Every two years or so, we round up the best places to work in the Baltimore region. This year, we actually considered skipping it. After all, isn’t any job a good job these days? Can people actually afford to be selective in a recession? In a word, yes. It turns out that many of the best companies to work for around town are also some of the most financially sound. (A coincidence? We think not—a happy employee is a productive employee. And an employer who understands that fundamental fact is already in the habit of making good decisions.) Better news still: Every single employer listed in our story is hiring. So whether you’re clutching a pink slip and pondering your next move, contemplating a career change, or just curious, read on to learn more about the best places for Baltimore’s best and brightest. You’ll be happy to know that, even in these trying economic times, there’s still room for a foosball table in the employee lounge.

Merkle

Location: Headquartered in Columbia Employees: 1,100 nationwide; 450 at Maryland headquarters
Who they are: A database marketing company
What we love: Nice building, “Dream Grants,” big rewards

If you’ve always wanted to climb a mountain, go dog sledding, or test your survival skills in the wilderness but can’t imagine finding the time or money to make it happen, Merkle has your answer: “Dream Grants.” The program lets employees tackle a new experience or adventure, without having to shell out big bucks themselves.

How it works: Through Dream Grants, Merkle sends one employee or group of employees per quarter on an adventure of their choice, whether it’s swimming with sharks in Costa Rica or climbing Mount Rainier.

Merkle also lets employees follow their dreams for higher education. The company has a tuition reimbursement program that pays 100 percent of tuition and Merkle University,

an in-house education and training program led by CEO David Williams and seven other Merkle employees, passes along knowledge on key business topics. There’s also an employee referral program that shells out up to $5,000 for employees who bring others on board, and the usual benefits: a 401(k) with employer match; comprehensive health, dental, and vision (Merkle pays the bulk of the premiums); and flexible scheduling.

Merkle also spoils high-performers: Each year, the winner of the Chairman’s Award gets a two-year lease on a new BMW. But even if you’re not driving a swank new Bimmer, you still get to work in nice surroundings. Merkle’s gleaming Columbia headquarters, completed in June 2008, boasts plenty of open space, ample outdoor patios, casual lounge spaces with plasma TVs, wireless Internet access, XM satellite radio, a cafe and coffee bar (with free fountain drinks, coffee, and espresso machines), a company store, and pool and foosball tables. And for healthy types, there’s an onsite gym and fitness classes.

HOW TO BE LAYOFF PROOF (almost)
When it comes to protecting yourself against layoffs, there’s good news and there’s bad news. We’ll start with the bad. “I don’t think there’s any surefire way of making yourself layoff proof,” says recruiter Chuck Sudina, president of Timonium-based Sudina Search. “There are going to be a lot of things that are just beyond your control.” Now for the good news: There’s plenty you can do to help ensure that when it comes time to hand out the pink slips, you’re not at the top of the list. Ultimately it all boils down to “making yourself as marketable as you can be,” he says. Some tips on just how to do that:
Be visible: “This is probably not the time to go on an extended vacation and not be around,” says Jodi Hume, an executive coach with The Business of Life. Instead, you want to make a concerted effort to show your value to your employer and even to those outside your company or field. “Being known as an expert in your field is gold,” says Hume. Volunteer to speak at industry meetings or to use your business skills in the community. The more you can make your skills visible to others, the more opportunities you’ll have.
Make money, Or save money: In a recession, employers focus on jobs and people who either bring in more revenue or have skills that can save them money. Even if your job doesn’t directly involve bringing in money or saving money, you can help by “thinking about your job as if it were your business,” says Hume. “Really take ownership and make yourself totally invaluable.”
Make, and keep, connections: You might only seriously consider attending those trade association happy hours when you’re in a job hunt, but networking “is something people should be doing all the time,” says Hume. And don’t forget to network with the people who know the job market best: recruiters. “It makes sense to have a relationship with a recruiter,” says Sudina. That means that throughout your career when recruiters call, you should be friendly and helpful, even if you’re not looking to switch jobs. When you do move, reconnect with recruiters, past employees, and colleagues to let them know where you’ve landed. It can be as simple as sending a quick e-mail to update them.
Upgrade your skill set: “If you’re close to a college degree, get your degree. If you need certain certifications in a given field, do everything you possibly can to get them,” says Sudina. You might also consider picking up skills in areas of job growth: Right now, jobs in healthcare, IT, engineering, and sales are still relatively hot.
Move carefully: For most people, job-hopping isn’t going to be very tempting in today’s climate. In fact, in one recent survey by Accenture Ltd., only 13 percent of respondents said they were actively looking for a job, down from 30 percent in 2005. That’s because the recession makes people think twice about leaving a sure thing, no matter how imperfect it may be. But that doesn’t mean you should stay put under any circumstances. First, carefully investigate your prospective new employer for financial stability. And consult with the experts, says Sudina. “Call a search firm and say you’re considering making a move,” he suggests. “A good recruiter is going to tell you to stay put or point out 3 or 4 or 5 good options that may be available to you.”

BENEFIT STATS: HEALTH
Percentage of companies offering these benefits nationally:
Prescription drug coverage: 96%
Dental coverage: 94%
Vision coverage: 78%
Employee Assistance Program: 75%
Mental health coverage: 75%
Dependent-care flex. spending account: 75%
Long-term care insurance: 45%
Healthcare insurance for part-timers: 39%
Domestic partner health benefits: 36%
Healthcare benefits for retirees: 32%

Gambrills – For their septuagenarian peers, John and Lucille Fusciello are a pretty hard act to follow.

They’re both in good health, and they both continue full-time
careers, John, 76, as a wholesale exclusive distributor for an Italian
wine importer, and Lucille, 70, as the longtime credit and collections
manager for a Trane commercial refrigeration franchise. Between the two
of them, they know a thing or two about keeping a fine Italian rosé
perfectly chilled at 41.5 degrees.

For 27 years, they lived in Crofton in a 3,000-square-foot-plus townhouse on three levels. But it got to be too much.

“Lucille was getting tired of dealing with a big house,” says John.
“It was just the two of us, since the kids had gotten married or moved
out. It just became too big, and she got tired of three levels—and I was
tired of hearing about it,” he jokes.

In nearby Gambrills, just north of Crofton, they’d noticed an over-55
development going up across from a retail plaza on Route 3. And it
started to make sense to them.

“We liked the community and the location of Crofton, midway between
Baltimore and Washington,” he says. “And though we’re city people, we
still like not dealing with the issues of the city. Also, we had friends
and family nearby, and though we’re blessed with good health for now,
we wanted to stay near our doctors and hospitals.” So they decided the
new development would work for them and took the plunge, buying a
two-bedroom unit while the project was still in an early phase of
completion.

“It will eventually be a nine-building complex, with about 17 units
in each building, with two elevators in each building, as well as a
community center and swimming pool,” John says. “We’ve just formed two
condo associations, representing residents of three buildings each . . .
and we seem to have a cohesive group of owners. We’re very happy with
the people and the quality of the building.”

So what happens when the day comes that they aren’t as mobile as they
are now? No worries, says John. “There’s a supermarket and retail
stores across the way, a fitness club up the block, and all sorts of
conveniences. I take a walk there every morning—it’s very safe.”

And while getting rid of a lifetime of stuff to squeeze into smaller
quarters is traumatic for some, it was not for the Fusciellos: “When we
moved, it was brutal what we left behind,” he says. “We had to downsize
from a four-bedroom to two, but all the things important to us fit in
perfectly—it was better than we anticipated.

“We’re extremely pleased with the decision we made.”

Even if you’ve heard of these communities, you may not appreciate their individual charms.

Woodberry
Trendy development projects are rising
under the familiar television towers in historic Woodberry, which offers
hip restaurants, businesses, and artists’ studios.

Cedarcroft
Characterized by distinctive Dutch
Colonial Revival and Federal Revival-style homes, this neighborhood
offers space and quiet, starting around $320,000.

Rodgers Forge
This historic community boasts
strong public schools, thriving community organizations, and easy access
to shopping and entertainment in Baltimore and Towson.

Glyndon
Founded as a privileged retreat from the
city’s heat, Glyndon’s spiffier listings run into the millions, but more
affordable options are available for under $500,000.

Eastport
The spiritual home of Annapolis’s
sailing community across the drawbridge from the downtown, it boasts
marinas, high-end restaurants, and easy-going local bars.

Crofton/Gambrills
Crofton’s location at the
center of the Baltimore-Annapolis-D.C. triangle has made it a tranquil
bedroom community, but there’s also lots of shopping along the Route 3
corridor.

Oella
Originally constructed in the early 1800s
as housing for cotton-mill workers, leafy Oella—in Baltimore County—is
now one of the region’s most charming, historic enclaves.

Uniontown/New Windsor
Just up the road from
Uniontown’s historic district, New Windsor retains a small-town feel,
with a population just under 1,500 and great home values.

Havre de Grace
Home to the oldest publicly
accessible lighthouse in Maryland, Havre de Grace offers plenty of
fishing, boating, hiking, and golf, as welll as lots of art galleries.

Ellicott City
Originally a mill community, its
historic façades on Main Street are now home to businesses like the
Ellicott Mills Brewing Co. and Mumbles & Squeaks Toy Shoppe.

People, you need to face the ugly truth: You haven’t won the lottery yet and, silly you, didn’t marry a Rockefeller, so you’re doomed to, you know, work for a living. But now that we’ve grasped that painful reality, why not work someplace where you really enjoy what you’re doing?

Our mission: Find out where those work places are. This year, though, we approached our task a little differently. In the past, we let the best companies in the region duke it out over what they thought were great comp plans, benefits, and perks. This time, however, we tried to determine first from top national and local recruiters what the employees want most from the boss——be it intellectual stimulation or social benefit, money, room to advance, or icing-on-the-cake benefits like free gym memberships or pet insurance.

The verdict? It isn’t all about money——for the majority, it seems, it’s work satisfaction and life/work balance that matter most. And our list this year reflects that. So, drum roll: Here they are, the Baltimore area’s best places to work, version 2.013——and, as usual, they wouldn’t be on the list if they weren’t hiring.

SPONSORED BY THE MERGIS GROUP

Abilities Network

Location: 8503 LaSalle Rd., Towson and seven other locations. Employees: 140. What they do: Abilities Network serves the disabled with six programs, all community-based, to help clients live and work independently in their homes and communities through job-search and training assistance. Why we like them: This $10-million nonprofit takes particular pains to make sure workers are happy——there’s an annual survey of employees to see what management could do better. Best benefits: 403(b) plan (the nonprofit version of a 401(k)), health benefits, comprehensive health, dental, vision, life, and disability policies, employee-assistance program, tuition reimbursement, and employee-referral bonus.

America’s Remote Help Desk

Location: 6400 Ridge Rd., Ste 308, Eldersburg. Employees: 56 in the Baltimore/Washington area. What they do: They’re a Maryland-based help-desk and infrastructure-management services outfit serving companies of all sizes. Why we like them: For one, they’re not based in New Delhi. But ARHD also offers a lot of opportunity in the IT field to Marylanders who aren’t necessarily the super-geeks being hired by the way-out-there tech firms on this list. Best benefits: 401(k) retirement plan, health-insurance options including medical, dental, and vision, and a flexible work schedule.

Chesapeake Urology Associates

Location: 25 Crossroads Dr., No. 306, Owings Mills (corporate office), plus 16 medical offices and 15 surgical centers. Employees: 414. What they do: CUA is the largest urology practice in the Mid-Atlantic. Why we like them: They’re leaders in the fast-growing health sector, their physicians routinely sweep the urology specialties in our own “Top Doctors” survey, as well as others, and they have a low turnover rate. Best benefits: Full medical and dental, basic life, 401(k) safe-harbor plan (CUA contributes 3 percent of every staffer’s salary regardless of whether they contribute), profit-sharing averaging 1.4 percent of salary, tuition reimbursement offered on day one, and discounts on pet insurance, phone plans, and athletic clubs.

