Survey says: 5 best places to work

What makes a company a truly great place to work? Is it company culture? Competitive pay and benefits? Or a rock-star CEO? 

A recent survey by Glassdoor, a site that provides employee ratings of their companies, identified 50 of the nation's best companies to work for. Did yours make the list?

Bain & Company, the consulting company that has been in the news for having been a very good place to work for Mitt Romney, came out on top. (According to reports, he's still making millions from Bain, 13 years after leaving.)  After Bain came some familiar names: McKinsey & Company, Facebook, MITRE and Google.

All five of these companies shared some practices, including on- or off-site training programs. "For example, employees at Bain & Company and McKinsey & Company talk very highly about their companies providing them high level training that continues at all levels," said Samantha Zupan, spokesperson for Glassdoor. They offer mentorship opportunities to nurture employees. Not surprisingly, each organization highlighted offers attractive compensation packages. "These can come in the form of base salary, bonuses, equity and shares," Zupan said. They also made strong commitments to work/life balance. "Companies like Facebook, for example, offer reimbursements for daycare and on-site dry cleaning services," according to Zupan. Finally, the star companies demonstrated strong communication efforts. "Among the top 5 Best Places to Work, we often see employees speak about the efforts their company makes to keep them connected to the company's overall vision." 

Two of the notable newcomers included J.Crew and Starbucks. "Employees at these two companies talk about great flexibility with their schedules, great people to work with, a fun company culture, and good benefits for part-timers," Zupan said.

Would your company get your vote, in terms of these criteria?