SPECIALY FEATURE | Philippine firms stand out in Asia workplace rankings

Twenty Philippine companies were named to the Best Workplaces in Asia 2026 list, including six small and medium businesses, giving the country the highest number of SME entrants in Southeast Asia, according to Great Place To Work.

The regional list, published Thursday, ranks 200 companies based on employee survey responses. It includes 100 large employers with at least 500 employees in Asia and 100 small and medium businesses with 50 to 499 employees.

Atomy, a retail company in the SME category, ranked first among all small and medium workplaces in Asia, up from third place in 2025. It was also the highest-ranked Philippine company across both categories.

The results come as Filipino employers face relatively high employee turnover. Aon’s 2025 Salary Increase and Turnover Study, which surveyed more than 700 businesses across six countries, projected that 20 percent of skilled Filipino workers would change jobs in 2026. Singapore followed at 19.3 percent and Malaysia at 18.2 percent.

The workplace rankings offer a different measure of the labor market, relying on employee assessments of their companies rather than employer-reported retention data.

SMEs gain ground

Singapore led Southeast Asia by the number of companies on the list with 25, followed by Vietnam with 24, the Philippines with 20, Indonesia with 19, Thailand with 18 and Malaysia with 15.

The Philippines’ position becomes more notable when company size is considered. Six of its 20 entries, or 30 percent, came from the SME category.

Besides Atomy, the Philippine SME entrants were NeoWork, which ranked 26th; Kollab at 48th; DBP Service Corp. at 50th; Arcanys at 79th; and Etrading Software Manila at 80th.

Only the United Arab Emirates, Japan and Sri Lanka placed more SMEs overall, with 22, 16 and 10 entries, respectively. India also placed six SMEs, although it had roughly twice as many companies on the overall list.

The concentration suggests that workplace recognition in the Philippines is not limited to large employers, with smaller companies accounting for a significant share of the country’s entries.

IT remains dominant

Information technology companies accounted for eight of the Philippines’ 20 entries, or 40 percent, making IT the most represented industry among the country’s awardees.

The sector is also a major source of employment and export revenue for the Philippines. The IT and business process management industry employs about 1.9 million people and generated roughly $40 billion in export revenue in 2025, according to the supplied data.

The industry’s growth outlook has also been revised. In July, the industry association lowered its 2028 employment target from 2.5 million jobs to 2.14 million, citing the impact of artificial intelligence, changing buyer behavior and global competition.

Financial services were the second-largest cluster among Philippine entries, with Synchrony ranking 12th in Asia, BPI at 64th and American Express at 88th.

The Philippine companies represented eight industries, the narrowest industry spread among Southeast Asian markets on the list. Vietnam’s entries, by comparison, covered 14 industries.

Philippine companies move up

Capital One recorded the biggest improvement among Philippine companies, rising 39 places to 46th from 85th in the previous ranking. Great Place To Work’s year-on-year data identified the gain as the third-largest by any company in Southeast Asia.

Kollab climbed 20 places to 48th, while Visa rose 19 places to 39th. Etrading Software Manila moved up nine places to 80th.

Six Philippine companies appeared on the list for the first time: NeoWork at 26th, DBP Service Corp. at 50th, Carelon Global Solutions Philippines at 53rd, Concentrix at 58th, BPI at 64th and Balibago Waterworks System at 71st.

The new entrants span financial services, utilities and business services, broadening the types of Philippine employers represented in the rankings.

Employee responses drive ranking

Great Place To Work said its rankings are based on employee responses to 60 statements rated on a five-point scale, along with two open-ended questions.

The survey covers areas including leadership, fairness in pay and promotion, accessibility of management and employees’ assessment of their work.

The methodology also considers consistency in employee experiences across an organization, rather than simply averaging overall satisfaction. Companies cannot buy a position on the list, and the ranking is not determined by a judging panel.

The 2026 list is the 12th edition of the regional ranking. It draws on surveys covering companies with more than 8.9 million employees across 36 countries and territories, including more than 3.8 million individual employee responses.

Among large workplaces, Hilton ranked first in Asia, followed by Marriott International, Cisco, DHL and Accenture. Hilton also appears among the Philippine entries.

The findings show a Philippine workplace landscape where smaller companies and technology firms have a substantial presence among employers receiving strong employee assessments, even as the broader labor market faces elevated turnover.

Full disclosure: All news articles published on the TechSabado website are written by human journalists, unless otherwise specified. Final text editing is also performed by human editors, with artificial intelligence (AI) used only to assist with additional grammar and style guide corrections..

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