Ciena Corporation

Location: 7035 Ridge Rd., Hanover. Employees: 650 locally, 4,500 globally. What they do: A provider of telecommunications infrastructure technology, software, and services. Why we like them: They’re aggressively recruiting for a number of divisions, have a culture of charitable work, and boast spanking new offices in a LEED-certified building adjacent to an Amtrak/MARC station. The new HQ has an on-site cafeteria and incentives for staffers to use bikes and energy-efficient autos. Best benefits: Full range of medical, dental, and vision policies, plus life and disability insurance, stock-purchase and retirement plans, tuition reimbursement, employee-assistance program, group legal plan, group home and auto insurance, matching charitable contributions, and a history of encouraging employees to get involved in community-service projects.

Columbia Technology Partners

Location: 10015 Old Columbia Rd., Ste. B215, Columbia. Employees: 20. What they do: They’re secret geeks for government: They work on “mission-critical systems and operations to ward off both internal and external threats to national security” with a team of systems engineers, IT security engineers, and whatnot. If they tell us any more, they’ll have to kill us. Why we like them: Staffers say they like management’s open-door policy, and they have great benefits in a recession-proof line of work. (That would be stopping a cyber-attack that could, gasp, take down Facebook for a day.) Best benefits: Medical, dental, and vision premiums paid in full by the company for actual employees (great for you singles), paid life insurance, short- and long-term disability, new employees are 100 percent vested in a 401(k) plan with match, performance and referral bonuses, telecommuting, and flextime.

Connections Education

Location: 1001 Fleet St., Flr. 5. Employees: 214 in Baltimore, 616 statewide, 2,500 nationally. What they do: They’re a provider of virtual-education solutions for students in grades K–12. Since 2001, the company’s Connections Academy division has delivered individualized learning to students through virtual public schools and a private online academy. As of the 2012–13 school year, 24 Connections Academy online public schools operate in 22 states and serve more than 45,000 students from across the U.S. Why we like them: Nationally, 40 percent of employees work from home. And, if you can believe this (it is from HR), 93 percent of employees rated their satisfaction with benefits as good, very good, or excellent, while 92.6 percent of employees said that the work environment is better or significantly better than at their previous job. Best benefits: Short-term disability 100-percent paid (usually for maternity), life insurance, employee-assistance program, 401(k) plan with employer match of 100 percent of first 3 percent of eligible earnings and 50 percent of next 3 percent of eligible earnings (with immediate vesting and early enrollment for new hires), health plan with no co-pays for preventative-care visits or drugs, tuition reimbursement, adoption assistance, and lots of professional-development programs.

Double Positive

Location: 1501 S. Clinton St., Ste. 1520, plus locations in Arizona and Georgia. Employees: 72. What they do: Online marketing company. Why we like them: This privately held company, which expects to increase its staff 10-20 percent in 2013, has a laid-back, youthful office culture and great views of the harbor from the 15th floor. And there’s a performance-review program that has employees rating their bosses, too. Best benefits: An annual merit-based bonus program, stock options, profit-sharing, six weeks’ paid maternity benefits, 100 percent of premium health, vision, and dental insurance covered (including domestic-partner coverage), hiring referral bonuses, a 401(k) plan that even new employees can participate in after only 90 days, tuition reimbursement, deep discounts on athletic-club memberships, and lots of free company lunches, picnics, parties, and sports events.

Exceptional Software Strategies

Location: 1304 Concourse Dr., Ste. 420, Linthicum. Employees: 100. What they do: Provide information technology solutions and services to U.S., state, and local governments, educational institutions, and private industry, specializing in advanced visualization, geographic information systems, cloud computing, and cyber security. Why we like them: Cutting-edge technology in a fast-growing field for clients that never seem to run out of money. (Think “the government.”) Best benefits: 100 percent of premiums paid for dental and vision insurance, 90 percent for health, health and fitness allowance, employee-assistance program, adoption program, fully vested 401(k) with exceptional match, tuition assistance, cash awards for performance, new-employee referral fee.

FX Studios

Location: 11270 Pepper Rd., Hunt Valley, as well as a fitness center at Under Armour HQ. Employees: 60. What they do: Salon, spa, and fitness studio. Why we like them: To quote an employee who participated in our survey: “FX offers constant education. . . . And with our gym facilities, including the new Performance Center for athletes, and the amazing personal trainers, I’m in the best shape of my life.” Best benefits: Health, dental, vision, and life insurance, a company financial adviser for employees at no cost, tuition reimbursement for annual certifications, year-round staff development and training, free access to fitness facilities including the new one at the Under Armour campus in Locust Point, discounts on personal trainers and products, as well as hair and spa services, a culture of year-round support of charitable causes by company and staff.

Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake

Location: 222 E. Redwood St. Employees: 580. What they do: A nonprofit providing job training and job-placement services. Why we like them: This fast-growing nonprofit combines a compassionate and critical mission with an appreciation of its employees not demonstrated by many for-profits. Best benefits: Paid leave for full- and part-time employees, health, dental, and vision insurance, paid long-term disability, life insurance, generous tuition reimbursement, financial counseling, wellness program, subsidized gym memberships, employee referral bonus, and store discounts.

Humanim

Location: 6355 Woodside Ct., Columbia, and other locations. Employees: 476. What they do: This nonprofit provides job training, placement services, and independent-living assistance for those with disabilities, mental-health issues, and criminal records. Why we like them: They’re addressing a pressing social issue few other organizations will deal with, and have a solid comp plan for staffers, as well. Best benefits: Health, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance, employee-assistance program, tuition reimbursement, profit-sharing, 403(b) retirement plan, hiring-referral bonuses, credit union and free checking, discounted home/auto insurance, discounts to Columbia Association sports and recreation facilities, wellness program.

Independent Security Evaluators (ISE)

Location: 4901 Springarden Dr., Ste. 200, and other locations nationally. Employees: 16. What they do: ISE protects companies from hackers and network attacks. Why we like them: How about the unlimited vacation? (Just get your work done, boys and girls.) Or that they expect to double staff in the coming year? The digs are nice, too: They’re in a historic mansion surrounded by the grounds of the Cylburn Arboretum. Best benefits: Fully paid health and dental benefits (nothing taken out of employee paycheck), annual bonus opportunities, safe harbor 401(k), health savings account with monthly funding match by company, flexible hours, telecommuting, discounted gym membership, weekly lunch provided by ISE, and company parties throughout the year, including their signature pool party: ISE Independence Day.

Irvine Nature Center

Location: 11201 Garrison Forest Rd., Owings Mills. Employees: 13 full-time, 24 part-time. What they do: Environmental education for ages preschool to adult. Why we like them: Outdoorsy types get to enjoy nature, teach kids about it, and get money and benefits, too. Best benefits: Full-time employees have 100 percent of their health-insurance premiums paid and deductibles covered, flexible work schedules, plus 50 percent off preschool tuition, summer camps, and events at the center.

Kennedy Krieger Institute

Location: 707 N. Broadway, and many other locations. Employees: 2,400. What they do: This nonprofit is famous for caring for children from all over the nation with disorders of the brain, spinal cord, and musculoskeletal system, as well as providing the kids’ education and doing research. Why we like them: No one can argue with the cause and they’re no slackers on perks. Best benefits: A 401(k) with graduated match that allows new employees to participate, solid health insurance with same-sex spousal coverage, child-care assistance, subsidized health-club memberships, shuttles and mass-transit subsidies, home-buying incentives near work, auto- and home-insurance discounts, tuition-reimbursement program, professional development programs.

Key Tech

Location: 40 E. Cross St. Employees: 25. What they do: Developers of high-tech products with a focus on medical, industrial, and consumer devices. Why we like them: A creative, casual office environment that fosters innovative product development. Best benefits: Great office in former vaudeville theater; employee-partner track with equity opportunity; 100-percent paid health and dental insurance and monthly contributions to health savings account (and there’s no way you can lose it if you don’t use it, as in a flexible spending account); free parking in Federal Hill; cash bonuses for engineers annually up to 15 percent of salary based on company profits.

Liberty Mutual

Location: 6760 Alexander Bell Dr., Ste. 250, Columbia, and other locations. Employees: 426 in Maryland; 50,000 globally. What they do: You guessed it——insurance of all kinds. Why we like them: They’ve got staying power: The Boston-based firm ranks 84th on the Fortune 100 list and is the third largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. Best benefits: Multiple health plans, as you might expect from an insurer (plus eligibility for part-timers), cash awards for performance, life insurance, tuition reimbursement, adoption assistance, mass-transit discounts.

Mercy Ridge

Location: 2525 Pot Spring Rd., Timonium. Employees: 220. What they do: Continuing-care retirement community loosely affiliated with the Catholic archdiocese. Why we like them: Mercy Ridge offers good jobs for those who may lack degrees, and the mission is worthy, too——looking after granny. They have a reputation for internal training and promoting from within, as well as competitive salaries. Best benefits: Solid medical, vision, and dental coverage, and a 401(k) with a company match, free meals during an employee’s shift, campus health and fitness coaches offer free weekly classes for staffers, free access to the community’s fitness and aquatic center.

PHH Arval

Location: 940 Ridgebrook Rd., Sparks, plus numerous locations nationally and in Canada. Employees: 900 in Sparks. What they do: This subsidiary of PHH Corp. is a leading commercial fleet-management company in the U.S. and Canada, managing nearly 600,000 cars and trucks and has a client list that includes nearly one-third of Fortune 500 companies. Why we like them: Rock-solid financially, first-rate benefits, and more than 100 expected hires in 2013. Best benefits: PHH Arval provides a better-than-market-average company match (dollar for dollar, up to 4 percent) to employees’ 401(k) account after one year of employment, reserved parking for expectant mothers, and a 24/7 on-site fitness facility for employees, as well as health coaches, walking clubs, weight-management classes, on-site seated massage, and on-site amenities such as an ATM and professional dry-cleaning services.

National Conference Services (NCSI)

Location: 5565 Sterrett Pl., Ste. 200, Columbia. Employees: 45. What they do: NCSI is a marketing, event-planning, and production company serving the Department of Defense, intelligence community, and federal government. Why we like them: No shortage of customers (think financial stability), room to grow, and a great gig if you’d enjoy traveling to events nationwide and in Europe. Best benefits: Employer-paid health insurance, disability and life insurance, 401(k), fitness- membership discounts.

Phoenix Technology Solutions

Location: 10420 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Ste. 500, Columbia. Employees: 15. What they do: Provide computer training, IT certification, and management courses to government and commercial clients in the region. Why we like them: Employees and their families can take advantage of Phoenix’s wide range of computer-training courses at no charge. Best benefits: More than five weeks’ paid time off, multiple health and dental plans, 401(k) plan with match, tuition reimbursement for courses within its field, flextime, and work-at-home opportunities.

Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin, & White

Location: 201 N. Charles St., Ste. 2600. Employees: 50 (including 30 lawyers). What they do: A growing law firm that handles complex civil and criminal trial work and appellate work, including some unusual high-profile cases. Why we like them: We like their honor system for paid leave time and no limit to paid sick time. Not to mention the keg in the break room, too——it’s right above the TV there. And you get to sue people all day long. Best benefits: Many paid bonus holidays, profit-sharing along with firm contributions to 401(k) for all employees, paid parking, 100-percent paid health insurance for families, paid seminars around the country for lawyers and support staff, firm-sponsored weekly happy hours, flexible schedule for school and/or child-care, catered office lunches, in-house gym and locker room with shower, tickets to most sporting events and theaters in town.

Southern Management Corp.

