop of whom are complex: technology whizzes who yearn to lead but are seemingly unafraid to skip out on jobs they’ve already been hired for.

At the same time, the number of older workers is on the rise, including three 80-plus-year-old salesmen at the Newton Highlands restaurant wholesaler Boston Showcase Co. who help younger co-workers understand the difference between what customers want and what they need.

We’re also trying to figure out how to deal with the explosion of meetings that has turned office workers into Zoom zombies while grappling with our cellphone addictions, which are admittedly a welcome distraction during all those meetings.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have taken a beating in recent years, despite the fact that many of these efforts are simply about making everyone feel more welcome at work. Leaders at Entrada Therapeutics in Boston adjusted slide presentations to accommodate people who are colorblind while Boston online auto retailer CarGurus provides nonalcoholic beverages during work happy hours to make nondrinkers feel more comfortable.

The best employers know how to consider the many ways work changes — and stays the same — and keep people happy all the while. Kymera Therapeutics in Watertown, for example, takes employees on deep-sea fishing trips. At another Watertown biotech, C4 Therapeutics, employees are entered into a drawing each quarter to win two weeks of extra paid time off.

This year, 175 companies made the Globe’s annual Top Places to Work list, including 39 newcomers. In all, the employee engagement company Energage, based in Exton, Pennsylvania, invited more than 8,000 organizations with employees in Massachusetts to participate. Nearly 68,000 workers at 323 companies rated their employers on leadership, values, training, benefits, and other metrics. The rankings are broken down into four size categories: small (50-99 employees); medium (100-249); large (250-999); and largest (1,000 or more).

The data for these rankings are based on company profiles at the time the surveys were conducted earlier this year.

Winning employers are well aware of the balancing act required to meet employees where they’re at while keeping them engaged and motivated. And they know a few extra weeks off or a deep-sea fishing trip never hurts.

Explore the winners’ lists (by company size) and more:

TO PARTICIPATE IN THE 2025 TOP PLACES TO WORK SURVEY: Visit bostonglobe.com/nominate

Katie Johnston can be reached at katie.johnston@globe.com. Follow her @ktkjohnston.