15 biggest employers in the world

These are the biggest employers in the
world.
15. Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) Limited
> Total employees:413,000
> Revenue:$7.6 billion
> Country:Taiwan
> Industry:Footwear
Yue Yuen is a major manufacturer for
international shoe brands, including Adidas,
Reebok, and Nike, among others. Virtually
all of Yue Yuen’s manufacturing takes place
in three countries: mainland China,
Vietnam, and Indonesia. Alongside its
manufacturing business, which accounted
for nearly $5.9 billion in revenue, Yue Yuen
also operates a retail network, which
accounted for $1.7 billion in sales. Earlier
this year, Yue Yuen workers at the
company’s factory in Dongguan, China went
on strike to protest the company’s benefit
contribution policies. Yue Yuen agreed to
increase contributions for workers in
China’s Guangdong province.

14. Sodexo S.A.
> Total employees:427,981
> Revenue:$24.3 billion
> Country:France
> Industry:Hospitality
Sodexo provides food, cleaning, security,
and maintenance services for private
corporations, government agencies, schools,
hospitals, military bases, and correctional
facilities. Today, Sodexo’s services reach an
average of 75 million daily consumers at
more than 33,000 locations in 80 countries
across the globe. According to Sodexo,
more than 95% of its employees have daily,
direct contact with company clients. With
such scope, it’s no wonder Sodexo employs
almost 428,000 workers.

13. OAO Gazprom
> Total employees:429,000
> Revenue:$156.6 billion
> Country:Russia
> Industry:Oil & gas
Gazprom is one of the world’s largest
natural gas companies. The company is also
majority-owned by the Russian government.
By measures of sheer size, few businesses
can match Gazprom. The company’s
429,000 employees help run Russia’s largest
publicly traded entity by market
capitalization. Additionally, the company
claims to possess the largest reserves of
natural gas in the world, as well as the
world’s largest gas transmission system.
Much of Europe relies on natural gas
supplied by the company and a large
portion Gazprom’s exports flow to Western
Europe. Among the countries that rely on
the company’s natural gas is Ukraine, a fact
that has garnered significant attention as
Ukraine and Russia’s relationship has
deteriorated.

12. International Business Machines
Corporation
> Total employees:431,212
> Revenue:$99.7 billion
> Country:United States
> Industry:Technology & consulting
IBM is the third largest employer
headquartered in the U.S., trailing only
McDonald’s and Wal-Mart Stores. It had
more than 431,000 employees worldwide as
of the end of 2013. This total actually marks
a slight drop from 2012, when the company
had slightly more than 434,000 employees
across the globe. IBM is widely forecast to
cut even more jobs this year, as it lays off
workers and shifts jobs to Lenovo as part of
the sale of its x86 enterprise server
business. This year’s layoffs are part of a $1
billion restructuring the company initiated
earlier this year.

11. Deutsche Post AG
> Total employees:435,285
> Revenue:$76.4 billion
> Country:Germany
> Industry:Logistics
Deutsche Post is the former postal agency
of the German government. In 1995, the
company, along with Deutsche Postbank
and Deutsche Telekom, began the process
of transitioning from government agencies
into private companies. In 2000, Deutsche
Post became publicly traded. Today, the
company claims it is the world’s leading
logistics company. Logistics and postal
service companies are often large and have
many employees. In fact, the United States
Postal Service, which is part of the U.S.
government, had 618,000 total employees
last year. Unlike the USPS, however,
Deutsche Post is profitable. While its
American counterpart posted a net loss of
nearly $5 billion, Deutsche Post reported
more than 2 billion euro in profit last year.

10. McDonald’s Corp.
> Total employees:440,000
> Revenue:$28.1 billion
> Country:United States
> Industry:Restaurants
McDonald’s had some 440,000 employees in
its corporate offices and company-owned
restaurants at the end of its last fiscal year.
It is not clear, however, how many of that
total are part-time workers. As a proxy,
roughly 86% of employees at competitor
Yum! Brands were part-time last year.
McDonald’s employee total also does not
include workers at franchisee-owned
restaurants. In total, 1.9 million people
work for either McDonald’s or its franchises.

9. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
Limited
> Total employees:441,902
> Revenue:$ 91.1 billion
> Country:China
> Industry:Banking
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is
the largest commercial bank in China by
assets, loans, and total deposits. It holds
nearly 20 trillion yuan in total assets while
providing banking services to the most
popular country in the world and its rapidly
growing economy. The bank employs more
than 440,000 workers. ICBC provides a vast
number of universal banking services
necessitating a network of employees to
service its 10 trillion yuan in total loans, as
well as its large customer base. In 2006,
ICBC’s IPO raised more than $19 billion,
the world’s largest until it was surpassed by
Agricultural Bank of China’s IPO in 2010.

8. ISS A/S
> Total employees:464,184
> Revenue:$14.5 billion
> Country:Denmark
> Industry:Diversified services
ISS, which began as a security services firm
in 1901, has since expanded into facility
management as well as cleaning, property,
and catering services. The company, based
in Denmark, provides outsourcing activities
in more than 50 countries. Although not
one of the largest companies by revenue,
ISS operates in labor-intensive services
sectors, necessitating employing many
workers. The multinational company
employs over 533,000 employees. Of these,
74% are full-time and 26% are part-time
employees, leading to a full-time equivalent
of 464,184. Staffing costs for ISS make up
almost 70% of its total operating costs.