Location: 1950 Old Gallows Rd., Ste. 600, Vienna, VA, plus dozens of locations in Maryland. Employees: 1,582 in the region. What they do: They’re one of the largest privately owned residential- property-management firms in the Mid-Atlantic, operating 74 communities, a ski resort, and a hotel, as well as commercial office space. Why we like them: They haven’t raised their employees’ share of health-insurance premiums in eight years, while absorbing the higher costs. (Where else does that happen?) And we like the employee discounts for apartment rentals managed by Southern, and the frequent promotions of women and minorities to leadership (61 percent of women in management, 47 percent are minorities). Best benefits: 401(k) plan, retirement pension (you thought that had gone the way of the hula-hoop, right?), profit-sharing, a range of health plans, paid life insurance, subsidized health/fitness programs, adoption assistance, tuition reimbursement and in-house “university,” flextime, free gyms at managed properties, numerous charity programs, discounts on company-managed apartment rentals, assorted phone, insurance, and retail discounts.

Stegman & Co.

Location: 405 E. Joppa Rd., Ste. 100. Employees: 45. What they do: Public accounting. Why we like them: If all you can do is count money and fill out tax forms, this is a pretty good gig. Best benefits: 80-percent-plus health plan with company-paid deductible, flextime for maternity and other cases, generous comp time for those crazy work weeks during the tax season, tuition reimbursement, bonus for CPA-degree completion, professional development, overtime for non-exempt employees.

WorkSpaces

Location: 509 S. Exeter St., Ste. 306, as well as offices in Washington and New York. Employees: 11 in Baltimore; 65 firm-wide. What they do: Commercial furniture dealer. Why we like them: Very generous insurance and 401(k) plan, and a nice accommodation for new moms. Best benefits: WorkSpaces pays 100 percent of health-care premiums, including dental and vision coverage, and zero deductible with the completion of a health assessment; 401(k) plan with a match of 50 percent of the employee contribution for the first 6 percent of their gross salary; paid maternity leave and telecommuting for new working mothers; flextime; leave-time honor system; tuition reimbursement; professional development plan; company-provided lunch on Fridays; and bring-your-dog-to-work day every week.

Y of Central Maryland

Location: 303 W. Chesapeake Ave., Towson (offices); wellness centers at many other locations. Employees: 2,143. What they do: They’re the largest provider of health and wellness services in the state, operating 11 family centers, as well as the state’s largest provider of education programs, including preschool and Head Start programs. The Y also operates 20 summer camps, over 50 before- and after-school programs, and offers mentoring and scholarship programs. Why we like them: Want to broaden your horizons and get paid, too? Employees can take a (free) course in virtually anything at the Y. Best benefits: Health insurance, 403(b) safe- harbor retirement savings plan with 8 percent Y contribution for all employees, free Y membership, dependent-care assistance, and professional-development programs.

NOTE: This is our 2012 Best Places to Work feature. Our 2013 Best Places to Work list is here.

Winners
this year impressed us with everything from generous vacation time to
fat tuition-reimbursement checks and even free parking downtown. These
companies offer plenty of fun and unexpected perks, too, as well as
career-development potential, and, in many cases, intellectually
rewarding work. From spying to anti-spam programming, there are some
very cool jobs to be done in and around Baltimore.

AOL Advertising/Advertising.com

Baltimore

Employees:
5,768 (188 in Baltimore) What they do: Online advertising and brand
development. Why we like them: Even though this Baltimore biz was
consumed by AOL, it still keeps its quirky start-up style and creative
spirit. Best benefits: 401k with match; stock options based on
performance; employees eligible for annual bonuses; 100-percent tuition
reimbursement; six to eight weeks of paid maternity leave, free parking
downtown with special spaces for hybrids and bikes.

Tom
O’Hara, 35, was drawn to what was once known as advertising.com by its
innovative ideas and the charisma of the company’s founding leaders.
He’s now an account director. In the 12 years he’s worked there, the
company was bought by online’s Goliath, AOL.

“AOL has taken every
opportunity to ensure that the start-up feel of our Baltimore office has
remained intact,” he says. “We’ve always been a very successful part of
AOL and the leadership recognizes that has a lot to do with the people
who are here and the environment we maintain.”

That environment
includes a very fun office with flat-screen TVs (the company threw a tea
party and fancy-hat contest during the rebroadcast of the royal wedding
last spring), a pool table, a Ping-Pong table, and a conference room
where you can drive golf balls. Sometimes the roving beer cart arrives
in time for happy hour.

“People are jealous of our relaxed work
environment,” says Katie Dukes, 28, a business analyst. “We’re
constantly uploading office photos to Facebook and our friends will post
how envious they are.” Her favorite event is the summer grill-off when
staff contestants get an allowance to buy food for a cookout on the
waterfront promenade, with their colleagues as the judges.

“I also
love our location on the waterfront and that there’s lots of free
parking,” says Dukes. There’s easy access to day care in Tide Point,
there’s a gym, and the location is commutable by water taxi.

AOL
Advertising is progressive in its benefits. O’Hara was the first staffer
to receive health benefits for his partner Mike. About two years ago,
when the couple adopted a child, the company provided adoption
assistance and paternity leave.

BTS

Baltimore and Columbia, as well as divisions in northern Virginia and Texas

Employees:
85 What they do: Advanced mobile telecommunications technology for the
government and private sector, particularly the Department of Defense.
Why we like them: They’re big promoters of Baltimore and put their money
where their mouth is by opening BTS Software Solutions (a subsidiary
business) in Locust Point. Best benefits: 401k with 100 percent company
match up to 4 percent; fully paid health-care premiums for employees and
dependents plus a $1,000 contribution to FSA cards; employees are
eligible for bonuses; six weeks paid maternity leave (two weeks
paternity).

BTS made this list last year because it wowed
with its amazing benefits, like fully paid health care, paid maternity
leave, and a generous retirement plan. The young company was also
growing by leaps and bounds, which continues today: The number of
employees has doubled in the past year and, at press time, BTS was
looking for at least 25 new faces and has opened a new office on Fort
Avenue.

But what we wanted to know was whether BTS, which was only
founded in 2008, could sustain this megawatt lifestyle. To that, CEO
Sean Lane says, “Yes.”

At just 31 years old, Lane’s optimism could
be chalked up to youthful gusto, but the company has a diversified
portfolio of contracts and products that don’t hinge solely on the
conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan that appear to be winding down.

Because
BTS isn’t growing at a typical rate, nothing else is typical, either.
“We don’t play games with compensation,” Lane says. “It’s very cut and
dry: We pay for your health care, your tuition, and we vest on day one,”
he says. “We expect high-level performance and we give people
responsibility to, if they want, move vertically in our company easily.”

An
outspoken proponent of turning Charm City into the Silicon Valley of
the East, Lane opened his newest business, BTS Software Solutions, in
Locust Point (BTS Network Solutions and BTS Integration Solutions are in
Columbia). “We have a larger mission to build a greater tech community
in Baltimore,” he says.

Calvert School

Baltimore

Employees:
112 What they do: Private, coed education for grades pre-K through
eight. Why we like them: They understand that education isn’t just for
students, but for faculty, staff, and their families, too. Best
benefits: Calvert pays 100 percent of heath and dental for employees (90
percent for dependents); access to Kiddie Calvert on-site day care;
tuition reimbursement up to 50 percent; free gym and inexpensive fitness
classes; 403b with match; generous vacation time in addition to the
school’s holidays.

Baltimore has lots of first-rate private
schools where faculty and staff get to work with involved parents and
motivated kids. What sets Calvert School apart from the pack is the fact
that it cares about the education of its faculty and staff, too, not
just the paying student body. Most notably, the school not only helps
offset tuition costs for the children of staff, but also offers tuition
remission for area independent high schools when the Calvert program
ends at eighth grade.

Second-grade teacher Patrick “Shep”
Shepherd, 49, pictured, has used this benefit to the fullest. He has
children at Calvert, Garrison Forest School, and Boys’ Latin (a fourth
is in college).

“I’ve always felt that not only am I providing a
great education for the students I work with, but my family is being
cared for, as well,” he says.

It’s a perk that extends to tuition
assistance for grown-ups, too. In addition to footing the bill for
continuing-education seminars and the like, Calvert helped pay for
Shepherd’s master’s in early education at Loyola University of Maryland.

There’s
also an emergency fund that staff can tap—no questions asked—for
unexpected expenses, and the amount is paid back without interest
through wage-garnishing.

Charm City Cakes

Baltimore

Employees:
15 What they do: Bakery specializing in outrageously designed cakes,
such as a replica iPhone and to-scale Yoda. Why we like them: They’re a
haven for artistic types but have the business savvy to stay in
business, and grow, to boot. Best benefits: 401k with employer match;
profit-sharing; eight (yes, eight) weeks paid vacation, including fully
paid staff retreat to a sunny locale each February.

The plug
may be pulled on the filming of Ace of Cakes, the reality show that put
Duff Goldman’s eccentric bakery on the global map, but the bakery
continues to grow. Specifically, a location in Los Angeles opened last
summer. It was this aggressive trajectory that wooed Mark Muller away
from law school in 2008 and into the world of fondant.

“We’re
extremely fortunate because we’re structured as a small business with
the platform of a large business,” says Muller, the bakery’s studio
manager, via cell phone from the new L.A. shop. “We work around the
world now.”

Even as it grows, Charm City Cakes retains the funky,
MICA-esque vibe that made it appealing to The Food Network. The
Baltimore location has a rooftop deck and a basement lounge with sofas, a
television, and a place for band practice. It supports numerous
charities, though the most characteristic is its sponsorship of Charm
City Roller Girls.

Goldman’s commitment to employees can be seen
in things like the paid staff vacation each year and the fact that he
gives a percentage of the profits from his licensing and merchandising
to employees annually.

CyberPoint

Baltimore

Employees:
89 What they do: Delivers cyber-security products and services to a
wide range of customers. Why we like them: The benefits are simply off
the charts. The company even hired a security guard to look after
employee cars and provide escorts after some vehicles were vandalized.
Best benefits: Generous 401k contributions and profit-sharing; six weeks
paid time off (to start); $500 annual Professional Development
Allowance; free parking downtown; there are mothering rooms for new moms
and children are welcome in the workplace.

We like happy
endings as much as the next magazine, which is why we like Joe Di
Mattina. He read about CyberPoint in Baltimore’s “Best Places to Work”
list last year and darned if they didn’t hire him.

Di Mattina, a
30-year-old software engineer, was sick of commuting. “I wanted to live a
more urban lifestyle,” he explains. Now he rides his bike to work, and
he loves that he works in a place where everyone knows his name and ties
are verboten.

Employees at CyberPoint need to want to be in
Baltimore City, too. “The owner has made it very clear that he will keep
the company headquarters in Baltimore, and he wants to give back to
Baltimore,” Di Mattina says. CyberPoint currently runs a mentoring
program with a local city school, for example, and adopted a giraffe at
the Maryland Zoo.

DAP Products Inc.

Baltimore

Employees:
450 in Baltimore; 850 nationally What they do: Manufactures and markets
caulk, sealants, adhesives, and patch-repair products for DIYers and
pros. Why we like them: They’ve taken Baltimore’s manufacturing spirit
and modernized it for today’s workforce. Best benefits: 401k with
several matching options; stock-purchasing plan; free parking;
80-percent tuition reimbursement; closes early on Fridays during the
summer; potential for 100-percent paid maternity leave based on length
of service.

Laura Arvizu came to Baltimore from Mexico to
help DAP Products build its sales force in her home country. What she
found here was a home away from home.

“I chose this company
because it was international,” says the customer-service representative.
“It’s very diverse and open, and I’ve felt very welcome here.” As the
mother of a 4-year-old, she also appreciates that it’s family-friendly.
“My supervisor is very understanding that having a 4-year-old sometimes
requires things on short notice.”

