OK – I am a week or so behind the times on blogging on this article. Better late then never!

See the Top 100 here.

Google remains at the top for the second year running, although half of the top ten have changed from 2007.

Check out some the unusual benefits being offered by these companies:

• scuba diving certification (Chesapeke Energy – rank 52)
• prayer and meditation rooms (Ebay – rank 68)
• $200 grocery voucher (Methodist Hospital System – rank 10)
• travel subsidy for using public transport instead of own vehicle (Genetech  – rank 5)
• free lunches Mon-Thu (Factset Research – rank 52)
• 20% rental subsidy for living on one of the companies properties (Camden property Trust – rank 50)
• get married in a chapel on the grounds of an Erickson retirement village for free (Erickson Retiremetn Communities – rank 93)
• charity donations matched dollar for dollar up to $60K (EOG Resources – rank 64)
• free bus ride and ticket to Cavalier team baseball games (owned by the CEO of Quicken Loans rank 2)
• tuition reimbursement up to $20K per year (Mitre – rank 42)

To get a flavour of why these companies score so highly, check out this post from an employee. 

These organisations do more than pay lip service to the saying “people are our most important asset”.  They invest heavily in understanding what their employees want, and delivering it. 

As the economy contracts, having your best people working to their best is critical to riding out the storm.

What’s happening in your world – what does your business do to retain people and make them delighted to work for you?

Background to Top 100 – How are companies rated?

Most of the company’s score (two-thirds) is based on the results of a 57-question survey created by the Great Place to Work Institute® - sent to a minimum of 400 randomly selected employees from each company. The survey asks questions related to their attitudes about the management’s credibility, job satisfaction and camaraderie. The other third of the scoring is based on the company’s responses to the Institute’s Culture Audit, which includes detailed questions about demographic makeup, and pay and benefit programs, as well as a series of open-ended questions about the company’s management philosophy, methods of internal communications, opportunities, compensation practices, and diversity efforts, etc