APAC workers admire tech and airline brands the most

Google is again seen to have the strongest reputation as a place to work globally and in Asia-Pacific, according to YouGov’s workers’ choice best brand rankings for 2019.

The study tries to gauge which brands people would be proud to work for and which ones they would be embarrassed to be associated with. It assesses the brands with the highest average reputation scores between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019.

Google appeared in the top 10 in 23 out of 38 markets (one more than last year). In Asia-Pacific, it featured among the top 10 in every market except China, Taiwan and Vietnam. It came top in India, Hong Kong and South Korea. The next strongest brands globally were Samsung (16 markets) and Apple (13).

In China and Japan, domestic brands dominated: Alipay, Huawei and Jifen Bao occupied the top three spots in China. In Japan, ANA, Rakuten and Panasonic did.

Airlines were generally seen as strong employers. National carriers Garuda, Singapore Airlines and Vietnam Airilines came top and Philippine Airlines came second in their home markets. In Hong Kong however, Cathay Pacific did not make it into the top 10, and in Japan, Japan Airlines ranked sixth.

A further surprise was that Samsung only ranked third in South Korea, trailing Google and LG. It came top in the Philippines and second in Vietnam. And despite the strength of its reputation overall, Google only ranked eighth in the US. There, the top brands were the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine and Amazon.

Tech brands dominated in India, Thailand and Hong Kong. In India, Amazon and YouTube followed Google. Hong Kong’s top three brands were Google, Apple and Rolex. Thailand’s were Facebook, Google and YouTube. Facebook also came top in Malaysia, followed by Maybank and Mercedes-Benz.

Hospitality brands were strongest in Taiwan: Hyatt, Hilton and CostCo occupied the top three spots respectively.

The study also charted the brands with the most improved reputation: Canon in China; Toshiba in Japan; Bonjour in Hong Kong; Shopee in Indonesia and Malaysia; MRT in Singapore; Johnson’s Baby in the Philippines; Huawei in Thailand; and McDonald’s in South Korea. In the US it was United Airlines, which has in recent years been in the global spotlight for exceptionally poor customer service.