Employees talk a lot about DAP
as a friendly place with a familial feel. Chris Hill felt that firsthand
when he was hospitalized after a medical emergency last year.

“During
my time, from the executive staff down, they were very supportive with
flowers and cards and baskets,” he says. “And the paychecks continued. I
was out six weeks, so that took a load off my shoulders.”

DLA Piper

Baltimore

Employees:
400 in Baltimore, 8,700 globally What they do: International law firm
with offices in 30 countries. Why we like them: Committed to creating a
culture of diversity and inclusion in its offices. Best benefits:
Profit-sharing; domestic partners eligible for health benefits;
financial incentives to purchase hybrid cars; tuition reimbursement;
discount gym memberships; flexible scheduling as the work allows.

Big
law firms aren’t traditionally considered bastions of diversity, nor
are they thought of as welcoming to individual needs. But DLA Piper is
doing its part to change all that. The firm understands that employees
who are comfortable at work produce better results, whether that means
they feel safe regardless of their ethnicity or sexual identification,
or they are able to work a flexible schedule to balance home needs with
those on the job.

“We define diverse people as all women, racial
and ethnic minorities, and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender [LGBT] community,” says Genhi Bailey, national diversity and
inclusion director. “Of course, it’s much broader than that. We also
look at issues related to alternative work arrangements and
multi-generational issues.”

“When I first started out of law
school, there was this idea of ‘face time,’ where you were supposed to
show up before the partners and you shouldn’t leave until after they
were gone,” explains Anthony Ashton, partner and chair of the Baltimore
diversity committee. “I can say, unequivocally, that’s not how people
work here.” Particularly with the Blackberries and laptops issued to
many staffers, work schedules have become more fluid.

“There’s no need to sit in your office, just to make sure people see you,” he cracks.

As
a large, international firm, DLA Piper offers its employees a lot of
benefits, but it maintains a smaller feel in the Baltimore office, which
employs just 380 people. From a benefits perspective, we were a little
taken aback by the fact that this giant of a firm doesn’t have a
matching 401k plan. However, they do have a three-tiered profit-sharing
program with a minimum contribution of 6 percent of compensation. And,
as part of the company’s Global Sustainability Initiative, you can get
$2,000 to help buy a hybrid car.

GANTECH Inc.

Columbia

Employees:
95 What they do: Full-service IT consulting, primarily with state and
local agencies. Why we like them: Their use of virtual desktop
technology makes for an extremely flexible work environment. Best
benefits: Employees pay just $10/month for all benefits (including
dependents); 401k with 4-percent match; referral and year-end bonuses;
tuition reimbursement; monthly free lunch; flexible work schedule.

Gantech
may have been founded by Thomas Laskowski, but Mia Millette, vice
president of strategic operations and a software developer by trade,
still thinks of the company as her baby. “I was employee number 20 when I
came in 2006, and I had a hand in creating the employee culture,” she
explains. “I made sure we created an environment that was how I wanted
the company to treat me.”

Millette has five children, so
flexibility to work from home was key. “In this day and age, flexibility
is paramount,” she notes. Gantech is a progressive IT firm that uses
virtualization technology so employees can work from anywhere. It’s a
benefit that also attracted Christa Stolarik, an account executive and
mother of three, who left a software company because she was traveling
too much. Not only was she able to cut her traveling at Gantech, the
company even created a mothering room for her when she had her third
child.

Millette describes it as a “work-hard, live-well” corporate
culture that’s passionate about technology and driven to help the
company meet its potential. (Gantech is routinely on national lists for
its fast growth.)

IMRE

Sparks

Employees:
79 in Sparks, 88 total. What they do: Marketing and PR agency targeted
to health care, home and building, financial services, and sports. Why
we like them: They understand that agency work can be a grind but reward
hard work with fun perks. Best benefits: Two weeks paid sabbatical
leave plus $1,000 bonus for full-timers achieving three, eight, and 12
years tenure; performance bonuses; half-day Fridays in the summer;
tuition reimbursement up to $2,000/year.

IMRE claims to be
hiring up to 20 people in the new year, which is great news for creative
types who’ve been particularly beat up by the recession. Yet agency
work, when you can get it, can be a stressful with occasional bouts of
long, thankless hours.

IMRE keeps folks happy with all the fun and
games a creative environment should have, like a Wii, a corral of Razor
scooters, a kitchen loaded with Starbucks, a fountain soda machine, and
the occasional “flash party.” In addition to discounted gym
memberships, employees also get a $200 quarterly mind-body bonus to use
for “anything that fosters relaxation, creativity, or self-awareness.”

There
are serious benies, too: The company pays for life insurance and
generously contributes to health insurance. As an added bonus, IMRE
drops $1,200 into everyone’s health savings account to help pay for
co-pays and other costs.

For people who like a fast-paced, creative environment where no day is the same, IMRE is a good fit.

“I
work with lots of really great, energetic, enthusiastic people,” says
Katy Funk, 28, a senior account executive. “And the CEO and president
are always there checking in. Having the CEO or president thank you when
you’re stressed and working hard means a lot.”

Intelligent Solutions for Information Systems, LLC (ISIS)

Columbia

Employees:
50 What they do: Provides engineering services, primarily to the
Department of Defense. Why we like them: Although most employees are
contractors on client sites, ISIS doesn’t treat its people like just
another number in the faceless contractor world. Best benefits: Company
pays 10 percent of your salary into your 401k without the employee
contributing a dime; 20 starting days of paid time off; 100 percent
fully paid medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and
dependents.

Jim Moser, 50, has worked in the aerospace
industry for 30 years. A veteran of big companies, he says it’s common
for workers to be reduced to just a number and that, “as a contractor,
you can be out of sight, out of mind.” He knew that from his previous
employer and wanted to work for a smaller, more family-friendly place.
He found it at ISIS.

Moser has a daughter with a rare birth defect
that requires special medical attention, so he scrutinized the ISIS
health benefits rigorously. Those benefits have covered everything from
supplies to nursing assistance so she can go to school, “and after the
basic deductibles, none of it comes out of my pocket,” he states.
“Because of Philip Green [ISIS founder], we’re not in the poorhouse.”

Employees
speak of Green, a retired U.S. Army signals analyst, with reverence.
Like Green, many employees are former military (74 percent are
veterans), including Mary Wells, 52, a program manager and retired Army.
“A lot of people retired from the military have strong team loyalty,
dedication to duty, and cohesiveness, because it’s bred into you in the
military,” says Wells. “You can see those attributes in the people Phil
hires. They have loyalty to Phil and to the company.” Which explains the
employee retention rate of 95 percent.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL)

Laurel

Employees:
5,000 What they do: Nonprofit center for engineering, research, and
development focused on national security. Why we like them: They support
the best and brightest in their endeavor to solve critical challenges
for places like the Department of Defense, NSA, and NASA. Best benefits:
Employer match to retirement is 2:1 up to 4 percent; employer makes 2.5
percent of salary contribution to retirement; some cash awards for
performance; children of staff eligible for college scholarships; three
weeks paid vacation and seven sick days; tuition reimbursement.

Like
some of its industry peers on this list, APL is a place where extremely
smart and talented people are set free to do important, innovative
work. APL is located on a sprawling, 399-acre campus that might make you
think of a college, especially when you see the recreation area with
its tennis, basketball, and volleyball courts, the cafeterias, or the
scenic duck pond. Like a preeminent college, APL draws talented
scientists and engineers with its top-notch laboratories and
opportunities to do very cool work.

“The intellectual capital here
is phenomenal,” explains Jay Turner, 60, a program manager who joined
APL when he retired from the Department of Defense. “But the employees
are down-to-earth and practical. You need to be a team player to tackle a
really hard problem set. If you’re not driven to solve the impossible,
this might not be the place for you.”

APL-ers love that challenge.
It’s what attracted Shaylyn Joy, 25. “The work here is really
cutting-edge,” she says. “It’s different here, because we’re not
profit-driven, we’re doing work that is meant to help the country, often
soldiers.”

Key Tech

Baltimore

Employees:
25 What they do: Developers of high-tech products with a focus on
medical, industrial, and consumer devices. Why we like them: A creative,
casual office environment that fosters innovative product development.
Best benefits: Great office in former vaudeville theater;
employee-partner track with equity opportunity; 100-percent paid health
and dental insurance and monthly contributions to HSA; free parking in
Federal Hill; cash bonuses for engineers annually up to 15 percent of
salary.

It would be easy to miss Key Tech’s office, which is
slipped into an alley near Federal Hill’s Cross Street Market. The
office is a converted vaudeville theater with a soaring ceiling and a
stage that now houses a pool table. Dogs are welcome, the rooftop deck
is always open, and the attire is come-as-you-are.

Most
noteworthy, there are virtually no doors, not even on the executive
offices. “The partners and executives are right here with us on the shop
floor,” says engineer Josh Mull. “I’ve been very happy with my
relationship with our founding partners and their interest in teaching
us what they know and working side by side with us.”

Each quarter,
there’s a major office outing such as a crab feast, sailing excursion,
or white-water rafting trip, events often open to partners and children.
As befits a technology company, schedules are very flexible and
telework is a viable option. The company was founded in 1998 and has
grown (with no layoffs). Key Tech is the place for engineers ready to
break free of corporate cubicle land.

Mercy Medical Center

Baltimore

Employees:
3,836 What they do: A hospital affiliated with the Sisters of Mercy.
Why we like them: Does community mentoring to encourage young people
into health-care careers and helps those on staff with professional
development to grow their careers. Best benefits: Continuing education
related to licensing or certification is 100-percent paid; pre-tax,
subsidized parking (with security); up to 50 percent reimbursement for
adoption; home-buying help for moderate-income employees.

There’s
a lot to love about Mercy: a brand new building, organic produce from
One Straw Farm on the menu in the cafeteria, and a 401k with employer
match, for example. But to really understand what makes Mercy special,
you need to talk to Millicent Powell-Jones. She started as a
patient-services representative 15 years ago and has worked her way up
to administrative assistant for the OR. She’s so enamored of Mercy’s
approach to patient care, she’s now at CCBC (with tuition assistance
from Mercy) preparing for nursing school.

“My husband works here,
I’ve been a patient here, this has been our world,” says Powell-Jones.
Mercy helped Powell-Jones buy her first home and gave her time off to
settle in her first foster child.

Encouragment for personal and
professional development extends across all staff levels: There are
classes in basic reading and writing for housekeeping staff to improve
their baseline professional skills, for example. The hospital fosters
young talent with two programs: a six-week, paid summer internship for
Baltimore high-school seniors and a partnership with six city high
schools aimed at getting kids into the field of nursing.

Staff at
Mercy has fun, too, with frequent potlucks, baby showers, wedding
showers, holiday parties, community outreach events, and Easter egg
hunts. It’s family oriented and small enough that people know each
other.

“Everyone here knows my name,” says Powell-Jones. “Even the CEO says hello to me, by name, when he sees me.”

Millennial Media

Baltimore

Employees:
210 What they do: Leader in mobile advertising and data. Why we like
them: A non-traditional company upping the bar for the mobile
advertising industry. Best benefits: Stock options; year-end bonus
program; 100-percent paid maternity leave plus $500 bonus for the
birth/adoption of a child.

Millennial Media lives up to its
name, hiring plenty of young go-getters who want to make a splash in the
still-burgeoning mobile-advertising industry. As such, there are lots
of employees starting families. Astoundingly, Millennial Media provides
fully paid maternity leave and even throws in some cash and a baby gift
to support new families.

Dani Cushion, 34, had just joined the
company when she got pregnant with her second daughter. And no one gave
her any flak for taking leave.

“We have a lot of young folks here and young families and there’s a lot of respect and support for family here,” she says.

