Global engineering and defense technologies provider Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), Newport News, Va., ranked #11 among large companies on the list of America's Best Large Employers for 2022, published this month in Forbes magazine. According to Forbes, HII’s ranking represents the biggest jump of any large company on the list, rising from number 387 last year. HII is also the only aerospace and defense contractor within the top 40 large companies on the list.
“I’ve always said and I truly believe we’re in the workforce development business,” Mike Petters, president and CEO of HII, said in a prepared statement announcing the listing. “In all my years with this company, and the last 11 leading HII, I’ve found that if you take care of employees just about everything else takes care of itself.”
The America’s Best Employers list is based on views of 60,000 Americans surveyed anonymously. Respondents were asked to rate companies on factors such as working conditions, development opportunities, compensation, and how likely they’d be to recommend their employer. Forbes partnered with the market research company Statista to identify the companies; HII played no role in the survey methodology, identification of respondents or compilation of results.
At 44,000 strong, HII’s workforce unites diverse backgrounds and skill sets, from pipe fitters to nuclear physicists to software coders. Nearly a quarter of HII’s workforce has been with the company at least 25 years, and more than 1,600 workers have been employed for at least 40 years. Additionally, HII hires, trains and upskills more than 5,000 workers each year.
While offering best-in-class benefits to its employees, HII also invests in nurturing its talent pipeline, spending $100 million each year on workforce development, including the shipbuilding apprentice schools in Virginia and Mississippi and a tuition reimbursement program that promotes continued education among existing employees.
With the long-term health and welfare of the defense industrial base in mind, the company supports the HII Scholarship Fund, offering employees subsidies for childcare. The company also supports the Maritime Training Academy, middle school science, technology, engineering and math mentorship and other education-related initiatives in support of the future workforce.
In addition, HII invests in the communities where employees live and work. In 2021 the company contributed more than $6 million in charitable giving to the United Way, American Red Cross and American Heart Association, among other nonprofit and charitable organizations.
HII is a global engineering and defense technologies provider. With a 135-year history of trusted partnerships in advancing U.S. national security, HII delivers critical capabilities ranging from the most powerful and survivable naval ships ever built, to unmanned systems, ISR and AI/ML analytics, company officials said. HII leads the industry in mission-driven solutions that support and enable a networked, all-domain force.
