Hilton, Cisco, and Skylab lead the diversity and inclusion rankings.

Hilton, Cisco, and Skylabs lead Great Place to Work's diversity and inclusion rankings.

The ability to create inclusive, equitable, and diversity-respecting work environments is confirmed as a strategic lever for enhancing human capital and building more resilient organizations, as evidenced by the 2025 edition of the Best Workplaces for DE&I ranking, the ranking of the 20 best companies to work for diversity, equity, and inclusion, compiled by Great Place to Work Italy. The ranking is the result of interviews with nearly 100,000 employees (98,985) working within various organizations, broken down by employee count.

By company size, four out of ten (40%) of the 20 Best Workplaces for DE&I employ between 50 and 149 people, 35% have between 150 and 499 people, 15% have between 500 and 999 people, and one in ten (10%) has over 1,000 people. Among the leading sectors in DE&I practices are IT and professional services, with five companies each (25%), and biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, with three companies in the ranking (15%). Completing the ranking are healthcare and financial services and insurance, with two companies each (10%), and the hospitality and agriculture sectors, with one organization each (5%). The index measures how fair and inclusive the workplace and corporate culture are perceived by employees regarding fair treatment, accessibility and involvement by managers, absence of discrimination based on personal characteristics, an inclusive and welcoming environment, psychological safety guaranteed by the company, and the possibility of achieving a healthy work-life balance. Among the 20 Best Workplaces for DE&I 2025, the DE&I Index is 85%, a full 20 percentage points higher than that of certified companies (65%) and more than double that of non-certified companies (42%).

Leading the 2025 ranking is Hilton, a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 22 brands comprising nearly 7,400 properties and over 1.1 million rooms in 124 countries and territories. In second place is Cisco, a global leader in technologies that transform the way people connect, communicate, and collaborate through intelligent networks and architectures that integrate products, services, and software platforms. Third place goes to Skylabs, a business partner that supports companies of all sizes and sectors throughout their digital lifecycle. Forty-five percent of the 20 Best Workplaces for DE&I 2025, nearly one in two, are headquartered in Italy. "Being a Great Place to Work for All means building an environment where every person, regardless of their identity or role, feels welcomed, listened to, and valued within an inclusive organizational culture," emphasizes Alessandro Zollo, CEO of Great Place to Work Italy. "The fact that nearly half of the companies are Italian and that other European organizations are represented demonstrates how the DEI Charter can truly make a difference between business approaches in Europe and elsewhere. Companies that choose to put people at the center, valuing their uniqueness and creating spaces where everyone can feel truly themselves, without fear of judgment, not only build more just environments, but also more resilient and innovative ones." What emerges from the analysis of the data that led to the ranking, Zollo continues, is that "inclusion is not a set of policies, but a real experience, made up of daily experiences of respect, trust, and recognition. It is on this cultural foundation that the ability to innovate and embrace change is rooted: because only a safe and authentic environment allows people, and therefore organizations, to evolve with courage. All this despite the recent institutional disengagement on these issues in the United States: 2024 data analysis shows that companies like Hilton, Cisco, and AbbVie demonstrate how, once integrated into the organizational culture, these values ​​remain solid and continue to generate impact.

Relational and cultural authenticity represents a distinctive strength, so much so that the percentage of employees at Best companies who openly declare "I can be myself here" is 92%, significantly higher than that of certified companies (78%) and even higher than that of non-certified companies (59%) and the Italian norm (48%). This gap, which reaches over 40 percentage points compared to the Italian norm, highlights how a truly inclusive environment impacts not only performance, but also subjective well-being and employee engagement. In other words, DE&I in Best contexts is not just a strategy, but a lived culture. Confirming the extent to which values ​​and culture impact satisfaction and a sense of belonging, 89% of employees at Best companies state their intention to stay with the company long-term, compared to 79% of employees at certified companies, 69% at non-certified companies, and 54% of the Italian average. A strong signal, which underscores how an inclusive environment not only attracts talent, but also fosters loyalty and organizational stability.