The University of Notre Dame was recently named America’s Best Large Employer of 2025 by business magazine Forbes.
To qualify for the award, employers had to have at least 5,000 employees. Forbes’ assessment included a range of employee survey questions, including one that asked employees how likely they would be to recommend their employer to individuals looking for job opportunities.
To determine their winner, Forbes surveyed employees from a variety of companies and institutions across the United States. Through their surveys, they found that Notre Dame consistently ranked highly in areas of work environment, opportunities for advancement, training opportunities and salaries.
Angela Hubbard, who has been a building services custodian at the University for 34 years, highlighted Notre Dame's improvements in openness to feedback.
“They made it better by letting us speak up and listening to what the employees had to say,” Hubbard said. “They try to do more things for us now."
She maintained that the University’s initiatives to incorporate every employee into large-scale improvements were well received by employees.
In her time working at Notre Dame, Hubbard said that she has found that Notre Dame's investment in new infrastructure, including additional buildings and dorms, has positively impacted the employment of the University by increasing job opportunities and allowing employees to rotate the locations where they serve.
“There is nothing more that they can do to improve the university,” she said.
Looking externally, Hubbard also noted that the greater South Bend area has been positively influenced by the University’s aspirations to improve the city. She believes that as Notre Dame increases its internal infrastructure, there has been a direct positive correlation with improvement for the South Bend community.
Maryellen Driscoll, operations coordinator for the Institute for Social Concerns, shared that she believes working for Notre Dame is truly rewarding and deserves the praise it has received.
“It is unusual for me to be at a place that gets positive assessments like this,” said Driscoll. “I know little about other large employers, but I have had a positive experience."