Millennial
Media, located in the open, pleasant work spaces of the Can Company in
Canton, is ranked as one of the 75 fastest-growing private companies in
the country and gained market share in mobile display ads in 2011, along
with Google, largely at Apple Inc.’s expense, according to an analysis
by consultant IDC. In January, the company filed paperwork for an IPO.

Cushion
was so infected by the contagious enthusiasm of the place, she
jettisoned a great job with Sirius XM in Washington, D.C., to be a part
of the mobile movement.

“I saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity here,” she explains. “Mobile advertising is still taking
off, so this is that unique place in time when you can be on the cusp of
something great.”

Moodlerooms

Baltimore

Employees:
90 What they do: Provides education software to help clients globally
teach and learn online. Why we like them: They’re a software company
passionate about the future of education. Best benefits: Stock options;
free parking in Federal Hill near the stadiums; two to four weeks
vacation, plus five sick days; casual working environment; health-club
reimbursement.

Moodle what? That was our reaction, too. We
didn’t know much about this little gem of a tech company, but we learned
quickly. Which is what Moodlerooms is all about: education. Moodle is
an abbreviation for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning
Environment, a free, open-source e-learning software platform. As more
schools look to affordably build their online presence, Moodlerooms is
there to help them maximize their use of free software with paid-for,
custom solutions.

The company is fresh out of its incubation in
the Emerging Technology Center and still has that new company smell. The
office showcases standard start-up décor reminiscent of a college dorm
room and some of the major benefits are still evolving. The 401k with up
to 1 percent match, for example, is a bit paltry, but what we like is
the growth potential here. CEO Lou Pugliese was a founder of the
now-ubiquitous online education company Blackboard, and Moodlerooms
managed to score venture-capital funding during the recession. The
company has grown 300 percent in less than two years.

Sitting in
his office with a life-sized cut-out of the Dos Equis man behind his
desk, Pugliese says he never wants to lose an employee to a competitor,
so he rewards employees with perks like flextime, telework, a casual
environment (it’s not uncommon for a football to be tossed in the office
during work hours or an employee to pad around in slippers), and lots
of social stress-relievers like Friday afternoon happy hours.

This
is a work-hard-play-hard place where employees feel like stakeholders
in the company. If you have an idea or complaint, staffers can use a
standard, confidential e-mail form to send feedback to the executive
team. If you want to move up, opportunities abound. “Every manager
meeting here starts with questions like, ‘What else do you want to do
here and how can I help you get there?’” says Matt Montemurno, an inside
sales associate. “I’ve worked at three other companies and that’s never
happened before.”

Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital

Baltimore

Employees:
509 What they do: A comprehensive, sub-acute-care facility serving
children with special medical and rehabilitative needs. Why we like
them: The mission is to care for children, many on medical assistance.
Best benefits: 403b retirement plan with employer contribution; cash
balance pension plan; tuition assistance up to $3,000 per year; free flu
shots.

Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital is a small,
nonprofit children’s hospital located off a quiet, verdant street in one
of the city’s nicest neighborhoods. From this enclave, the hospital
provides rehabilitation and medical care for patients from neonatal to
young adult. Many children are from financially disadvantaged families.
This is a home away from home for patients. In addition to getting well,
children learn to eat, dress themselves, or use a wheelchair. Depending
on their length of stay, they can even go to school here.

“People
work here because they believe in the cause,” explains Dr. Richard
Katz, medical director, pictured below. “In an acute-care hospital,
children come and go quickly. Here, staff get to know them and their
families.”

“I like that this is a small hospital so you aren’t
running all over the place,” says Diana Silk, a nurse, “and I like that
here, we work as a team and support each other.”

Absolutely
everyone is invested in the well-being of these tiny patients. Darryl
Kane is a security guard who started part-time and understands the
mission. “I’m really a kid who never grew up,” he says. “I like seeing
how they treat kids. I can see how they come in and it’s rewarding to
see how they leave. They come in and aren’t even moving and then they
walk out of here.”

For a small, nonprofit hospital, Mt. Washington
Pediatric offers very good benefits. Some of that is thanks to its
unique co-ownership by University of Maryland and The John Hopkins
Hospital. For employees, that means access to affordable health
insurance and access to things like education.

“We have enormous
competition for staff, so we have to be competitive with our salaries
and benefits,” says president and CEO Sheldon Stein, acknowledging the
crowded marketplace for health-care workers in Baltimore. “We provide an
atmosphere for people to work where they can really make a difference
in the life of a child and a family.”

The hospital will work with
your schedule if you have kids of your own, and they’ve got attractive
vacation and sick-leave policies. But if you ask anyone here why they
love their job, they’ll sound like Fran German, a respiratory therapist:
“It’s the fulfillment of knowing you’ve done something to better the
life of a child, to help them reach their fullest potential.”

M&T Bank

Statewide

Employees:
15,694 (2,203 Maryland) What they do: Top 20 national bank. Why we like
them: As they grow, they’re keeping a supportive structure for
employees and doing community service in their hometowns. Best benefits:
Employer matches 100 percent of the first 3 percent of employee
contribution to 401k and 50 percent on the next 3 percent (after one
year of employment); two stock options plans.

Most folks
think “football” when they think M&T. While bank employees do get
the occasional discount to Ravens-themed events, the teamwork here is
focused on employees.

“If I think about the number of management
structures I’ve worked under, M&T is the best place for me to not
only to work, but to have a partner in my career,” says Joe Durham, head
of business banking in Maryland. Durham, an employee for 16 years,
points by example to his participation in the bank’s Senior Leadership
Development program, a one-year, executive-leadership course taught by
professors from the University of Michigan. He’s now mentoring others in
the bank on what he learned.

Detra Mackey, a manager at the
bank’s Seton Hill branch in Baltimore, completed the management
development program in 2009. She was matched with a mentor to learn
about different opportunities within the bank. “The company is very big
on allowing you to pursue whatever you want to do,” she says.

M&T seems to understand that for it to succeed, its community must succeed, too.

“We
support employees getting involved in service,” says Durham. “If you’re
passionate about something in the community, the bank is always there
to support you with flexible work hours so you can volunteer, or support
you financially with charitable contributions.”

For those
interested in a career in banking, M&T can claim stability many
banks can’t in this volatile economic climate: At press time, the
company had posted its 141st consecutive profitable quarter.

National Financial Legacy Group

Hunt Valley

Employees:
45 What they do: Financial and estate planning. Why we like them:
They’re a growing company that is maintaining a family feel. Best
benefits: Office closes early every Friday (3:30 p.m.); periodic
bonuses; phenomenal 401k plan.

National Financial Legacy
Group may be just 45 employees now, but president Peter Lovley hopes to
add 15 to 20 new people in the coming year. Lovley says he’s looking to
hire self-starters who recognize a good opportunity when they see one,
but adds, “We’re not here to see how much money we can make. I find the
more you share, the better off you are.”

“The number-one thing
about working at NFLG is that they expect you to have a life outside of
work,” says Jennifer Lee, 28, a contracting and licensing specialist.
For example, when Lee’s boyfriend deployed to Afghanistan with his Air
Force unit last fall, the company was extremely supportive and she took
off several days in preparation for his departure.

To emphasize a
family feel, there are monthly, office-wide potluck lunches, and, in the
summer, employees grill on the deck overlooking the office’s leafy
location in Hunt Valley. As a Penn Mutual agency, employees also get
access to a generous 401k plan: The company will match 100 percent of
the first 3 percent in pre-tax contributions by the employee, and 50
percent of the next 3 percent.

National Security Agency (NSA)

Fort Meade

Employees:
17,000-plus in Baltimore What they do: Listening in on the bad guys and
keeping the bad guys from listening in on us. Why we like them: They’ve
streamlined their hiring program to make it easier for people to get
over the federal government’s hiring hurdles. Best benefits: Thrift
Savings Plan (the Fed’s 401k) with match; some performance-based
bonuses; targeted programs for wounded warriors and people with
disabilities; top-notch, in-house training through National Cryptologic
School; alternative work schedule options including telework; endless
on-campus resources including several gyms and a medical center.

There’s
a lot to like about a federal government job, but what’s notable about
NSA is that they’ve bypassed the dreaded USAJobs.gov hiring site.
Acknowledging the need to streamline, potential hires can apply directly
through NSA’s website.

“We’re trying to bust the hiring myth with
conditional job offers and by getting people through the clearance
process in 60 days,” says associate director of HR Kathy Hutson.

“I
went to the NSA home page, saw and applied for a position, and, within
one week of the interview, had a conditional offer,” says Matthew
Cosgrove, an industrial hygienist. NSA is now helping to pay for his
master’s degree in his field.

There’s opportunity at NSA for
mathematicians, linguists, computer scientists, engineers—they’ll hire
1,600 folks in 2012. Of course, working at NSA is obviously a tad
different than the average corporate gig. For one, your life will be an
open book when you go through the hiring process, and chatting about
your day outside the office is forbidden, as are cell phones in the
office. On the upside, you get to contribute to the protection of the
United States, a mission employees at NSA take very seriously.

“One
thing I tell my friends and family is that I’m immensely proud to work
for our nation’s security,” says Jennifer Muller, who works in the
counter-terrorism division.

NSA’s campus is its own city. There
are several large cafeterias with chains like Starbucks and Quiznos;
there’s a dry cleaner, drug store, gift store, massage therapist,
barber, credit union, and Ticketmaster. The medical center sees about
100 patients a day, mostly for minor injuries or travel medication, and
there’s a nursing-mothers program.

There are benefits in a
classified environment, too, Muller adds. “It helps with work-life
balance because you can’t take work home with you!”

Niles, Barton & Wilmer, LLP

Baltimore

Employees:
62 What they do: 174-year-old general services law firm. Why we like
them: Prioritize work-life balance with a particular emphasis on
developing women leaders and not penalizing them for being mothers. Best
benefits: 401k with a profit-sharing contribution (given regardless of
whether the employee contributes); option for one to three months paid
maternity leave (through short-term disability, which is paid by the
firm), depending on how long an employee has been working; freedom to
work part-time or from home.

When Kimberly Neal, 31,
interviewed with Niles, Barton & Wilmer, she committed what some
might consider career suicide when courting a law firm.

“I asked
very hard questions about family-related things, like the maternity
leave, which is usually a big no-no,” she says. “It’s very interesting
because almost everyone here has children and thinks it’s important to
spend time with family in addition to providing stellar service to your
clients.”

Neal, who is an associate, is expecting her first child.
Through her pregnancy, she’s found that the promise of work-life
balance made during her interviews has been more than lip service.

Attorneys
get some unique perks, too, like the option to choose their computer.
Neal opted to exchange her desktop for a laptop so she could work from
doctors’ offices or from home when necessary. Not only the top dogs get
treated well, though, as evidenced by the low turnover in support staff.

To
foster career growth, the firm pays for all continuing legal education
and for attorneys to join networking groups. The office, located in The
Gallery across the street from Harborplace, was renovated in 2006 and
the firm throws in $50 a month per staffer to help offset parking or
public transportation costs.

Planit

Baltimore

Employees:
40 What they do: Full-service creative agency offering public
relations, advertising, branding, and design. Why we like them: Small
agency working with major clients means lots of room for creative types
to spread their wings. Best benefits: Company-paid short and long-term
disability and life insurance; 401k with 50-percent employer match up to
6 percent; employer pays half the cost of downtown parking or monthly
MTA passes; high-deductible health plan, but employer covers the
deductible.

From its trendy office overlooking Baltimore’s
Inner Harbor, Planit had the perfect view to see its work in action when
the Baltimore Grand Prix whizzed past its front door. The company was
the official PR agency for Marc Bunting’s Team Baltimore Racing. This is
just one of Planit’s many high-profile clients, a list that includes
Under Armour, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Fila,
and Voga Italia wines.

