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These are the top 10 companies to work for in Florida: New report

By Christie St. Vil
Published  June 19, 2024 2:49pm EDT
Florida
FOX 35 Orlando

Made in Central Florida: Darden Restaurants

Have you heard of Darden Restaurants? How about Olive Garden? Bahama Breeze? Seasons 52? All are part of Darden Restaurants, an Orlando-based restaurant group that also includes Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Longhorn Steakhouse, Yard House, and The Capital Grille.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Finding the best company to work for when job searching sometimes requires extensive research, depending on one's individual needs.

For some, higher pay may outweigh other factors such as work-life balance or location. For others, psychological comfort may be more important than professional development.  

With Florida being known for its tourism, it isn't very surprising that travel industries, hotels, and restaurants are ranked as some of the best companies to work for in Florida. 

RELATED: Chicago-based Portillo's opening third Orlando-area restaurant

Here are the 10 best companies to work for, according to U.S. News and World Report's : 

  1. Carnival Corporation (Miami) - hotel, restaurant and leisure company
  2. Darden Resturants (Orlando)- chain of restaurants such as Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Yard House etc
  3. Fidelity National Information Services (Jacksonville)- globally respected technology provider for capital markets, retial banking and merchant industries
  4. L3Harris Manufacturing company (Melbourne)- defense and aerospace technology manufacturing company
  5. MarineMax (Clearwater)- boat retail chain for yachting, fishing and leisure craft
  6. PetMeds (Delray Beach)-online pet pharmacy that sells prescription and non-prescription pet medication
  7. Roper Technologies (Sarasota)- IT, software and service company
  8. SBA Communication Corporation (Boca Raton)-real estate company
  9. Spirit Airlines (Dania Beach)- an American airline that offers flights
  10. Travel & Leisure Co. (Orlando)-travel membership and timeshare company

The six metrics used to determine the best companies to work for in Florida include quality of pay and benefits, work/life balance and flexibility, job and company stability, physical and psychological comfort, belongingness and esteem, career opportunities, and professional development. 

A survey was then conducted to rank the six metrics in order of importance, with quality of pay and benefits along with work/life balance weighing as the most important to workers. 

These findings go hand in hand with a survey from Gallup which had the same findings.  

These companies selected for this report are public companies part of the Russell 3000 index as of 2023.