Every company with a profile on The Muse was automatically entered into the VIBE Awards. The seven (7) awards categories match the perks and benefits on The Muse’s company profiles: health and wellness, professional development, vacation and time off, parental benefits, office life and perks, work flexibility, and financial and retirement. Companies were divided into groups based on size: small (up to 250 employees), medium (251 to 5,000), and large (more than 5,000). The number of total employees in each company was determined by data from ZoomInfo.
In order to compile the lists of finalists, The Muse completed an internal data analysis to identify which companies offered the highest number of perks and benefits within each category. Employees at those companies were then asked to respond to a short survey, in which they were asked three mandatory questions relating to the quality of the perks and benefits in the given category. A fourth, optional question asked employees to write in why they felt the company excelled or did not excel in that given category. A minimum number of responses based on company size (5 for small, 10 for medium, and 15 for large) was necessary for a company to be eligible for inclusion.
Final scores were calculated based on the rate of participation (number of respondents to the survey / total number of company employees), the percentage of respondents who said their company is a leader in the specific category, and the average score in the 1-10 ranking question. Each winner list includes the companies with the highest scores.