According to Fortune Magazine's new 2014 list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For," Houston companies are some of the best employers in the nation.
Five Houston-based companies were included in the prestigious list and three made the Top 20.
To assemble the list, Fortune partnered with the Great Place to Work Institute — a global human resources consulting, research and training firm which operates in 45 countries — to administer what it claims is "the most extensive employee survey in corporate America." In all, 257 firms and more than 252,000 employees participated in this year's survey.
Two-thirds of each company's score is based on "Trust Index survey" results. Sent to random employees at each company, the survey asks individuals about their attitudes on management credibility, job satisfaction and camaraderie. The other third is based on a "Culture Audit," which includes questions about pay, benefit programs, hiring practices, internal communication methods, training, recognition programs and diversity efforts.
In all, 257 firms and more than 252,000 employees participated in this year's survey.
According to the list, Camden Property Trust — coming in at No. 11 overall — is Houston's best company to work for. Fortune says what makes the company great is that "nonexecutive employees of this apartment giant received surprise bonuses the past three years as a result of better-than-expected financial results." Similarly, the company manages more than 60,000 apartments in 10 states and at least 600 employees live in Camden apartments where they receive a 20-percent discount on rent. The company dropped only one spot from No. 10 on last year's listing.
Only two spots below Camden is homebuilding company David Weekley Homes at No. 13. Fortune says this Houston-based company is great because it flies new employees to the company's headquarters for a two-day orientation and "matches employees’ 401(k) contributions 100 percent up to 8 percent of salary and provides four-year college scholarships of up to $2,000 a year per child."
Oil and gas exploration company Hilcorp came in at No. 15 in the rankings. Fortune says this Houston company is great as it recently announced "an incentive program called Dream 2015 that promises to give every person in the company $100,000 in 2015 if goals are met." Also, employees' children are able to get college scholarships of up to $5,000 per year.
Houston Methodist moved up 21 spots from last year's rankings and came in at No. 46. Fortune says what makes Methodist great is that 20 hospital departments were awarded "Employee Lounge Extreme Makeovers" and were given $10,000 to redecorate.
Oil company EOG Resources was the last Houston company to appear on the list, coming in at No. 97. What makes EOG stand out according to Fortune is that the company matches charitable donations dollar-for-dollar up to $75,000.
Seven other Texas-based companies also made the list with USAA (San Antonio) at No. 17, NuStar Energy (San Antonio) at No. 26, The Container Store (Coppell) at No. 28, Rackspace Hosting Inc. (San Antonio) at No. 29, Whole Foods Market (Austin) at No. 44, National Instruments (Austin) at No. 66 and TDIndustries (Dallas) at No. 82.
Camden Property Trust was the highest ranked Houston-based company on Fortune's 2014 list of the 100 Best Places to Work in the U.S.
