Dive Brief:

• Big tech continues to dominate pay scales, raking in the top nine spots in a 2018 ranking by Comparably of the best large companies for compensation in the United States. Google took home the gold, followed by Facebook and then Salesforce. 
• In the SMB category, data visualization and BI company Periscope Data took No. 2 and software company Branch Metrics took No. 6.
• Rounding out the rest of the SMB top 10 were managing platform provider Sitetracker at No. 8, software company Drift at No. 9 and software provider Help Scout at No. 10. 

Dive Insight:

The stalwarts of Silicon Valley have dominated rankings of most sought after employers and pay for years — even if they sometimes miss top marks for the best places to work. 

IT job growth has continued to outpace other industries, rising nearly eight times faster, with IT-intensive jobs in fields like cybersecurity and big data rocketing up even higher. Salaries are also growing, and competition for talent is forcing companies to offer more robust incentive and benefits packages. 

Top compensation doesn't necessarily translate to happy employees, however. Culture, workplace diversity, opportunity for experimentation and advancement and benefits packages all factor in to a great employee experience.

Leadership, too, is critical, and technology companies like Amazon and Microsoft have been pinpointed for employee burnout at the hands of poor leadership and uncertain direction. 

Ensuring that the fruits of high pay are equitably spread is also important. Gender and racial disparities persist despite rising wages, with Asian, Black and Hispanic workers often making less than their White peers.