The best company to work for in Africa is?

Cape Town - Procter and Gamble is the top firm to work for in Africa, with East African Breweries and Microsoft taking the second and third spots respectively.

This is according to the first ever employee-driven survey ranking the 100 best companies to work for in Africa, which is published in the January issue of African Business magazine.

Also making the top 100 best employers were DStv, Total, Shell, JP Morgan, Ecobank, GE and Dangote. The African Development Bank, the World Bank Group and Nestle were identified as the three companies that the most of the 13 242 respondents would be interested in working for, having been reviewed the most times, though their final scores were not as high as any companies in the top 10.

The survey is the only independent survey of all 54 African markets and based on 29 separate global, local and pan-African attraction drivers used to define a great employer and that respondents from Africa's talent pool provided their views on organisations that they would be most interested in working for.

It also provides data-driven analysis designed to enable companies to better adapt their talent strategies.

The survey is spearheaded by leading African recruitment specialists Global Career Company in association with Towers Watson.

"The lessons to be taken forward from the Employer of Choice study will make a lasting impact on the African talent landscape, as the best adapt to get better and those who did not make it this time strive to catch up" said Rupert Adcock, Founder and Managing Director of Global Career Company.

"When the numbers came in, I expected to see a dominance of the bigger companies and the multinationals. And that is the case. Some companies did much better than I anticipated however, and that goes for the top 3," said African Business Publisher Omar Ben Yedder.

"It is credit to them and their policies that they have made the top spots. I was also happy to see some strong African groups competing with the more established names. I'm sure that more will reach the Top 100 next year."

The research contributes significantly to the debate on how workers in Africa is compensated, said Yves Duhaldeborde, who is a director at Towers Watson.

"It is clear that unlike many developed economies, base pay isn't as an important a driver. Employers need to look at how to incentivise their workforce through initiatives that encourage new skills and promote opportunities to make a difference to the organisation."