7. Agricultural Bank of China Limited
> Total employees:478,980
> Revenue:$68.2 billion
> Country:China
> Industry:Banking
In 2010, Agricultural Bank of China held the
largest IPO in the world, raising more than
$19.2 billion. The bank’s market presence
likely contributes to its large number of
employees. Agricultural Bank of China has
23,547 domestic branches serving the
largest population in the world. As of 2013,
the bank had 14 trillion yuan in assets.
Although it is publicly traded, the bank is
considered one of China’s big-four state-
owned banks, alongside ICBC, Bank of
China, and China Construction Bank. As of
last year, most shares in Agricultural Bank
of China were still owned by the Chinese
government.

6. Compass Group plc
> Total employees:506,699
> Revenue:$28.4 billion
> Country:United Kingdom
> Industry:Diversified services
Compass Group is a food service company
operating at roughly 50,000 sites in 50
countries. Helping to provide these services
are more than 500,000 employees, working
for Compass Group at office buildings,
schools, sports venues, and even oil rigs. A
large share of the company’s employees,
over 200,000 in all, worked in North
America as of the end of last year. Because
of its high reliance on its people, Compass
Group spent quite a sizable share of its
costs on employees. In 2013, operating
costs at the company totalled roughly 16.4
billion pounds, of which 8.1 billion pounds
went to employee compensation such as
wages, social security payments, and
pension costs.

5. PetroChina Co. Ltd.
> Total employees:544,083
> Revenue:$373.0 billion
> Country:China
> Industry:Oil & gas
PetroChina was founded in 1999 after the
restructuring of China National Petroleum
Corporation, a state-owned entity that still
owns more than 86% of PetroChina. Today,
PetroChina is one of the world’s largest
companies by market capitalization. It is
also China’s largest producer of oil and
natural gas. Last year, the company’s
output from production included 932.9
million barrels of oil, as well as 2.8 trillion
cubic feet of natural gas. Nearly half of its
employees work in exploration and
production, while the rest are responsible
for marketing, refining, research, and other
operations.

4. Volkswagen AG
> Total employees:555,097
> Revenue:$271.3 billion
> Country:Germany
> Industry:Manufacturing
Volkswagen, one of the world’s top car
manufacturers, built more than 9.7 million
cars in 2013. Auto manufacturing is a labor
intensive business. Rival Toyota Motors had
338,875 full-time equivalent employees at
the end of last year, while General Motors’
headcount was roughly 219,000. However,
no automaker had more employees than
Volkswagen, with 545,596 active workers,
and 9,501 workers in the passive phase of
their partial retirement. Historically, the
company’s management has viewed worker
input as critical, and the company’s works
council wields considerable influence. The
works council forced management to
dismiss its consultants out of concern that
efforts to cut costs would disproportionately
center around eliminating jobs.

3. Randstad Holding NV
> Total employees:595,730
> Revenue: $22.8 billion
> Country:The Netherlands
> Industry:Human resources
Randstad is a multinational human resource
company. While Randstad has just 28,030
corporate employees in 3,161 branches, a
small number relative to others on the list,
these employees helped place an average
over 567,000 employees in various
positions as of 2013. In many cases, the
company takes responsibility for recruiting,
interviewing, and testing the candidates
that it places. Randstad’s services also
extend to administering payroll and medical
insurance services for client companies.

2.G4S plc
> Total employees:618,000
> Revenue:$12.3 billion
> Country:United Kingdom
> Industry:Security services
G4S is the world’s largest security company,
with operations in 120 countries worldwide.
Last year, the company had over 7.4 billion
pounds, or over $12 billion, in revenue.
Underpinning G4S’s recent growth is its
continued development in emerging
markets, where revenue growth was 16%.
Operating in the generally labor intensive
security services industry, G4S is the largest
publicly-traded employer in Europe, and
the second-largest worldwide. Secure
solutions, accounting for 75% of G4S’s
revenue, includes risk management
consulting, monitoring of security systems,
and manned security services. Additionally,
the company’s cash solutions services
include the transportation of cash using
trained personnel.

1. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
> Total employees:2,200,000
> Revenue:$476.3 billion
> Country:United States
> Industry:Retail
Wal-Mart Stores is the world’s largest
employer. The retailer operates Walmart,
Sam’s Club, and other chains, which
together employ some 2.2 million people
globally. Of that total, roughly 1.4 million
were employed in the U.S. alone at the end
of the company’s fiscal year. This accounted
for notable share of the U.S. labor force,
which totaled slightly more than 156 million
people as of July. Outside the U.S., the
retailer employs more than 200,000 people
in Mexico, and nearly 170,000 at its Asda
chain in the U.K. However, the company has
also inspired fierce debate over its labor
practices, with some claiming that Wal-
Mart’s pay is too low to constitute a livable
wage, and others arguing that Wal-Mart
provides jobs to low-skilled workers with
few options.