Account executive Heather Hurley, 26,
joined the company out of college and has worked on high-profile clients
for over three years. “The culture here is what attracted me and also
what has kept me here,” she says.

Did we mention that agency work
can be a grind? Yes, we did. Hurley says the omnipresence of the
company’s founders helps keep spirits high. A fridge stocked with energy
drinks, beer, and wine doesn’t hurt, nor does the on-site pool table,
games, and guitars. Hurley describes her co-workers as both “fun” and
“brilliant.”

“Every year we still get raises and bonuses, we still
have Christmas parties and fun happy hours,” says Hurley. “Things like
that keep people’s spirits up.”

Reznick Group

Baltimore and Bethesda.

Employees:
1,200 nationally, 180 in Baltimore. What they do: Accounting, tax, and
business advisory firm. Why we like them: Strong commitment to community
service. Best benefits: Very generous (20-30 days) paid time off, plus
paid holidays; 50-percent employer 401k match to each employee dollar
(up to 5 percent of salary); tuition reimbursement; five days parental
leave for birth, adoption, or foster placement; many flexible work
options.

Here’s the thing about working in accounting: From
January 2 to April 15, you don’t have a life. However, if you must be a
slave to tax season, it helps if your employer offers a few
we-know-this-blows-but-we’re-behind-you perks. Reznick Group does this
in the form of on-site chair massages, ice-cream socials, occasional
candy bags and lunches for all employees, and an end-of-tax-season bash.
At other times of the year, the firm lightens the mood with happy hours
and other events organized by the in-house social committee. But what
really keeps people chugging through the dark days of tax filing is
Reznick’s vacation terms.

“The leave policy here is extremely
generous,” says Anneke Gibson, CPA, a senior associate, who currently
rakes in 25 days of paid time off and a windfall of nine paid holidays.
“The nice thing is that not only is the time allowed, the firm actually
lets you take it.”

But what really caught our eye is the company’s
interest in community service and the employee’s enjoyment of those
programs. “We have a community outreach day once a year, which is
unique,” says Karin Lundquist, 31, an audit manager. “The entire office
closes for the day and we are matched with a nonprofit to do hands-on
work followed by a regroup and cookout with the whole firm.”

SafeNet Inc.

Belcamp

Employees:
1,564 What they do: One of the largest information security companies
in the world. Why we like them: They’re a big company with a
small-company feel. Best benefits: 401k with several matching
contribution levels; quarterly and annual profit sharing; up to $10,000
referral bonus; tuition reimbursement; newly renovated, free gym
on-site; 20-30 paid days off depending on tenure; flexible schedules and
work-from-home options.

SafeNet Inc. is a giant in the
fast-paced, ever-changing world of data protection, so one might not
expect to find a whole lot of hand-holding. Yet when Vickie White, 37,
got pregnant, she found nothing but support. After the birth of her
first child, SafeNet let her ramp up slowly to her full-time schedule.
When she realized that her position, which required lots of travel and
late-night conference calls with international customers, was too
demanding, she worked with a supervisor to find a position more suited
to family life. She now works a 20-hour week.

And she actually
enjoys going to the headquarters located on the scenic Bush River in
Harford County. Employees can work from the patio if they wish or
wherever they’re comfortable, like the cafeteria, where you can also
play a game of air hockey or Ping-Pong.

Tom McNulty also got an
educational helping hand after he joined SafeNet in 2007. “I always
wanted to go back to get my MBA,” says the senior financial analyst. “My
first year here, I enrolled at Loyola. I don’t know how else I could
have done it if they hadn’t helped pay for it.”

As big companies
have seen their bottom lines shrink in recent years, many have cut back
on office parties. Luckily, protection of online data seems an ironclad
need in even an economically queasy economy.

Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Baltimore

Employees:
520 What they do: Under contract to NASA to operate the science program
for the Hubble Space Telescope. STScI will be the science operations
center for the new James Webb Space Telescope, too. Why we like them: In
addition to doing fascinating stuff related to space, they’ve pushed
hard to recruit women and under-represented minorities into careers in
science. Best benefits: STScI contributes 10 percent of employee
salaries to retirement plans, regardless of employee participation;
free, covered parking; discounted gym; over $5,000 per year for tuition
reimbursement; extremely flexible scheduling, including up to three days
a week of telework permitted; gourmet cafeteria.

As if
helping NASA uncover distant galaxies wasn’t enough, the former deputy
director is a shuttle astronaut, and employee Adam Riess just won a
Nobel Prize. STScI is a place where it’s cool to be smart.

Staff
at STScI speak of life outside their bucolic enclave (on the Homewood
campus of The Johns Hopkins University, but not affiliated) as “the real
world.” That’s not because they’re in the business of outer space, but
because their benefits are out of this world. New parents Pey-Lian Lim
and Brandon Lawton, pictured, for example, both took generous paid
leaves when their son was born. “We didn’t need to choose between our
finances and being with our baby,” says Lawton.

Other staff echo
the same sentiments. One employee, Lee Peters, a senior generalist in
human resources whose son spent nine weeks in a NICU, was out of the
office for 12-plus weeks without any recrimination. When the nearly
$500,000 bill came in, his out-of-pocket expense was minimal, thanks to
STScI’s stellar benefits. “Most people would have had to sell their
house to pay for that,” he says.

Although STScI does some
extremely serious work, it’s the opposite of stuffy. As one employee
quipped on the eve of the Institute’s epic Halloween Extravaganza, “This
is a place where people dress up in Star Trek costumes that they own.”
Office doors are covered with family photographs and oddball humor. The
dress code is über-casual and emphasizes personal expression.

Employees
at STScI are passionate about what they do and would probably come to
work even if STScI stopped paying them. Of course, as an entity at the
mercy of federal budgets, that is a possibility. “Being a prime
government contractor for NASA puts constraints on what we can do,” says
Peters. “They’re very transparent about what’s happening with the
government contract and very proactive about working with legislators.”

Under Armour Inc.

Baltimore

Employees:
5,000 globally What they do: Develop, market, and distribute the Under
Armour brand of performance apparel, footwear, and accessories. Why we
like them: The millennial generation has been disproportionately beat up
in the recession; UA is a young company helping those young people
build their careers. Best benefits: Company matches 50 percent (up to 6
percent) of employee 401k contribution; 15-percent discount on company
stock; bonuses; tuition reimbursement.

Under Armour Inc. (UA)
brings the power of a linebacker to Baltimore’s corporate scene. The
company is rapidly building a campus empire in Locust Point, complete
with its own community garden, gyms, cafe, and free parking. As is
befitting a large, profitable company, they’re sharing the wealth with
generous reimbursement for tuition, maternity leave, and paid time off,
to name a few benefits. And of course, you never know what super-star
athlete you might bump into in the hall on any given day.

Alexandra
Kennedy, 24, got her start at UA through the company’s summer “Rookie”
program, a three-month, full-time internship that gives young people a
crash course in all things UA. Since its start in 2007, 70 rookies have
gone on to be hired, like Kennedy, who’s worked at UA just under three
years.

“The culture at Under Armour is amazing,” she says. “You
can feel the excitement and hard work every day and they’re hiring all
the time. I don’t feel there’s a ceiling for me to hit here.”

Sam Hollenbach, 28, adds that, “it’s a young culture here and a lot of responsibility is given to younger people.”

Hollenbach,
a former University of Maryland athlete, never expected his mechanical
engineering skills would fit in at UA, but he now works in a lab with a
15-person “innovation team” doing product research and development. UA
brought together his love of engineering and his passion for sports. “I
have so much freedom to explore new technology here,” he states. “If
UCLA is doing something innovative, I can hop on a plane and check it
out.”

Case Study: Lawyer
Salary: $75,000
In the legal field, salary depends largely on the type of law practiced, the type of firm, and years of experience. The attorney we interviewed works for a small firm in downtown Baltimore that specializes in civil cases, including contracts and torts. She is in her first year at the firm after completing law school and a one-year clerkship. She acknowledges she could earn more by starting out at a larger firm (the mean salary for attorneys in Maryland is $83,740), but says she values spending time at a small firm. “The hours are better, the environment is less cut-throat, and the type of work you get to do is more exciting,” she says, though she concedes that she will probably look at larger firms—and salaries—in the coming years. 

Case Study: Programmer
Salary: $103,000
Our programmer has worked in his mid-size technology firm for 10 years. He started, with a master’s degree in computer science, at $65,000 and has seen his pay steadily increase with time and good performance. “In this industry, if you’re good at your job, you can usually expect to earn steady increases for inflation, plus a couple points, every year,” he says. At his company these days, people coming in with a bachelor’s degree in software development tend to earn in the $55,000 to $65,000 range, while those with master’s degrees would start at $75,000 to $80,000. The mean annual income for computer programmers in Maryland is $61,770, and our state has the fourth-highest concentration of programmers in the country.

Case Study: CEO
Salary: $200,000, plus 5 percent equity
Compensation packages for chief executives vary wildly from industry to industry and company to company. Apple’s new CEO, Tim Cook, is the highest paid in America, earning $378 million in 2011. Locally, Constellation Energy chief executive Mayo Shattuck tops the list, making $15 million last year, but most CEOs earn more modest incomes—the mean annual income for chief executives in Maryland is $142,720—and tie their fortunes to those of their companies. The CEO we spoke to runs a mid-size mobile technology firm with 20 employees, earns a base salary of $200,000, and has a 5-percent equity stake in the company. “For me, it’s more of an equity play,” says our CEO, who’s served in that capacity for several companies. “When I look at a potential company [to work for], I look at the products and the market, not the salary. I’m after upside.”

Case Study: Hair Stylist
Salary: $80,000 (including tips)
The stylist we interviewed has worked at one of the more high-end salons in town for the past eight years. He claims about $55,000 on his W-2 every year and the rest of his income comes from tips. When he started, he says, he was making about half of his current salary and the key has been building a reputation and clientele. “Getting clients and getting them to return to you is essential for working your way up, in terms of income,” he says. Of course, the type of salon one works at also determines pay. Our stylist has worked at four salons in his career and his pay steadily rose as he worked at more high-end businesses. The mean annual salary for hairdressers in Maryland is $29,200, not including tips.

Case Study: Advertising Executive
Salary: $56,000
Our anonymous account exec has worked at his boutique agency for 10 years. He says the generous vacation policies, the opportunity to earn commission for bringing in new clients (though he has yet to earn any), and especially the many perks make up for the relatively meager salary (the mean income for ad execs in Maryland is $49,670). “We get free tickets to everything we want,” he says, rattling off a series of concerts, sporting events, and performances he’s gained access to as a result of his job. He has rejected offers of slightly more money from larger firms to retain the benefits of working for a boutique. “If I need time off for any reason, it’s no problem,” he says. “That’s worth a lot.”

Case Study: Personal Trainer
Salary: $55,000
“What I make is on the high end,” says our anonymous trainer, who works about 50 hours a week at a large downtown gym, and teaches spinning classes and holds running and triathalon clinics in addition to working with individual clients. “The more large classes you teach, the more specialized things you can do, the more you can earn.” Most people starting in the position make $30,000 to 40,000, she says, and earning additional certifications can help you earn raises. She has a certification in CPR, one from the National Strength Professionals Association, and another as a spinning teacher. “The best thing about this job is being able to help people improve themselves,” she says. “The best reward is watching changes take place in people over time.”

Methodology

Companies or their employees nominated themselves on our website and then the hard work began: The research to find a couple of dozen great firms out of the hundreds banging on our door.

But the very first question we ask is one that radically thins the ranks of nominees: “Are you hiring substantial numbers of people in the next year?”

Winners needed to be both financially sound now and in the recent past. So we troll the depths of national financial and legal news right up to deadline to look for anything that spells trouble: An SEC investigation, a class-action suit involving employees, a pending acquisition or merger, or recent significant layoffs are all deal-breakers for this list. Companies also need to be held in high regard by their employees. (We interview staffers.) And, of course, they have to cooperate with our research.

