25. (TIE) PPL
Headquarters: Allentown, Pennsylvania
Experienced median pay: $103,000
High job satisfaction: 77% of employees
Electric utility PPL — formerly Pennsylvania Power and Light — employs 13,000 people across its three regional energy entities in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and the UK. The most frequently hired positions include engineers, finance and accounting professionals, and plant operators. PayScale reports that 19% of employees consider their job low stress.
25. (TIE) Motorola Solutions
Headquarters: Schaumburg, Illinois
Experienced median pay: $103,000
High job satisfaction: 73% of employees
The telecommunications company's emphasis on flexibility allows 49% of its employees to work from home. Motorola employees also receive about 3.5 weeks of paid vacation on average.
This emphasis on work-life balance has helped Motorola retain its workforce. More than half of employees have worked at the company for more than a decade, and nearly one-quarter of employees have worked at the company for more than 20 years, according to PayScale.
23. (TIE) AbbVie
Headquarters: North Chicago, Illinois
Experienced median pay: $107,000
High job satisfaction: 67% of employees
The pharmaceutical company, which makes blockbuster autoimmune-disease drug Humira, typically pays its employees 6% above the market compared to similar companies. In April, AbbVie announced that it is teaming up with the University of Chicago for a five-year deal to collaborate on cancer research.
23. (TIE) Johnson & Johnson
Headquarters: New Brunswick, New Jersey
Experienced median pay: $107,000
High job satisfaction: 77% of employees
With nearly 130,000 employees in more than 60 countries, Johnson & Johnson is dedicated to the entire team's well-being. The pharmaceutical company actively cultivates a healthy culture and offers health programs with services tailored to individual employee needs.
22. Pfizer
Headquarters: New York, New York
Experienced median pay: $108,000
Job satisfaction: 75% of employees
Pfizer sums up its company culture with two words: Own it. The company believes that employees should be able to take ownership of their careers, allowing them the freedom to take risks and the support to confront systems and attitudes that aren’t working. The pharmaceutical giant also offers its employees relative flexibility, as 37% are able to work from home.
21. Allergan
Headquarters: Parsippany, New Jersey (US headquarters)
Experienced median pay: $110,000
High job satisfaction: 84% of employees
Allergan commits to environmental sustainability by using green materials, equipment, and technology whenever possible. The pharmaceutical company also coaches employees on sustainability practices through its Environmental Responsibility Program, aiming to help them improve their habits at work and at home.
18. (TIE) TIAA-CREF
Headquarters: New York, New York
Experienced median pay: $111,000
High job satisfaction: 74% of employees
To affirm its culture of inclusion, TIAA-CREF — recently simplified to "TIAA" — sponsors several employee-resource groups to help everyone find their place and provide networking opportunities, community outreach, and multicultural awareness. Groups exist for minorities as well as for women, young professionals, and the LGBT community.
Flexibility is a key perk at TIAA, too. More than 40% of employees at the financial- and retirement-services company have the ability to work remotely when they need to, according to PayScale.
18. (TIE) ConocoPhillips
Headquarters: Houston, Texas
Experienced median pay: $111,000
High job satisfaction: 78% of employees
The global oil and gas conglomerate, which has about 16,000 employees, prides itself on attracting strong talent and pushing career development, with programs for student recruitment, early-career development, and mentoring.
The best-paying jobs at ConocoPhillips are for geophysicists, who make about $150,000 on average, followed by petroleum and drilling engineers, who each make upward of $125,000.
18. (TIE) Bristol-Myers Squibb
Headquarters: New York, New York
Experienced median pay: $111,000
High job satisfaction: 78% of employees
Biopharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb has a rich employee culture with strong gender diversity — 54% female and 46% male — across its 11 offices in seven states. The company manufactures drugs that treat cancer, HIV/AIDS, and cardiovascular diseases, among other ailments, and 82% of employees report that their job has high meaning, according to PayScale.
