Austin Community College District (ACC) has been recognized as one of the 2024 best employers in Texas by Forbes.
“ACC cares deeply about all of our employees. We encourage our employees to speak out and work together to build a culture for all of us to thrive,” says ACC Chancellor Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart. “We are working directly with our employees to learn what they need. Through employee engagement, ACC is actively working to flatten our organization to follow best practices and improve our processes to better align our work as a College to improve student outcomes. I’m proud of the continued work the College does to create a space where everyone feels supported and appreciated.”
The award list was announced on August 20 and can be viewed on the Forbes website.
ACC also made Forbes’ 2024 Best Employers for Diversity and America’s Best Midsize Employers lists earlier this year.
Since starting at ACC, Dr. Lowery-Hart has offered many opportunities for employees to engage with College leadership and provide feedback, including Campus Conversations, monthly Virtual Employee Town Halls, and an upward evaluation survey of ACC Cabinet members.
Additionally, the College hired an external firm to conduct internal audits of our systems and processes in part to help provide clarity on roles and responsibilities for employees. The auditors started with ACC’s Safety, Security, and Operations divisions and is now reviewing the business side of the College. This fall, ACC will develop a multiyear audit plan, and all operations will be prioritized in terms of timing in that plan
The Chancellor has also made employees a vital part of the Theory of Change process following the creation of the College’s North Star Goal, Theory of Change, and newly created Values.
Finally, in response to requests from employees and employee associations, a new employee benefit went into effect this fall — free tuition for dependent children of eligible employees.
How ACC was selected
America’s Best-In-State Employers 2024 were selected through an independent survey from over 160,000 employees working for companies employing at least 500 people within the U.S. An employer’s final score is determined on a state-by-state basis and is built upon two types of employee evaluations:
1. Personal Evaluations: Employees’ willingness to recommend their employers to friends and family.
2. Public Evaluations: Recommendations from friends and family members of employees or members of the public who work in the same industry — also known as indirect evaluations.
The ranking is open to companies from all industry sectors. Around 4.4 million employer evaluations were considered. The consideration of data from 3 years allowed a robust differentiation between organizations that consistently perform well from those that may only have had a single good year.
This prestigious award is presented by Forbes and Statista Inc., the leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. Statista publishes hundreds of worldwide industry rankings and company listings with high-profile media partners.