While small companies often can’t compete with the generous benefits of larger ones, we wanted to include small and medium-sized firms, too. Though they might not have 100 percent insurance reimbursement or a high 401k match, the smaller firms we chose have some sort of other appeal for their employees, be it dynamic leadership, a fun culture, or an especially meaningful mission, such as curing sick kids, building spaceships, preventing the next 9-11, or creating the next clever Super Bowl ad.

In short, we were looking for workplaces that employees really want to roll out of bed for, ones with a bright future, and with serious rewards, be they financial, in the form of perks, or intellectual gratification.

If you believe the experts, the economy is returning to health in almost every way. The ways that it’s still anemic? Well, housing would be one of them. And, unfortunately, jobs is the other.

So plenty of people are still thankful to be holding onto any job, much less a great one. But, believe it or not, good companies are hiring out there, and we went looking for them.

Whatever your reason for looking—whether you’ve been out of work or just fallen out of love with your current gig—these are the 35 best places in Baltimore to start your search.

AAI Corporation

Location: Hunt Valley.
Employees: 1,600 local, 2,600 total.
What they do: Aerospace and defense technology with special emphasis on unmanned aircraft, training and simulation systems.
Why we like them: All the benefits of a big defense contractor but with a familial environment.
Best benefits: Interest-free loans to buy computers for kids or home, on-site Weight Watchers and smoking-cessation programs, $4,000 adoption reimbursement.

Six years ago, Jenn Hervy didn’t know anything more about AAI than what she could see over the security fence from the nearby Home Depot. But when she interviewed there, she was drawn in by the friendly atmosphere. Just as she was hired, though, she discovered she was pregnant. And three days into her new job, she was hospitalized with complications.

“Here I am, a new hire and I’m so anxious that, the third day, I’m in the hospital,” Hervy, director of human resources, recalls. “They laughed at me and said, ‘We’ve gotten along this long without you, we’ll be okay. Take care of yourself and come back when you’re ready.’ That’s really what life is like here. There’s a general understanding that people are human and things happen.”

Though AAI, a division of Textron, is smaller than many of its defense-contractor competitors, it’s growing at a time when others are shrinking. Also unique is that 42 percent of the executive leadership are women, relatively unusual in the defense world.

Over her six years at the company, Hervy has enjoyed informal mentorship herself and was program manager of a formal mentoring program that links high-potential employees with knowledgable staff—and that translates into a good chance for advancement. The Hunt Valley incarnation of the program ranked highest in satisfaction across all Textron companies.

Accella

Location: Odenton.
Employees: 14.
What they do: Mobile app and website development.
Why we like them: Don’t expect to find anyone in the corporate office—100 percent of the staffers telecommute.
Best benefits: Did we mention that everyone works from home? Also a matching 401(k) and health and dental benefits.

Marketing VP Jon Stroz had a meeting on a recent morning with Accella’s 13 employees without ever leaving his house in Canton. Using GoToMeeting, an online web-conferencing technology, the team was able to talk shop from their respective homes. According to Stroz, the arrangement isn’t for everyone, but for the right person, Accella’s telecommuting culture provides unprecedented flexibility and job autonomy.

“There’s a certain level of trust at a company like ours that you’re going to get the work done,” he explains. “You don’t have someone peering over your shoulder and you don’t
watch a clock.”

The model works for Accella, which employs programmers, coders, and designers and plans to soon beef up its sales and marketing staff. They’ve recently designed mobile apps for Runner’s World and the National Archives and a website for Bay Bank of Maryland. Their work is done online and is not a tangible product, so a virtual office environment makes sense. But it does make hiring a little more unique.

“It takes more work in the hiring process to find someone who can work from home,” says Stroz. Although the company doesn’t care if you do the work from midnight to sunrise, or 9 to 5, employees must exhibit the discipline to hit major deadlines and benchmarks.

You can find Stroz at his local coffee shop several days a week. Other employees, especially those with small children, enjoy the freedom of running errands and attending kids’ events without being a slave to a manager. “The entire organization is built on trust,” says Stroz.

ADG Creative

Location: Columbia.
Employees: 45.
What they do: Strategic communications, marketing, advertising, interactive media production, eLearning, publications and graphic design, video production.
Why we like them: Giving employees the freedom to create both the product and the corporate culture.
Best benefits: Strong representation of women in leadership and sweet new offices complete with retail-style coffeehouse.

While most other creative agencies have been hit hard by the recession, ADG is growing, posting more than 10 jobs on their site last autumn alone. Chief creative officer and founder Jeff Antkowiak credits their success to a good balance of clients and services.

“We serve two main audiences, the private sector and the federal sector. Neither is bulletproof, but serving both communities in about 50-50 proportion has been great because when one is slow the other tends to be busy,” he explains. “We also have diversification of skill-sets in-house—we do video in-house, we do strategy and PR in-house, we do design and interactive in-house.” Clients include the Department of Defense as well as banking, pharmaceutical, and tech companies. And the company’s growth recently inspired a move to a larger, 28,000-square-foot space.

Just because there’s a lot of work doesn’t mean there’s no fun. Antkowiak still remembers his days as an underappreciated creative in a different agency and has vowed to treat his employees as he would want to be treated. That includes yearly awards of bonus vacation days and a trip allowance. Recent awards have been given for the individual who sacrificed the most for the company and most innovative team member. F-BOM (First Beverage is On Me) outings at a nearby restaurant are agenda-less meetings that allow employees to mull over creative ideas outside the confines of the office.

Advance—The Document Specialists

Location: Cockeysville.
Employees: 180.
What they do: Provide multifunctional printers and copiers, electronic document management, and print services.
Why we like them: Even as they’ve grown, they’ve kept that family feel established by husband-and-wife cofounders Alan and Lois Elkin.
Best benefits: Twice weekly personal trainer, advancement training through a designated management council.

When most people think of Advance, they think of Alan Elkin’s wacky commercials: Elkin dangling out of a helicopter being air-dropped onto the deck of a clipper ship; Elkin putt-putting away from a cruise ship in a dinghy wearing a tuxedo; or Elkin in faux fashion strutting down a catwalk, all to demonstrate his commitment to service. Those commercials show that Elkin, and his co-owner wife Lois, may take their work seriously, but they don’t necessarily take themselves seriously. And that same attitude—warm, parental, maybe a little silly—permeates the Cockeysville office where their company is headquartered. They even bring their golden retriever, Matti, in to work every day.

“Lois always says something along the lines of, ‘We have a very large family and not everyone’s last name is Elkin,’” says Lindsay Kelley, marketing manager. It’s not uncommon for children to be in the office, stopping by to have lunch with a parent. Advance is heavily involved in local nonprofits (both philanthropically and through discounts on products and services) and has internal contests, picnics, and luaus to keep up company morale. Each year, as part of the company’s emphasis on wellness, they host a weight-loss challenge. And to encourage promotion from within, there’s a management council to cross-train and develop staffers beyond just the discipline they were hired for.

“We look for the best people and provide an environment that helps the best people achieve their professional objectives,” says Jeff Elkin, Alan and Lois’s son and the current COO. “We believe strongly that it’s impossible to be passionate about our customers if our people don’t feel that we’re passionate about them.”

Ascend One

Number of times on this list in the past five years: Five
Location: Columbia
Employees: 753 total, 511 in Maryland.
What they do: Provide financial management services to help highly leveraged consumers get out of debt.

BD (formerly Becton Dickinson)

Location: Sparks.
Employees: 1,600 in Baltimore, 28,000 worldwide.
What they do: Combat global disease through the development of medical devices, instruments, drugs, and vaccines.
Why we like them: They are a big company that shares the wealth with employees.
Best benefits: Generous tuition reimbursement (and scholarships for dependents) and health care, bonuses and matching 401(k), Ethics Hot Line for airing disputes.

When LuQuonda Waters was debating a job offer at BD against a nearby competitor, she asked to see the other company’s benefit package.

“There was no tuition assistance and you had to earn your vacation,” she recalls. “I love that, at BD, you start out each year with three weeks’ vacation. And there is no probation period on benefits. At BD, I could use the tuition benefit from day one.”

Waters came to BD with a high school diploma and a certificate from a laboratory training program. She wanted to get a bachelor’s degree. So when she learned at orientation that BD would pay 100 percent of her tuition as long as she managed a C average, she was thrilled. She’s currently in her final year at CCBC Essex getting an associate degree in medical laboratory technology (MLT). To date, BD has footed the bill for about $12,000 including reimbursement for books and school supplies.

“And not only did they pay for my degree, but they will honor it by giving me a raise for it,” she says. “This shows me that they actually care about their employees.”

In addition to tuition reimbursement, the company gives scholastic-based scholarships to employees’ children of up to $3,000 a year. And employees can choose from 24 online classes a year through BD University on topics like conflict resolution, career development, and finance. Says human resources representative Amanda Peterson, “BD looks at it as good for the company, but also good for the associate.”

BTS

Location: Columbia.
Employees: 39.
What they do: A veteran-owned small business providing mobile telecommunications, software, and integration support to the U.S. government and private sector.
Why we like them: Thirty-year-old CEO Sean Lane oversees a fun, start-up culture where folks work hard, play hard, and get paid well for it.
Best benefits: All health insurance costs are 100 percent paid, free food and drinks provided on-site every day, iPhones for all new hires, and access to a vacation condo in Florida.

When Rachel Charlesworth showed her parents her offer letter for her job as an executive assistant at BTS, they couldn’t believe their eyes. “My dad was shocked that all medical benefits were covered,” she says. “He said that never happens anymore and certainly not for someone just starting out their career.”

Indeed, although BTS was formed in 2008 in the heart of the recession, the company is heavy on perks. In addition to full medical coverage, iPhones, and free breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the company cafe, there’s an on-site gym with a Wii Fit and putting green, yoga classes for a mere $5 a class, and at least two weeks’ paid vacation from the get-go. Because the company has substantial government contracts involving military force protection, the average salary is a hefty $101,000.

“We’re a very progressive, forward-thinking company,” says HR manager Beth Schaefer. “We have a lot of young people [the average employee age is 31] and young families; we don’t want people to worry about how they’re going to pay for health care,” she says. They also don’t want employees to burn out, which is why they encourage people to use their vacation time. So much so, that the company recently invested in a condo outside of West Palm Beach that’s open to all employees.

“The perks are simple and basic,” says Robert Croxton, a division GM who’s been with BTS since it opened, “but they’re powerful when you present them against other benefits, or lack thereof, at other companies.”

Chapin Davis Investments

Location: Baltimore.
Employees: 59.
What they do: Full-service investment company.
Why we like them: One of the few independent financial-services firms in Baltimore, they try to take the cookie-cutter solutions out of money management.
Best benefits: Large 401(k) match, fee reductions for gym memberships, generous health-care coverage, flexible schedules.

The offices of the Cross Keys headquarters of Chapin Davis Investments don’t quite fit the stereotype of a hive of money managers: Instead of the typical pressure-cooker environment, it seems quite calm, with windows overlooking leafy Roland Park, creamy yellow walls, and comforting artwork of clippers under sail.

“Our industry has come under great scrutiny and many of our competitors had to take bailout money from the federal government,” says Kevin Goodman, managing director. “Because of what they went through, the bureaucracy has become even more entrenched, and, as a result, the big companies are more heavy-handed with their employees. But we don’t beat our financial advisers over the head.”

This freedom to handle their clients the way they feel is best is what keeps Chapin Davis’s employees so happy. “Here, the quality of life is in the camaraderie within the group, and growing your business, and making money the way you want to, versus how the firm wants you to,” says Thomas Thibeault, vice president and financial adviser.

Autonomy also means no clock-watching.

