Recognizing the World’s
Inspiring Places to Work™ and
Certified PeopleFirst™ organizations

Setting the global standard for organisations where culture drives performance.

Find out more about the awards here

Recognising PeopleFirst Cultures Worldwide

Inspiring Workplaces Group exists to elevate workplace culture by recognising and setting the standard for organisations that put their people first.

For over a decade, we have worked with thousands of organisations in every region of the world — identifying, celebrating and certifying PeopleFirst cultures where belief, belonging and growth drive performance.

In a world defined by rapid change, evolving workforce expectations and increasing scrutiny on leadership, PeopleFirst culture is no longer just a differentiator. It is a business imperative

We recognise and elevate these cultures through two distinct but complementary routes:

Inspiring Place to Work™ – global recognition through our story-based awards programme.
Certified PeopleFirst™ – independent employee survey-based certification

Inspiring Place to Work™

Tell us your workplace culture story
The Inspiring Workplaces Awards honour organisations that place their people at the heart of their strategy and demonstrate excellence in culture, leadership, wellbeing, inclusion and employee experience.

Since 2015, organisations from every continent have entered, shared their stories and been recognised on regional and global stages. Elevating their employer brand and reputation.

Through a structured written submission and independent expert judging process, organisations share how they embed PeopleFirst values into measurable outcomes and sustainable success.

Successful organisations are recognised as an Inspiring Place to Work and receive the official badge: a symbol of trust, purpose, excellence and PeopleFirst leadership. Along with recognition, reach and connection to a global community of inspiring organizations.

Enter now

Certified PeopleFirst™

This is a global workplace culture certification and employee engagement benchmark designed for forward-thinking organisations.

We independently measure whether your people:

Believe in the values and direction of the organisation
Belong by feeling valued and connected at work
Grow through opportunity, autonomy and continuous development

For organisations seeking independent culture accreditation beyond legacy “best workplace” models, Certified PeopleFirst™ sets a new standard grounded in intrinsic motivation and employee insight.

If the defined scoring standard is met, certification is awarded at Silver, Gold or Platinum level.

Explore Certification

Insights & Connection

IWG is home to a free community of tens of thousands of professionals who believe what we believe. To help achieve our purpose, we work with our community of to create and share educational articles, videos, podcasts, online events and much more. All for free. Check them out.