The secret? Not utopia but continuous relationship with people

Whatever your industry and business model, you cannot look to the future calmly if your alliance with people is creaking. All the more so at a time when uncertainties are piling up and the feeling is that you are close to a radical transformation of organisations and work processes. A common temptation when it comes to great workplaces is to slip into the territory of promises: inspiring spaces, generous benefits, corporate cultures portrayed as havens of personal fulfilment.

The companies at the top of the Best workplaces Italia 2026 ranking do not stand out for having imagined utopian environments or for that increasingly monotonous and conformist communication we read about on LinkedIn. They stand out for having built something more difficult: a continuous, honest and profound relationship with their people. The data speaks for itself. The elements that most differentiate Best Companies from merely 'certified' companies relate to five areas: communication, care, involvement, acceptance, support. These are not extraordinary visions. They are everyday practices: the quality of feedback, the timeliness of a response, the concrete - not stated - feeling of being seen and heard. Exactly those that I advise the CEOs and HR directors I work with to improve first.

An analysis of the employees' comments shows that the most frequently mentioned topic among the desired changes is communication, up two places from the historical level. This is a clear signal: people want to know what is happening, why it is happening and to have the perception that their voice counts in guiding decisions. The average Trust Index among Best Companies stands at 85%, a gap compared to the Italia norm (44%). This gap is not built with an employer branding campaign, but with years of consistency between what is declared and what is practised. Among the signs of change, meritocracy and special events are growing, while benefits and flexibility are falling. Not because they do not count, but because they are normalising: they are becoming expected conditions, not distinctive elements. The field of competition is shifting towards the perceived quality of recognition and the transparency of advancement criteria.

The future of quality work is not played out in utopia. It is played in the ability to relate - systematically, humbly - with the people who every day choose to bring their energy to one organisation rather than another. Surveys, focus groups, interviews at all levels are not instruments of control or internal marketing. They are acts of respect. And the companies that have understood this are the ones that every year, punctually, rise in the rankings.