Atlanta, GA--(PRWEB)—January 6, 2009 – GreatPlaceJobs.com, the leading job search platform and networking community helping job seekers connect with positions in award-winning organizations, released a ground-breaking study comparing layoff trends in top-rated and other Fortune 100 companies. The findings clearly demonstrate that the biggest employers are not necessarily the best.

The GreatPlaceJobs Great Workplace Employment Study shows that companies that have been recognized as great workplaces conducted layoffs at a rate of less than half that of a general sample of companies. Only 35% of excellent employers conducted layoffs in 2008, as opposed to a shocking rate of 73% of companies in the other sample. In addition, the revenue growth rate at great workplace companies in Q3 2008 was 27.4% higher than their competitors, and the average stock price of the excellent employers was close to 10% higher at the end of 2008 (compared to the beginning of 2008) than that of their competitors.

“In this competitive marketplace, it is crucial for job seekers to target their efforts at finding positions with top-ranked employers, such as those featured on GreatPlaceJobs.com. Award winning companies are more likely to survive the current recession without suffering layoffs or a bankruptcy,” said Asher Adelman, founder and CEO of GreatPlaceJobs. “Top-ranked employers have proven themselves to be much more recession-proof than the average company.”

The GreatPlaceJobs Great Workplace Employment Study compared the employment, financial and operating data of the Fortune 100 largest U.S. companies with the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For. The year-over-year revenue growth in Q3 2008 was much stronger at the great workplace companies, who, despite the rapidly deteriorating economy, achieved impressive revenue growth of 29.9% from Q3 2007. In comparison, the Fortune 100 largest companies delivered revenue growth of only a paltry 2.5% in Q3 2008 from the same quarter in 2007.

A clear sign of the competitive advantage and resilience of the great employers is evident in the fact that nine of the Fortune 100 largest companies filed for bankruptcy or were bailed out by the U.S. government in 2008, while none of the great workplace companies failed on this magnitude.

A complete copy of the GreatPlaceJobs Great Workplace Employment Study and additional information about the methodology may be requested via email: contact@greatplacejobs.com. For more information about GreatPlaceJobs, visit www.greatplacejobs.com. To receive regular updates about new and interesting data and reports, visit and/or subscribe to the GreatPlaceJobs blog and follow GPJ on Twitter @GreatPlaceJobs.

About GreatPlaceJobs

GreatPlaceJobs offers the largest collection of job listings exclusively from companies that are officially recognized as "great workplaces" and have received one of the prestigious "best employer" awards granted each year. The database currently includes over 100,000 open jobs from more than 1,300 companies from across the U.S. For more information, visit www.greatplacejobs.com.,