Two local employers have made it on a national list of the nation's best places to work for, one in the top 50.

New Hanover Regional Medical Center ranked No. 47 on the Forbes Magazine list of America’s Best Employers of 2018, and Wilmington-based PPD ranked No. 354.

NHRMC's rank is higher than all but two other North Carolina employers -- Duke University in Durham and Ingersoll Rand in Davidson -- and is the sixth highest ranking among those in the health and social services category, the list shows.  

“This is an amazing honor and a tribute to all those who work together to make this such a great place to do meaningful work for our community,” said John Gizdic, NHRMC president and CEO, in an NHRMC news release. “What we have created here is special, and this is reflective of that.”

New Hanover Regional Medical Center is one of southeastern North Carolina’s largest employers with 7,000 employees, according to the release. The NHRMC system includes the main NHRMC campus at 2131 S. 17th St. in Wilmington as well as the NHRMC Orthopedic Hospital, Pender Memorial Hospital, NHRMC EMS, NHRMC Home Care and NHRMC Physician Group.

Company culture was cited as a driving factor for the highest scoring employers, which include organizations such as Michelin (headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina), Google and Costco, according to the NHRMC release.

"Over the years, we have continually put a focus on what we can do to promote employee development, involvement and overall well-being. Our employee fitness programs, healthy community wages and efforts to keep benefit costs low are part of it,” Gizdic said in the release.

Wilmington-based Pharmaceutical Product Development, a contract research organization that has offices in 47 countries, has 1,500 employees at its headquarters in the Port City, 20,000 professionals worldwide.

"Our company’s vibrant culture reflects the personal commitment of our employees to unite as ‘One PPD’ around our mission of helping customers deliver life-changing therapies to improve health for patients around the globe. Our focus on employee development, professional growth and giving back to local communities helps make PPD an attractive destination for talented professionals who want to make a difference,” said David Simmons, CEO and chairman of PPD, in an email Thursday.

The employers honored on the list are chosen based on responses to anonymous independent surveys collected from more than 30,000 U.S. employees working for companies in their U.S. operations, according to Forbes. Market research company Statista administers the surveys, and employees are asked to rank employers on a scale of 0 to 10 based on direct reviews of the company as well as a willingness to recommend the employer to others, the NHRMC release said.

Those surveyed work for businesses with at least 1,000 employees. Topics include working conditions, salary, potential for development and company image.