Attorney General's Office named a top Minnesota workplace for fifth year in a row
AGO ranked 3rd among midsize employers; highest ranking yet
Office also won USA Today’s Top Workplace award four years in a row
July 1, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Today, Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office has been named a top workplace by the Star Tribune for 2025. This marks the fifth year in a row the office has won the Star Tribune’s top workplace award, having previous won in 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021.
Additionally, the Attorney General’s Office was ranked third among the 73 midsize employers, defined as employing between 150-499 people, that the Star Tribune recognized. This is the office’s highest ranking yet, after ranking sixth in 2024, tenth in 2023, ninth in 2022, and 51st in 2021.
In March, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office was named a top workplace nationally by USA Today for 2025. The office previously won USA Today’s top workplace award in 2024, 2023, and 2022. Additionally, in April, the office was named a top employer for veterans for the second year in a row.
“Winning a top workplace award for the fifth year in a row shows we have built something truly special at the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office,” said Attorney General Ellison. “This award is a recognition of our strong culture, our trust in and care for each other, and our deep commitment to helping people afford their lives and live with dignity, safety and respect. The positive workplace we have built is also good for the people we serve, since it allows us to recruit and retain the best and brightest to join our team and work on behalf of Minnesotans everywhere. Working alongside the incredibly talented, passionate, and dynamic staff of the Attorney General’s Office really is the honor of a lifetime.”
Maintaining high morale amidst new challenges
The Star Tribune's top workplace award winners were determined using employee feedback gathered through a confidential, third-party survey. The survey was designed to measure whether employees feel respected and supported, comfortable innovating and taking initiative, closely aligned with the mission of the employer, and other similar measurements of job satisfaction.
The surveys were collected from February 11 to February 26. During that time, the Attorney General’s Office was in the midst of grappling with a deluge of unlawful executive orders and actions from the new Trump Administration. In the 15 days the survey was active, the Attorney General’s Office sued the Trump Administration over their unlawful delegation of power to Elon Musk, won temporary protections for gender affirming care in Minnesota, stopped Musk and DOGE from accessing Minnesotans’ private data, and defended the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from Trump’s attempts to dismantle it.
In response to threats or actions from the federal government, the office also issued guidance to Minnesota businesses on the legality of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, guidance to Minnesota schools on their rights and obligations when dealing with immigration enforcement agents, and a formal legal opinion stating that barring transgender students from athletics would violate the Minnesota Human Rights Act.
While the Attorney General’s Office was working hard to respond to the federal government’s encroachment on the rights and freedoms of Minnesotans, it remained focused on its state and local work that helps Minnesotans afford their lives and live with dignity, safety, and respect. While the survey was live, the office also shut down an asphalt scammer, secured a homicide conviction, won praise for the work of its Conviction Review Unit in an external audit, and announced its lawsuit against Big Oil for deceiving Minnesotans about climate change was upheld and would proceed forward.
To build a strong and cohesive workplace capable of addressing these new challenges and serving Minnesotans, Attorney General Ellison put in policies and procedures to support his employees in their work, to recognize their achievements, and to collect and act on their feedback. Attorney General Ellison holds monthly town hall-style, all-staff meetings where he takes questions from any and all employees. He also holds yearly meetings with each of the 20 divisions within the office, where he invites feedback from staff, listens to ideas, and works to implement the changes recommended to him through the Office’s seven employee-led committees. Additionally, Attorney General Ellison has encouraged employees to form Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), where employees with similar backgrounds or lived experiences can come together to support one another both in and outside the workplace. Many such ERGs exist throughout the office, including groups for veterans, BIPOC employees, caregivers, LGBTQ+ staff, women, and more.