17. Fannie Mae
Headquarters: Washington, DC
Experienced median pay: $114,000
High job satisfaction: N/A
The government-sponsored mortgage-servicing giant is headquartered in the country's capital, with six other regional offices around the country as well. Through the SERVE initiative, employees can take up to 10 paid hours per month to participate in volunteer opportunities. The company even holds an annual week-long event, 7 Days to SERVE, in which the entire company gets involved in charity work. In 2015, it volunteered a total of 11,000 hours.
16. Expedia
Headquarters: Bellevue, Washington
Experienced median pay: $115,000
High job satisfaction: 71% of employees
Expedia, the parent company of Expedia.com and a host of online-travel brands and booking sites, including Orbitz and Travelocity, employs more than 18,000 people in 30 countries. Naturally, the company offers its employees travel discounts and fosters a culture that emphasizes curiosity and exploration.
15. Gilead Sciences
Headquarters: Foster City, California
Experienced median pay: $116,000
High job satisfaction: 85% of employees
At Gilead Sciences, employees work to create new medicines that transform the lives of people with life-threatening illnesses, such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, and hepatitis C. This focus on changing lives contributes to Gilead employees finding purpose in their work, as 91% of them report having high job meaning, according to PayScale. In the US, employees also enjoy benefits such as tuition reimbursement, backup childcare options, and the ability to buy company stock.
13. (TIE) EMC
Headquarters: Hopkinton, Massachusetts
Experienced median pay: $117,000
High job satisfaction: 76% of employees
EMC's company culture hinges on the principles of camaraderie and teamwork. When new employees enter the information-technology company, they are assigned an "alum chum" to help them navigate and get settled. Teams also participate in bonding activities such as softball or soccer games and lunch-and-learn sessions. Many EMC employees can take advantage of the ability to work remotely as well, a perk 50% of the company enjoys.
13. (TIE) ExxonMobil
Headquarters: Irving, Texas
Experienced median pay: $117,000
High job satisfaction: 72% of employees
ExxonMobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil and gas company, makes employee retention a priority. Part of that plan involves significant investment in ensuring their workforce continues to grow. The company spent more than $115 million on professional training for 79,000 company participants in 2014.
12. Intel
Headquarters: Santa Clara, California
Experienced median pay: $118,000
High job satisfaction: 72% of employees
Intel wants every employee to build the career of their dreams, and it helps them do it by providing access to career advisers, networking events, certifications, and tuition assistance. Outside of the workday, employees at the semiconductor and computer-technology company enjoy perks such as on-site fitness centers, tickets to local sporting and cultural events, and discounted shopping programs.
11. Symantec
Headquarters: Mountain View, California
Experienced median pay: $119,000
High job satisfaction: 74% of employees
Symantec has over 21,000 employees dedicated to creating top-of-the-line cyber-security software. Though employees are expected to know a number of computer-programming languages — Java being the most popular — PayScale found that the best-paying skill is Python. The best-paying position? That would be principal software engineer, which draws a salary of $140,000 on average.
10. Amgen
Headquarters: Thousand Oaks, California
Experienced median pay: $121,000
High job satisfaction: 77% of employees
The biopharmaceutical company employs about 18,000 people worldwide. Nearly 90% of them report having a high job meaning — not surprising given that Amgen has developed several successful cancer treatments as well as drugs to address autoimmune diseases and osteoporosis.
Amgen is committed to career development and education opportunities, offering tuition reimbursement as well as formal and technical training within the company for those looking to advance their skills.
9. Chevron
Headquarters: San Ramon, California
Experienced median pay: $122,000
High job satisfaction: 81% of employees
Headquartered in California but present in more than 180 countries, Chevron runs on "Human Energy" with an employee workforce 61,500 strong, nearly half of them in the US.
The multinational oil and gas company's employees and retirees are encouraged to participate in its volunteer program, Chevron Humankind. In 2014, employees logged 350,000 volunteer service hours and donated $20 million to nonprofits and charities, which was matched by Chevron.
