After looking at Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work 2017 Employee’s Choice Awards, the team at CTXP noticed that Texas clutched almost a fifth of all large, medium and small businesses, combined. With millions of company reviews, Glassdoor offers insight into employees’ mindset and proves how competitive Texas is compared with other states in the nation. While Texas businesses are named some of the best places to work, they’re also working toward eco-friendliness and improving sustainability.
Explore Texas-based companies that made Glassdoor’s best places to work list, and see how each company is working to become greener.
Top large Texas businesses
No. 27 | H-E-B
Based in San Antonio, H-E-B is a big-box, grocery retail chain that caters to more than 150 communities throughout the Lone Star state and Mexico. Each location is slightly different than the next, with departments outfitted to compliment the area as best as possible. With more than 100 years of history, the chain has become one of the nation’s largest independently owned food retailers.
And with such a large market area in Texas, it’s no surprise that the chain follows the state’s steps in being environmentally friendly. H-E-B believes that being energy efficient and conserving resources not only helps the planet, but also helps to pass on savings to consumers. The retailer participates in recycling, green building, cutting carbon emission and community partnership efforts.
No. 28 | Southwest Airlines
Incorporated in Texas in 1971, Southwest Airlines is one of the nation’s largest airlines offering service to the United States and international service to eight countries throughout the Caribbean. The company operates the world’s largest fleet of Boeing aircraft and, as Southwest Airlines states, believes in honest, fair and low fares with free baggage checking on the first two pieces of checked luggage.
Named one of America’s Greenest Companies 2015 by Newsweek, and recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency’s List of Fortune 500 Partners, Southwest Airlines operates many sustainability and environmentally conscious programs. One of the airlines biggest initiatives is its Phoenix Ground Support Equipment (GSE) shop. The GSE program works to eliminate waste, reduce overall costs, cut emissions and reduce impacts to local communities. Since 2005, Southwest Airlines has improved jet fuel conservation by 29.3 percent.
No. 31 | Keller Williams
Ranked the No. 1 real estate franchise by Entrepreneur Magazine, Keller Williams is an Austin-based, privately held realty group that has more than 139,000 agents with more than 790 agent-affiliated offices throughout the world. The company operates through its core set of standards called WI4C2TS, which lays out how agents should treat homebuyers.
While the company doesn’t sell a product, and instead offers a service, Keller Williams remains committed to a greener, “better future for all.” The company states that sustainability builds lasting value for homes, and that protecting our planet equates to protecting the homes it sells. In 2011, the company published a book titled Green Your Home that helps consumers and agents find easy ways to live a healthy, money-smart and sustainable life when at home.
No. 42 | Texas Instruments
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas Instruments brings back memories of school math classes with its famous TI graphing calculators. However, the company is more than a calculator manufacturer. Texas Instruments is a global semiconductor design and manufacturing company, serving more than 100,000 customers across 35 countries. Texas Instruments’ mission, listed on the company’s website, is to make the world “smarter, safer, greener, healthier and more fun.”
With making the world greener in mind, the company’s environmental stewardship goals include a five-year plan that aims to reduce its impact on local communities and the environment. For example, one of Texas Instruments’ goals was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions per chip by 30 percent by the end of 2015. Another thing to note is the company voluntarily reduces air emissions beyond what’s required by law. For example, in 2011 the company reduced refrigerant leak rate from 4.8 percent to 2.8 percent.
Top small and medium Texas businesses
No. 4 | SailPoint
High up on the list for the best small and medium companies to work for is SailPoint, based in Austin. The company, founded in 2005, is an enterprise-level, identity-protection and management platform that provides cloud-based services such as compliance controls, password management, single sign-on and data access governance for large scale corporations. The company focuses on its “Four I’s:” Innovation, integrity, impact and individuals. It states that by developing innovating solutions, delivering on commitments made, rewarding impact and valuing all employees, it maintains its success – especially in a global economy.
As many people already know, cloud computing addresses a main concern when it comes to large businesses and technology: resource efficiency. Instead of several businesses and corporations operating their own proprietary management systems, virtualization allows one location to run several companies’ back-end systems, cutting back on energy consumption.
No. 9 | Sendero
With offices in Dallas and Houston, Sendero is a Texas-based consulting group that works toward developing businesses’ strategic plans, technology, organizational effectiveness and analytics. The company, as stated on its website, is capable of managing and executing large projects, implementing organizational change through analyzing stakeholders and training, and assuring quality for a clients’ overall performance.
When Sendero isn’t working for other businesses, it’s making sure it’s helping out the local Texas community. Sendero is a corporate sponsor of the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, helping fund a weekly concert series and overall improvement of the public grounds. The group has also sponsored the Dallas Farmers Market’s annual Hoedown event by funding improvements to the market’s Resource Center. Overall, Sendero tries to give back to the communities it’s involved in, and supports organizations that make the community more environmentally sound.
No. 26 | Masergy
As an international company, Masergy has headquarters in Europe and Plano, Texas. The company owns and operates the largest independent software defined platform (or simply put: a platform that delivers so-called intelligent analytics and real-time service control through a web interface or mobile application). The company not only is a Glassdoor best place to work, but it’s also one of Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing private companies and a 2016 Best SaaS Product for Business Intelligence or Analytics winner.
Continuing its growing accolades, Masergy enables other companies to become greener through cloud-based computing. By relying on cloud-based software instead of in-house computing, companies can lessen their energy burdens and lower total costs, reduce complexity and allow for better collaboration. Masergy states that companies can see a 30 to 40 percent savings by moving from on-premises business applications to the cloud. To top it off, the company also awards a yearly scholarship to students pursuing a STEM education, furthering the advancement of energy-saving technology.
No. 30 | Pariveda Solutions
Pariveda Solutions is a technology strategy and solutions consultancy with offices throughout the United States. It has two offices in Texas, with one in Dallas (the company’s corporate headquarters) and another in Houston. The company offers business solutions such as custom software, data management, customer relationship management and user experience application. Not only did Pariveda Solutions make Glassdoor’s list, but it also made both the Dallas Business Journal’s and Houston Business Journal’s Best Places to Work lists.
The company practices community involvement, and has a goal to become a long-term trusted advisor to all its clients. No matter whether it’s helping the environment or volunteering with a local organization, Pariveda Solutions believes in connecting and engaging with its communities. In particular, the company participates in volunteering with the Houston Food Bank by helping sort medicines, disposing of expired goods and recycling appropriate items.