Companies that adapted quickly to the pandemic while continuing to offer employees opportunities to advance their careers have ranked top among LinkedIn’s best places to work in Southeast Asia in 2021.

Focusing on Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, the professional networking site assessed companies’ performance through the unprecedented challenges of 2020 to formulate its list of 15 leading employers in each country. Each company was measured across seven key factors said to lead to career progression: ability to advance; skills growth; company stability; external opportunity; company affinity; gender diversity; and educational background. Overall, those that managed to balance professional development with wellbeing support fared best.

“The past year has presented extraordinary challenges for so many around the world and our top companies methodology reflects these realities,” said Chris Anderson, senior news editor for Asia-Pacific at LinkedIn. “This helped us surface companies who are investing in employee growth, as we navigate a world of work that’s forever changed by the global pandemic.” To be eligible, companies had to have at least 500 employees in the country, with reductions in staff no higher than 10% as of December 31, 2020.

Heading the list of 15 companies is Petronas. The report said the government-owned oil and gas company has been making progress in its push for gender equality and women make up 27 per cent of its workforce and appointed its first woman chief financial officer last year. Making up the top five are Permodalan Nasional Berhad, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, AIA Insurance and Telekom Malaysia.