PEOPLE ANNOUNCES “50 COMPANIES THAT CARE”

Publix Super Markets Named No. 1

for Comprehensive Coronavirus Measures, Including Higher Employee Pay, Customer Safety Protocols, and Donations Supporting Families and Farmers

PEOPLE Partners with Great Place to Work® to Identify Top U.S. Companies that have Responded to the COVID-19 Pandemic by Caring for Their People, Their Communities, and the World

PEOPLE.com/50CompaniesThatCare

#50CompaniesCare

(NEW YORK, NY, September 2, 2020) — Meredith Corporation’s PEOPLE reveals its fourth annual list of “Companies That Care,” spotlighting 50 U.S. companies that have responded to the historic COVID-19 pandemic by demonstrating respect, compassion, and concern for their people, their customers, their communities, and the world. PEOPLE once again partnered with global workplace culture authority Great Place to Work to identify the top U.S. companies that best fit the criteria. Publix Super Markets, the Lakeland, Florida-based supermarket chain, landed the No. 1 spot for its comprehensive, generous measures to address the coronavirus challenge, knocking Salesforce, which maintained the No. 1 position for the past three years, to the No. 2 spot.

Publix, with more than 1,200 stores and over 200,000 employees, has long been known for its loyal employees, highly satisfied customers, and extensive charitable activities. But the company took its caring to the next level as COVID-19 hit. Among the steps the company took were instituting permanent pay raises for employees to recognize their efforts on the front lines of the pandemic. Publix also implemented “emergency pandemic pay” to ensure associates with little to no sick pay available would be paid for time missed due to illness related to the coronavirus. In addition, the company instituted sweeping safety protocols in stores to protect employees and customers and established special shopping hours for adults 65 and over, first responders, and hospital staff.

In addition, Publix launched a new program to connect needy families with farmers, some of whom saw a drop in demand as schools and restaurants closed. The initiative aimed to help farmers and families by purchasing fruits, vegetables, and milk from Florida produce farmers and southeastern dairies to donate directly to Feeding America member food banks that serve 283 counties in the seven states in which Publix operates. During the first two weeks of the initiative, Publix purchased and donated more than one million pounds of produce and more than 100,000 gallons of milk.

“Through this initiative, we are helping farmers and families affected by the pandemic,” says Publix CEO Todd Jones. “As a food retailer, feeding families is our greatest opportunity to give back, and we are grateful to be able to do so while supporting produce and dairy farmers. During such challenging times, we are even more committed to supporting those in need and doing good, together.”

Publix, in addition to the 49 other companies that made the list, will be featured in the September 14, 2020 issue of PEOPLE, which hits newsstands nationwide on September 4^th. Read more company stories and view the full list at PEOPLE.com/50CompaniesThatCare.

To identify the “50 Companies That Care,” PEOPLE magazine teamed up with Great Place to Work® to produce the ranking using the workplace analytic firm’s extensive database and inside knowledge of outstanding workplaces around the globe. Rankings are based on surveys representing over 4.8 million employees’ experiences of how their workplaces have made a difference in their lives and in their communities. Rankings also reflect Great Place to Work’s assessment of the generosity of each organization’s benefits, philanthropic, and community support, with particular focus on activities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

PEOPLE’S 2020 TOP 10 “COMPANIES THAT CARE”

View full list at PEOPLE.com/50CompaniesThatCare

About PEOPLE

Meredith Corporation’s PEOPLE revolutionized personality journalism when it launched as a weekly in 1974 with a mission to celebrate extraordinary people doing ordinary things and ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Ubiquitous and still at the center of pop culture more than 45 years later, the PEOPLE brand is accessible across all media and platforms (print, digital, video, OTT, mobile, social) bringing more than 100 million consumers a unique mix of breaking entertainment news, exclusive photos, video, unparalleled access to the red carpet, celebrities, and in-depth reporting on the most compelling newsmakers of our time. An essential component of PEOPLE’s editorial vision remains human interest stories, which touch and often mirror the lives of our passionate audience. ComScore ranks the PEOPLE/Entertainment Weekly Digital Network No. 1 in the entertainment news category. And now, the PeopleTV app offers a free, advertiser-supported OTT streaming video service. PEOPLE is an award-winning 24/7 news organization headquartered in NYC with reporters worldwide. For more information visit and follow @people on Twitter and Instagram, @peoplemag on Facebook, and the PEOPLE channel on YouTube and on Snapchat’s Discover.

About Great Place to Work

Great Place to Work® is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees around the world and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Great Place to Work helps organizations quantify their culture and produce better business results by creating a high-trust work experience for all employees. Their unparalleled benchmark data is used to recognize Great Place to Work-Certified™ companies and the Best Workplaces™ in the US and more than 60 countries, including the 100 Best Companies to Work For® and World’s Best list published annually in Fortune. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a Great Place to Work For All™.

To learn more, visit greatplacetowork.com, listen to the podcast Better by Great Place to Work, and read A Great Place to Work for All. Join the community on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

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