For years, Apple and Meta have been deemed the creme de la creme of tech companies, with employees raving about their culture, values, benefits and perks. But according to new data from Glassdoor, both tech giants no longer stand out the way they once did.

As Glassdoor releases its 100 Best Places to Work report of 2023, both companies are absent from the list. Last year, Meta was ranked #47, a significant decline from its #11 spot in 2021. Similarly, Apple came in at #56 last year, after being ranked #31 in 2021.

To determine the list, Glassdoor analyzed anonymous reviews posted by employees on the platform. They considered "hundreds of thousands" of companies with 1,000 or more employees between October 19, 2021, and October 17, 2022. The winners were ranked on their overall Glassdoor rating achieved using a 5-point scale: 1.0 being very dissatisfied and 5.0 being very satisfied.

Daniel Zhao, a lead economist at Glassdoor, says Apple and Meta's absence from this year's list is "pretty striking."

"Apple has been on the list for the last 15 years, since the list's inception," Zhao tells CNBC Make It. "And then Meta has been on the list since 2011, and it's actually been number one in the past … That's not to say that Meta and Apple are bad places to work, they just have fallen a little bit given how competitive the list is this year."

What's more, Zhao says that both companies have been "facing challenges" that could play a role in their nonappearance.

"In the last year for Apple, the return to office push has been met with mixed responses from employees. And then for Meta, they are undergoing a significant strategic shift. And we do see from employee reviews that employees are still unsure about how that is going to play out."

After several delays due to Covid, Apple hammered down on their return to office plans, requiring employees to be in the office three days a week effective Sept. 5, 2022. Months prior, Apple's employee advocacy group, Apple Together, pushed back against the company's return to office policy. Tech.co, a business tech news resource, reports that at the time, 67% of employees were dissatisfied with the policy, and 56% expressed a desire to leave the company.

Meta made headlines Nov. 9, 2022 when it announced the biggest tech layoff of the year — the company eliminated 13% of their staff, amounting to over 11,000 employees. In a letter, CEO Mark Zuckerberg let staff know that they would also be "taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1."

After the announcement, some remaining employees took to Blind, the anonymous employee discussion board, to express their opinions. CNBC Make It's Jennifer Liu reported that, according to a survey of 1,179 U.S Meta workers on Blind from Nov. 10 to 11, 31% of remaining employees said they would recommend their employer to a friend, and 55% believe the company acted with care during the layoff.

Zhao says that going into the new year, "there's more uncertainty about how things are going to play out in the near future" for employees still at Meta and Apple. 

This drop off has made way for newcomers to join the Best Places to Work List, including Spotify, the Lego Group, and Gainsight. 

Check out:

Despite $1B in ticket sales, some Indigenous people take issue with 'Avatar 2'—here's why 

39-year-old self-made millionaire: 'Success isn't owned, it's rented. And rent is due every day'

How this 31-year-old tech worker built a community to help her peers bounce back from layoffs

Sign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter