Aflac
Fortune 500 rank: 125
Best Companies rank: 58
What makes it so great?
Aflac offers grants toward closing costs for employees who are first-time homebuyers below a certain income level and participate in financial counseling.
American Express
Fortune 500 rank: 67
Best Companies rank: 90
What makes it so great?
AmEx uses social media to recruit job candidates. More than 100 videos on YouTube feature employees candidly describing what they do.
Capital One Financial
Capital One
What they're looking for: Capital One has a range of open positions for executives, analysts, IT professionals, tellers, call center representatives, and mortgage professionals. They also have openings in finance, HR, risk management, risk operations, and commercial banking. Job title with the largest number of openings: The company has approximately 700 open positions for call center representatives. Secrets to impressing their recruiters: "We look for people with strong quantitative, analytical, problem-solving and conceptual skills combined with interpersonal, leadership and communication skills," says Tommy Blanchard, vice president of recruiting.Fortune 500 rank: 124
Best Companies rank: 85
What makes it so great?
The bank's university offers 2,084 instructor-led courses and 1,668 virtual classroom sessions.
CarMax
CarMax
The car dealership runs 117 no-haggle used-car lots. CEO Tom Folliard stays accessible to all employees via town hall meetings and steak cookouts.Fortune 500 rank: 240
Best Companies rank: 54
What makes it so great?
The largest used-car retail chain in the U.S. has a "time away" policy that allows associates to take off as much time as they need, without a quota.
Chesapeake Energy
Fortune 500 rank: 163
Best Companies rank: 51
What makes it so great?
The landscaped headquarters of the natural-gas producer is designed to look like a college campus and includes a large child-care center.
Cisco Systems
Fortune 500 rank: 55
Best Companies rank: 55
What makes it so great?
Employees stay fit inside a 118,000-square-foot, gold-level LEED-certified health center and can drop off kids at two onsite care centers.
Darden Restaurants
Fortune 500 rank: 319
Best Companies rank: 74
What makes it so great?
More than half of the restaurant group's employees donate to a program that provides relief to employees facing emergencies.
Devon Energy
Fortune 500 rank: 270
Best Companies rank: 56
What makes it so great?
Last year the oil and gas driller opened the Doc, a new medical clinic in its 50-story headquarters in downtown Oklahoma City.
Discovery Communications
Fortune 500 rank: 460
Best Companies rank: 79
What makes it so great?
The nonfiction media giant (Discovery Channel, TLC, and Animal Planet) offers onsite medical clinics and fitness programs.
EOG Resources
Fortune 500 rank: 203
Best Companies rank: 97
What makes it so great?
The oil company's generous matching plan for charitable donations is dollar for dollar up to $75,000.
General Mills
Fortune 500 rank: 159
Best Companies rank: 64
What makes it so great?
The cereal maker took a stand in 2012 to oppose an amendment that would have barred same-sex marriages in Minnesota.
Goldman Sachs
Fortune 500 rank: 74
Best Companies rank: 45
What makes it so great?
Staff won for the fastest corporate team in the annual race up the steps of the Empire State Building.
Fortune 500 rank: 46
Best Companies rank: 1
What makes it so great?
Google’s stock climbed past $1,000 in 2013—a boon for Googlers, all of whom are stockholders. CEO Larry Page urged them to be "audacious," especially in philanthropy. Google donates $50 for every five hours an employee volunteers. Last year a new program sent employees to Ghana and India to work on community projects.
Intel
Fortune 500 rank: 53
Best Companies rank: 84
What makes it so great?
Six Embraer passenger jets ferry 4,500 employees a week between locations in Arizona, California, and Oregon.
Marriott International
Fortune 500 rank: 219
Best Companies rank: 57
What makes it so great?
The global hotel chain with 19 brands prides itself on mobility, with more than 50% of managers having started as hourly associates.
Microsoft
Fortune 500 rank: 34
Best Companies rank: 86
What makes it so great?
The software giant covers 100% of health insurance premiums for employees and all their dependents.
NetApp
NetApp
All new employees at data storage provider NetApp participate in the TOAST ("Training On All Special Things") orientation program, which introduces new arrivals to NetApp's senior management. The sessions are held every month and are always led by the executive team. Last year, NetApp held 20 TOAST sessions at five locations with a total of 3,000 employees.Fortune 500 rank: 411
Best Companies rank: 33
What makes it so great?
Employees at this data-management and -protection company enjoy five paid days off a year to volunteer within their community.
Nordstrom
Fortune 500 rank: 224
Best Companies rank: 89
What makes it so great?
Sales clerks are paid by commission, with average pay of $41,000, while managers average $57,000.
Publix Super Markets
Fortune 500 rank: 104
Best Companies rank: 75
What makes it so great?
CEO Ed Crenshaw on being 100% employee-owned: "Having skin in the game is the bedrock of our company's success."
Qualcomm
Qualcomm
Local farmers must love this wireless company as much as its employees do. Once a week, San Diego-based Qualcomm hosts a farmers market at two of its locations. Items sold range from traditional produce to jams and jellies. Employees with CSA veggie box subscriptions can pick up their produce packages at one of the HQ's cafés.Fortune 500 rank: 120
Best Companies rank: 32
What makes it so great?
The mobile-technology supplier is an award-happy place: $1,500 bonuses for filing a new patent went to 1,794 employees last year.
Stryker
Fortune 500 rank: 306
Best Companies rank: 42
What makes it so great?
The medical device maker provides opportunities for employees to see products in action by observing surgeries.
Whole Foods Market
Fortune 500 rank: 218
Best Companies rank: 44
What makes it so great?
Team members are permitted to explore hundreds of promotional opportunities and new jobs that open every year.
