Friday, October 17, 2025

The secrets and rituals behind the 100 Best Companies to Work For in Europe

In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For in Europe.
The big story: John Bolton indicted; Trump talks to Putin and Zelensky.
The markets: Global selloff underway as fear of private credit markets hits bank stocks.
Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.

Good morning. How does a company become—and stay—a great place to work? To celebrate the publication of Fortune’s 2025 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in Europe, which we produce with Great Place to Work (GPTW), now a part of UKG, I spoke with GPTW CEO Michael C. Bush and leaders from Hilton Worldwide and Cisco Systems, two top-ranking companies on our Europe and global lists. One strong takeaway? To build a shared culture across borders, the leaders on this list create common rituals and practices that reinforce core values.

Celebrate success. Laura Fuentes, who is chief human resources officer of Hilton and head of Hilton Supply Management, talked about the importance of having a global “Team Member Appreciation Week” that “anchors our people in a culture and a moment of gratitude.” Creating “holidays” that are common to team members working across more than 8,800 properties creates what Fuentes calls “cultural anchor points that provide a moment of coming together, of refilling our tanks and going back out to do the work that we do.”

Get together to give back. This was a theme that CEOs also talked about at the CEO Initiative dinner that was hosted at the Washington home of CEOI member and Laurel Strategies CEO Alan Fleischmann earlier this week: the power of finding shared moments to come together for a cause that speaks to the core values of your company. Hilton has its Travel with Purpose Week. As Sara Morales, SVP of people and communities at Cisco, put it during our webinar: “Doing good for the world is doing good for business. It drives performance, engagement, and has an incredible impact outside of Cisco.” As a side benefit, it’s a compelling reason for remote workers to meet each other in real life.

Build trust across cultures. Trade patterns and alliances may shift, but great companies understand the importance of rotating across geographies to develop talent for leadership roles. At an individual level, they create space for people to embrace their own culture. It also means creating what Morales called “a path for everyone to participate in the AI economy.” And at a macro level, programs like Hilton’s “crisis concierge” reinforce the message that the company cares. “It all starts with leadership,” said Bush. “You can’t lead a great company and build high trust if you don’t care about people first.”

Check out the 100 companies that made our Europe list here.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top news

John Bolton indicted

John Bolton, the former national security adviser to President Trump in his first term, was indicted by a federal grand jury on eight counts of mishandling classified documents. Bolton has been a longtime critic of Trump’s. The indictment follows federal charges that were brought against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, also both Trump critics.

Trump had “very productive” phone call with Putin

Russia’s President Putin spoke to Trump on the phone yesterday and they scheduled a further meeting in Hungary. “President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed upon location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can bring this “inglorious” War, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end. President Zelenskyy and I will be meeting tomorrow, in the Oval Office, where we will discuss my conversation with President Putin, and much more. I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation,” he said. Zelensky is hoping to persuade Trump to supply him with long-range Tomahawk missiles.

Venture capitalist leaves Salesforce Foundation over Benioff comments

Venture capitalist Ron Conway resigned from the Salesforce Foundation board on Thursday over Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff's support for deploying the National Guard to San Francisco, according to an email seen by The New York Times. “It saddens me immensely to say that with your recent comments, and failure to understand their impact, I now barely recognize the person I have so long admired,” the email read.

Trump threatens new wave of violence in Gaza

“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he said on Truth Social.

Huge selloff in bank stocks after two lenders report bad loans

Zions Bancorp and Western Alliance Bancorp, two small regional banks, reported $60 million in exposure to a potential loan fraud, and even smaller losses, but investors—spooked by worries about the quality of the private credit market after the First Brands meltdown—sold off in droves. 74 U.S. banks lost $100 billion in market cap, Bloomberg reported. “This is an industry where investors — especially those that are new to this sector — tend to ‘sell first and ask questions later’,” a JPMorgan Chase research note said.

Nestlé announces layoffs

Nestlé CEO Philipp Navratil announced in a LinkedIn post on Thursday that the company is laying off more than 16,000 employees—mostly white-collar positions—to cut costs. “We are evolving and will simplify our organization and automate our processes,” Navratil wrote.

Korean billionaire offers $75,000 for employees to have kids

Lee Joong-keun, billionaire and chairman of Korean construction giant Booyoung Group, will now offer 100 million Korean won ($75,000) to employees each time they have a baby. “The low birth rate results from financial burdens and difficulties in balancing work and family life, so we decided to take such a drastic measure,” he told staff, per multiple reports.