8. Cisco Systems
Headquarters: San Jose, California
Experienced median pay: $124,000
Job satisfaction: 75% of employees
Flexibility is key at Cisco, where a whopping 67% of employees can telecommute or work remotely, making it the most flexible workplace on the list. On campus, employees of the IT and networking tech company enjoy a host of perks, including fitness centers and bike paths, cafés and gourmet food trucks, childcare centers and mothers' rooms, and "fun funds" for team celebrations and team-building exercises.
7. eBay
Headquarters: San Jose, California
Experienced median pay: $125,000
High job satisfaction: 78% of employees
The e-commerce platform jumped up 23 spots on our list this year. The company champions employees to go beyond the work they do in the office and make an impact globally. That includes a "Green Team," in which employees and eBay sellers work together to improve eBay’s sustainability, as well as a match program for philanthropic gifts.
6. Apple
Headquarters: Cupertino, California
Experienced median pay: $127,000
High job satisfaction: 70% of employees
Though a competitive and demanding place to work — only 6% of employees rated their jobs as low stress, according to PayScale — Apple treats its employees incredibly well, with perks like discounts on Apple products, robust health benefits (even for part-time Apple-store workers), and on-site "beer bashes." CEO Tim Cook addressed the company's commitment to employee diversity in a letter on Apple's website, stating that in 2015 35% of new hires were women and 43% were minorities.
4. (TIE) NetApp
Headquarters: Sunnyvale, California
Experienced median pay: $129,000
High job satisfaction: 75% of employees
NetApp, a data-storage and cloud-management company, has a slew of employee benefits that have become typical of tech companies competing for top talent, including gourmet food and on-site fitness centers, as well as coworker training programs and time off to volunteer.
Senior software engineers draw the largest salaries at NetApp, pulling in $145,000 on average, followed closely by senior product managers, who make $143,000, according to PayScale.
4. (TIE) Microsoft
Headquarters: Redmond, Washington
Experienced median pay: $129,000
High job satisfaction: 70% of employees
The computer-tech stalwart jumped up five spots on the list from last year. Employees find the company very flexible — more than 40% reported being able to work from home, according to PayScale. And Microsoft moved to ease its work-life balance even more in October 2015 by implementing a parental-leave policy that allows men and women to take up to 12 fully paid weeks off.
3. Facebook
Headquarters: Menlo Park, California
Experienced median pay: $135,000
High job satisfaction: 97% of employees
The 12-year-old social network cum global tech giant is consistently lauded as one of the best places to work thanks to unrivaled employee perks including gourmet food courts, on-site doctors and chiropractors, laundry and dry-cleaning services, bikes to commute around campus, an inclusive company culture, and four months of paid parental leave for mothers, fathers, and same-sex couples.
2. Salesforce.com
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Experienced median pay: $136,000
High job satisfaction: 90% of employees
Salesforce is a demanding workplace — only 1% of employees reported having low-stress jobs to PayScale — but the company strives to create a happy work environment, earning the highest job-satisfaction mark on our ranking behind Facebook. The customer-relationship software company offers on-site fitness and massages, standing and treadmill desks, free snacks and drinks, and dog-friendly offices.
Employee participation in philanthropic work is important as well. Workers can take six days off a year to volunteer, and the company also coordinates volunteer trips around the world.
1. Google
Headquarters: Mountain View, California
Experienced median pay: $140,000
High job satisfaction: 86% of employees
Dethroning last year's No. 1, Facebook, Google earned the title as the best company to work for this year. Notorious for its abundant perks, employees at the search giant can take advantage of free gourmet food, 24/7 tech support, on-site massages, free fitness classes and gym memberships, and a generous vacation plan.
Employees also report that Google — recently renamed Alphabet in a corporate restructuring — allows them flexibility to work on passion projects and feed their creativity. The company continues to grow, adding nearly 9,000 jobs in the last year.
