Fortune Magazine, with the Great Place to Work Institute and Hewitt Associates, probed 206 of more than 1,000 large and midsized firms, and polled some 27,000 of their employees, to identify the very best places to work and how they got that way. Factors involved in the selection include compensation, industrial relations and business practices. The list also considers the level of trust, pride, and camaraderie that employees share with management and their peers, and what practices the company is pursuing to sustain those things.
A composite of the typical 100 Best company is a drawn from the medians of several categories. It is 36 years old and has a U.S. work force of 5,520. It had 1997 revenues of $1.3 billion and a CEO with an eight-year tenure. Its work force is 44% female, 78.2% Caucasian. A third of employees have been on the job less than two years, with 6% more than 15 years. Last year it received 19,000 job applications, adding 724 jobs.
Compare this to the 100 Best Companies list compiled by Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz
| 1 | SYNOVUS FINANCIAL | Columbus, Ga | 51 | COMPUWARE | Farmington Hills, Mich. |
| 2 | TDINDUSTRIES | Dallas | 52 | K2 | Vashon Island, Wash. |
| 3 | SAS INSTITUTE | Cary, N.C. | 53 | AMGEN | Thousand Oaks, Calif. |
| 4 | SOUTHWEST AIRLINES | Dallas | 54 | BUREAU OF NATL. AFFAIRS | Washington, D.C. |
| 5 | SCITOR | Sunnyvale, Calif. | 55 | STARBUCKS | Seattle |
| 6 | PEOPLESOFT | Pleasanton, Calif. | 56 | GENENTECH | South San Francisco |
| 7 | GOLDMAN SACHS | New York | 57 | ERIE INSURANCE | Erie, Pa. |
| 8 | DELOITTE & TOUCHE | Wilton, Conn. | 58 | ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR | St. Louis |
| 9 | MBNA | Wilmington, Del. | 59 | COMPUTER ASSOCIATES | Islandia, N.Y. |
| 10 | HEWLETT-PACKARD | Palo Alto | 60 | BE&K | Birmingham, Ala. |
| 11 | EDWARD JONES | St. Louis | 61 | LENSCRAFTERS | Cincinnati |
| 12 | FINOVA GROUP | Phoenix | 62 | LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES | Murray Hill, N.J. |
| 13 | AFLAC | Columbus, Ga. | 63 | SUN MICROSYSTEMS | Palo Alto |
| 14 | FIRST TENNESSEE BANK | Memphis | 64 | JOHNSON & JOHNSON | New Brunswick, N.J. |
| 15 | FRANK RUSSELL | Tacoma | 65 | USAA | San Antonio |
| 16 | WRQ | Seattle | 66 | WAL-MART STORES | Bentonville, Ark. |
| 17 | JANUS | Denver | 67 | MEDTRONIC | Minneapolis |
| 18 | A.G. EDWARDS | St. Louis | 68 | INGRAM MICRO | Santa Ana, Calif. |
| 19 | ACXIOM | Conway, Ark. | 69 | BAPTIST HEALTH SYSTEMS | Coral Gables, Fla. |
| 20 | W.L. GORE & ASSOCIATES | Newark, Del. | 70 | FOUR SEASONS HOTELS | Toronto |
| 21 | KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY | Fountain Valley, Calif. | 71 | MERRILL LYNCH | New York |
| 22 | J.M. SMUCKER | Orrville, Ohio | 72 | ALAGASCO | Birmingham, Ala. |
| 23 | JM FAMILY ENTERPRISES | Deerfield Beach, Fla. | 73 | ENRON | Houston |
| 24 | CISCO SYSTEMS | San Jose | 74 | ARROW ELECTRONICS | Melville, N.Y. |
| 25 | UNUM | Oortland, Me. | 75 | ERNST & YOUNG | New York |
| 26 | TIMBERLAND | Stratham, N.H. | 76 | LANDS' END | Dodgeville, Wis. |
| 27 | MICROSOFT | Redmond, Wash. | 77 | HARLEY-DAVIDSON | Milwaukee |
| 28 | MERCK | Whitehouse Station, N.J. | 78 | PUBLIX SUPER MARKETS | Lakeland, Fla. |
| 29 | PLANTE & MORAN | Southfield, Mich. | 79 | FEDEX | Memphis |
| 30 | GREAT PLAINS | Fargo, N.D. | 80 | ALLIED SIGNAL | Morristown, N.J. |
| 31 | GUIDANT | Indianapolis | 81 | ACIPCO | Birmingham, Ala. |
| 32 | LUCAS DIGITAL | San Rafael, Calif. | 82 | QUANTUM | Milpitas, Calif. |
| 33 | GRANITE ROCK | Watsonville, Calif. | 83 | W.W. GRAINGER | Lincolnshire, Ill. |
| 34 | ODETICS | Anaheim, Calif. | 84 | S.C. JOHNSON | Racine, Wis. |
| 35 | AUTODESK | San Rafael, Calif. | 85 | CERNER | Kansas City, Mo. |
| 36 | CDW | Vernon Hills, Ill. | 86 | ALCON LABORATORIES | Fort Worth |
| 37 | VALASSIS COMMUN. | Livonia, Mich. | 87 | HERMAN MILLER | Zeeland, Mich. |
| 38 | REI | Kent, Wash. | 88 | UNION PACIFIC RESOURCES | Fort Worth |
| 39 | FENWICK & WEST | Palo Alto | 89 | WORTHINGTON INDUSTRIES | Columbus, Ohio |
| 40 | CONTINENTAL AIRLINES | Houston | 90 | HONDA OF AMERICA MFG. | Marysville, Ohio |
| 41 | CAPITAL ONE | Falls Church, Va. | 91 | KINKO'S | Ventura, Calif. |
| 42 | OHIO NATL. FINAN. SVCS. | Cincinnati | 92 | APPLIED MATERIALS | Santa Clara, Calif. |
| 43 | WEGMANS | Rochester, N.Y. | 93 | QUAD/GRAPHICS | Pewaukee, Wis. |
| 44 | MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL | Washington, D.C. | 94 | 3M | Maplewood, Minn. |
| 45 | J.D. EDWARDS | Denver | 95 | 3COM | Santa Clara, Calif. |
| 46 | BMC SOFTWARE | Houston | 96 | INTERFACE | Atlanta |
| 47 | QUALCOMM | San Diego | 97 | BALDOR ELECTRIC | Fort Smith, Ark. |
| 48 | WHOLE FOODS MARKET | Austin, Texas | 98 | NORDSTROM | Seattle |
| 49 | INTEL | Santa Clara, Calif. | 99 | CORNING | Corning, N.Y. |
| 50 | PATAGONIA | Ventura, Calif. | 100 | L.L. BEAN | Freeport, Me. |
Source: Fortune Magazine, January 1999