In good company

(Fortune Magazine) -- Ten Years ago, when we began compiling this list, the idea that your employer would deliver your groceries (a new perk at Microsoft (Charts)) or allow you to do your laundry at work (Google (Charts)) might have seemed crazy. (Of course the idea that you'd be paying out-of-pocket for health care would have sounded just as nuts.)

Indeed, much has changed in the American workplace over the past decade. Back then 18 companies on our list offered telecommuting; today 82 do. Only 28 companies on the list offered domestic-partner benefits; now that number is 70. Competition to get on the list has intensified too: This year 446 public and private companies vied for a slot, up from 161 in 1998.

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Full list: 100 Top Employers 1. Google 2. Genentech 3. Wegmans Food Markets 4. Container Store 5. Whole Foods Market Best Companies in your state Best benefits Top-paying companies

Galleries: • Life inside Google • Google perks • Google's campus • How 5 winners keep stars happy • Top paying companies • Google's gourmet food

And 100,000 workers evaluated their employers, making this by far the largest simultaneous employee survey in corporate America. That's one thing that hasn't - and won't - change about our list: Employees decide who gets a spot. Here are the companies they picked this year. PLUS:

PERKS Which outrageous perks wowed workers this year?

BENEFITS These 16 firms still pay 100% of health-care coverage.

DIVERSITY Check out which of our 100 Best employ the most (and fewest) women and minorities.

SCALE Size matters (at least to us). We break out the best small, medium-sized, and large employers on our list.

THE BEST PERKS! From time off to tip-off, here are some of the perks employees enjoyed this year. "

• Methodist Hospital (No. 9) Need fuel? Every employee got a $250 gas card in '06.
• Quicken loans (No. 17) LeBron James fans, rejoice! Workers in Michigan can hop on company-sponsored buses to see the Cavaliers play ball (CEO Dan Gilbert owns the team).
• Arnold & Porter (No. 26) Know any whiz kids? The law firm offers referral fees of $15,000 if you recommend an employee it ends up hiring.
• Goldman sachs (No. 36) Who says bankers work all the time? Employees who get married or register a domestic partnership are given an extra week of vacation.
• Microsoft (No. 50) The tech giant piles on perks like free grocery delivery, valet parking, and a dollar-for-dollar match of employee charitable contributions up to $12,000.
• AstraZeneca (No. 71) Working here might actually be good for your health: All prescription drugs made by the company are free to employees.

THE BEST BENEFITS As costs rise, most companies are starting to skimp when it comes to health care. But these 16 firms on our list still pay 100% of health coverage for their employees.

WHOLE FOODS MARKET (No. 5)

BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP (No. 8)

NUGGET MARKET (No. 13)

QUALCOMM (No. 14)

STATION CASINOS (No. 18)

VALERO ENERGY (No. 22)

KIMLEY-HORN & ASSOCIATES (No. 28)

RUSSELL INVESTMENT GROUP (No. 30)

UMPQUA BANK (No. 34)

SAS INSTITUTE (No. 48)

MICROSOFT (No. 50)

STEW LEONARD'S (No. 51)

GRANITE CONSTRUCTION (No. 56)

PERKINS COIE (No. 64)

LEHIGH VALLEY HOSPITAL & HEALTH NETWORK (No. 80)

EOG RESOURCES (No. 83)

INDEX Company ... Rank

Adobe Systems ... 31

Aflac ... 73

Alcon Laboratories ... 65

Alston & Bird ... 19

American Century Investments ... 15

American Express ... 74

American Fidelity Assurance ... 47

Amgen ... 40

Arnold & Porter ... 26

AstraZeneca ... 71

Bain & Co. ... 45

Baird (Robert W.) ... 38

Baptist Health Care ... 54

Baptist Health South Florida ... 81

Bingham McCutchen ... 94

Booz Allen Hamilton ... 63

Boston Consulting Group ... 8

Bright Horizons Family Solutions ... 92

Capital One Financial ... 84

CarMax ... 88

CDW ... 82

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta ... 35

Cisco Systems ... 11

Container Store ... 4

Deloitte & Touche USA ... 76

Dow Corning ... 55

Edward Jones ... 29

Edwards (A.G.) ... 99

EOG Resources ... 83

Ernst & Young ... 25

First Horizon National ... 46

Four Seasons Hotels ... 53

Genentech ... 2

Genzyme ... 43

Goldman Sachs ... 36

Google ... 1

Gore (W.L.) & Associates ... 10

Granite Construction ... 56

Griffin Hospital ... 21

HomeBanc Mortgage ... 67

IKEA North America ... 96

Intuit ... 33

JM Family Enterprises ... 41

Johnson (S.C.) & Son ... 7

Jones Lang LaSalle ... 66

Kimley-Horn & Associates ... 28

KPMG ... 97

Lehigh Valley Hospital Network ... 80

Leonard's (Stew) ... 51

Marriott International ... 89

Mayo Clinic ... 62

Medtronic ... 72

Memorial Health ... 91

Men's Wearhouse ... 90

Methodist Hospital System ... 9

Microsoft ... 50

Milliken ... 93

MITRE ... 60

National Instruments ... 86

Network Appliance ... 6

Nike ... 69

Nixon Peabody ... 49

Nordstrom ... 24

Northwest Community Hospital ... 37

Nugget Market ... 13

OhioHealth ... 52

Paychex ... 70

PCL Construction ... 42

Pella ... 59

Perkins Coie ... 64

Plante & Moran ... 32

PricewaterhouseCoopers ... 58

Principal Financial Group ... 77

Procter & Gamble ... 68

Publix Super Markets ... 57

Quad/Graphics ... 75

Qualcomm ... 14

Quicken Loans ... 17

QuikTrip ... 20

Recreational Equipmen (REI) ... 27

Russell Investment Group ... 30

SAS Institute ... 48

Smucker (J.M.) ... 39

SRA International ... 61

Standard Pacific ... 85

Stanley ... 100

Starbucks ... 16

Station Casinos ... 18

Synovus ... 98

TDIndustries ... 79

Texas Instruments ... 87

Timberland ... 78

Umpqua Bank ... 34

Valero Energy ... 22

Vanguard ... 95

Vision Service Plan ... 23

Weekley (David) Homes ... 12

Wegmans Food Markets ... 3

Whole Foods Market ... 5

Yahoo ... 44

HOW WE CHOOSE THE 100 BEST

To choose the 100 Best Companies to Work For, we conduct the most extensive employee survey in corporate America. More than 105,000 employees from 446 companies responded to a 57-question survey created by the Great Place to Work Institute in San Francisco. Two-thirds of a company's score is based on the survey, which is sent to a minimum of 400 randomly selected employees from each company and asks about things such as attitudes toward management, job satisfaction, and camaraderie. The remaining third of the score comes from our evaluation of each company's responses to the institute's Culture Audit, which includes detailed questions about demographic makeup, pay, and benefits programs, and open-ended questions about the company's people-management philosophy, internal communications, opportunities, compensation practices, diversity programs, etc. After our evaluations are completed, if news about a company comes to light that may significantly damage employees' faith in management, we may exclude that company from the list.

About 1,500 companies contacted us or were recruited to participate. (Any company that is at least seven years old with more than 1,000 U.S. employees is eligible.) The deadline for applying for next year's list is March 31, 2007; for an online nomination form, go to www.greatplacetowork.com.

Additional reporting by Christopher Tkaczyk contributed to this article.