Michael Dougherty Jr. says it isn’t uncommon for him to leave at 4 p.m. and no one gives you the evil eye if you take a two-hour lunch. “You have the freedom to do business the way you want to do it,” he says. Chapin Davis also has a higher number of women on staff than some finance shops (21 percent). And they’re stable: They have about $1 billion under management, set a revenue record in 2009, and were up 55 percent in 2010. The acid test? In the past seven years, the firm hasn’t lost one adviser to a competitor.

CollabraSpace

Number of times on this list in the past five years: Three
Location: Annapolis.
Employees: 52.
What they do: Create enterprise application development and web-based collaboration solutions for government and commercial entities.

CyberPoint International

Location: Baltimore.
Employees: 46 in the city, three internationally.
What they do: A privately held cyber-security company protecting government and private interests.
Why we like them: A family-friendly workplace that has shown extraordinary interest in developing the local workforce.
Best benefits: Generous coverage of health insurance and tuition costs, $500 allowance for professional-development expenses, family-friendly policies including a designated kids’ and mothers’ room on-site.

Even when CyberPoint was housed in the condo of its founders Vicki and Karl Gumtow, the couple knew they wanted their fledgling business to be one that contributed to the community. In January 2010, they got office space and have grown from a staff of two to more than 40, including three employees in the United Arab Emirates. Despite the demands of explosive growth, they’ve kept their philanthropic promise.

“We strongly believe that we’ve gotten where we are through education, and we wanted to share that with young people who might not have the same opportunities we had,” says Vicki Gumtow, who also serves as director of human resources.

CyberPoint connected with Cristo Rey, a Jesuit high school in Fells Point serving at-risk youth, and joined the school’s mentoring program, which is like an internship, hosting four students at the company per year. CyberPoint kicks in half the students’ tuition (about $24,000 for all four kids) and at least one teenager is in the offices each day.

“The program definitely makes me feel better about the company,” says Matt Marshall, principal network engineer and a team leader for the mentoring program. “The company is very Baltimore-oriented and the fact that they want to do this for these kids is great. I’m helping someone to strive to want something better.”

DLA Piper

Number of times on this list in the past five years: Three
Location: Baltimore.
Employees: 3,500 globally, 350 in Baltimore.
What they do: Law firm.

Financial Advantage

Location: Columbia.
Employees: 11.
What they do: Fee-only advisory firm focused on retirement planning and investment management.
Why we like them: Their respect for people’s personal and family lives and commitment to gender diversity in top management.
Best benefits: 100 percent health-care coverage, bereavement leave, flextime and telework options, free investment and retirement planning services.

Mary Thompson worked at the highest level of IT in the financial industry for many years, then put her career on hold when she had two children. When her youngest entered kindergarten, she faced what many women dread: reentering the workforce. She was hired at Financial Advantage to do client services, for which she was overqualified, but the company let her work the part-time schedule she wanted.

Before long, though, management at Financial Advantage saw potential in Thompson that she hadn’t even seen herself. “Once I started working here, the company spoke to me about whether I’d be interested in pursing a career as a financial planner and adviser,” she recalls. The company supported her through the Certified Financial Planner exam, which she passed in July, and honored her certification by making her a financial planning associate full time.

“Being able to reenter the workforce and have someone take you seriously and be willing to work with you and build your skill set is rare,” she says.

Training the right person for the right job—or creating a job when the right candidate comes along—is standard operating procedure, according to Lyn Dippel, vice president and senior adviser at Financial Advantage. In January 2010, she also became a principal in the firm. “We really try not to pigeonhole people,” she explains. “We try to create the job around the person’s interests and skill sets.”

Financial Advantage’s small size and commitment to grow quickly (yet sensibly) makes it perhaps more open to trying new things, like writing flexible-work job descriptions and finding unusual ways to divide responsibility. Thompson has seen that firsthand. “At a big company, you might get put on a path and it’s harder to jump out of it,” she states. “Here, if you’re interested in doing something, they’ll give you the opportunity and support you in pursuing that opportunity.”

Grant Thornton

Location: Baltimore.
Employees: 32,000 globally, 60 in Baltimore.
What they do: Accounting firm.
Why we like them: They offer a lot of flexible work options and many benefits to help with work-life balance like dependent care, commuter spending accounts, and an employee assistance program.
Best benefits: $10,000 adoption reimbursement, 80 percent coverage of tuition with no annual limit, yearly bonuses, over three weeks’ vacation to start.

Tax manager Kellee DiAngelo loves the view from her office on the 24th floor of the old Alex. Brown Building. But things inside the Grant Thornton office are just as sweet. In the decade she’s worked for the firm, it’s grown from a regional to a global company, which has only increased her love of her work.

“It’s why I stay here,” she explains. “I feel like there are so many opportunities now that we’re not just Baltimore-based anymore. I don’t feel stagnant. I feel challenged, and we can work between regions and use our international relations.”

Matt Gerkens, an audit manager, got the opportunity of a lifetime when he was offered a position in Grant Thornton’s Shanghai office for three years. “That’s really shaped my professional career,” he says. “Being an international firm, you can take advantage of those opportunities.”

In 2004, GT launched a committee, Women at Grant Thornton, of which DiAngelo is a new member. The group will help women assess their work-life issues, and progress toward leadership in their professional careers.

Although GT has the resources of a big firm, it’s the family feel of the place that retains people. The company encourages employees to participate as a team in community-service projects. They also have an annual awards banquet where triumphs, even those as seemingly minor as passing a CPA exam, are recognized. “It’s not just a shallow celebration,” says Gerkens. “People really, legitimately want to celebrate with you, and that adds to a family-like environment.”

Employees can compress their work week, use flextime and telework, or create their own hybrid schedules. According to DiAngelo, now that the company is using Tax Symphony, an electronic work system, she can work from anywhere. Recently she was logged in while waiting for her five-year-old daughter’s pediatrician. Later, she sat in on a web conference from her sofa at home. In a few months, she’ll be able to enjoy another benefit—eight weeks of maternity leave—when her second child arrives. 

The Johns Hopkins University

Number of times on this list in the past five years: Four
Location: Baltimore.
Employees: 33,170.
What they do: A world-class research university with multiple satellite campuses here and abroad that lays claim to 34 Nobel Prize winners.

Hodes, Pessin & Katz, P.A.

Location: Towson, Bel Air, Cambridge, Columbia.
Employees: 97.
What they do: Law firm.
Why we like them: They’re willing to loosen the ties occasionally and have a little fun.
Best benefits: Matching 401(k), generous vacation, partial tuition reimbursement, and on-site vaccinations.

Billy Apostolou is a member of the Fun Committee at Hodes, Pessin & Katz, P.A. (HPK), a group comprised of staffers at various levels who do pretty much what the name suggests: They help plan monthly events that include laser tag, community service days, and barbecue kick-offs for the Ravens and Orioles seasons. “Obviously, it’s a law firm,” he says. “It’s a stress level not everyone can take, but it’s managed by balancing work stress with work fun.” Not only are the events a chance to blow off steam, they help integrate everyone, from the top attorneys to the legal secretaries, in a social setting.

But there’s more to offer at HPK than fun and games (and HD televisions in the attorney lounges): Apostolou is looking forward to attending law school, for which HPK will pay some of the tab. To help him transition into school, the firm enrolled him in classes at a community college in legal research and writing and also footed the bill. HPK honors its promises to promote from within, having moved paralegals to attorney status when they pass the bar. And unlike some firms that have cut staff and frozen hiring, HPK is looking for new talent to meet a growing demand.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Number of times on this list in the past five years: Three
Location: Laurel.
Employees: 4,700.
What they do: A not-for-profit engineering, research, and development organization. Technically a part of the university, but conducts mostly government-sponsored work ranging from space probes to undersea warfare technology.

Next Century Corporation

Location: Columbia.
Employees: 65.
What they do: Software services, much of which are classified.
Why we like them: They do Department of Defense work that saves the lives of first responders and war fighters in a culture that underscores the value of ethical behavior.
Best benefits: Optional free HMO or generous coverage of other health plans, 100 percent tuition reimbursement, free on-site gym.

In their applications to be considered for Baltimore’s “Best Places to Work” feature, Next Century’s employees routinely commented on the level of integrity within the company.
“The company is led by enthusiastic, ethical people,” wrote Jocelyn Casto, a software engineer. “To the owners, this company is not about the bottom dollar, it’s about doing the right thing, which leads to customers who trust us and give us work faster than we can find people to fulfill it.”

Upon hiring, every employee receives the company’s “guiding principles,” which have ethics at the top of the list. This emphasis can be traced to John McBeth, the company’s president and CEO and one of four people who founded Next Century in 2002.

The hiring process at Next Century is grueling (and jobs often require some level of security clearance). The leadership team, including McBeth, still meets with every candidate. “I’m looking to find out the kind of person you are,” he says.

For cynics who question McBeth’s commitment to his own jargon, any doubt is dispelled at a new-employee orientation where he is the first presenter. “I like to talk about the experiences that I’ve had in the industry in the past,” he explains. By way of illustration, he points to companies like Arthur Andersen, where ethics violations precipitated a downfall. “As a company, growth is important, but not as important as integrity. We will stop growing, we’ll shrink if we have to, but we won’t compromise those values.”

The Johns Hopkins Hospital/The Johns Hopkins Health System

Number of times on this list in the past five years: Five
Location: Baltimore and statewide.
Employees: 30,000.
What they do: Hopkins Hospital is one of the top hospitals in the nation and a major employer in the region, hiring approximately 1,800 new employees annually. But it is just the best known part of a sprawling health-care system.

Praxis Engineering

Location: Annapolis Junction.
Employees: 200.
What they do: Provide consulting, products, and software, mostly to the feds and mostly classified.
Why we like them: Ninety-five percent of employees get a yearly bonus, and the company hasn’t missed a year since 2002.
Best benefits: Contribution to 401(k) with no match required, up to $10,000 referral bonus, substantial continuing-ed allowance.

Debbie Mobley has been in human resources for 25 years, but since coming on board at Praxis as an HR manager last year, she’s seen something she hasn’t seen elsewhere: a company with a well-articulated mission. “Many companies do not have a vision, or, if they do, it’s so squishy they can’t state it to their workforce and it’s very difficult for the employees to have a focus,” she says. “Here, the vision is stated: To be a preeminent provider of solutions to our customers.”

Praxis takes its core values so seriously, they’re incorporated into annual reviews. Staff know they will be measured by their contributions to the success of customers, employee development, technical excellence, fiscal responsibility, and community involvement. By structuring the company on these strong pillars, it creates a unified corporate culture.

New hires have plenty of time to get accustomed to the Praxis ways. “Unlike most organizations, where orientation is enroll-in-your-benefits-and-have-a-nice-day, we do significant on-boarding to help new employees assimilate into the culture,” says Mobley. “In addition, we have a new-employee immersion program that is actually conducted by the founding partners of the organization, typically once a quarter.”

To keep employees happy from the inside out, there are always free snacks and drinks in the office, and technology—a key part of Praxis’s business—gets upgraded regularly to keep employees on the cutting edge.

Praxis is hiring a lot, but most positions require U.S. citizenship and some security clearance.

LifeBridge Health

Number of times on this list in the past five years: Three
Location: Baltimore.
Employees: 6,961.
What they do: A comprehensive health-care provider in Northwest Baltimore whose entities include Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Northwest Hospital, Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital, and Courtland Gardens Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Studio 921 Salon & Day Spa

Location: Baltimore.
Employees: 50.
What they do: Full-service salon and spa.
Why we like them: Breaking the mold of how salons treat employees.
Best benefits: Matching 401(k), access to health care, paid vacation.

Until now, salons haven’t made the “Best Places to Work” list because they haven’t been able to compete with the benefits provided by traditional companies. Studio 921 Salon & Day Spa is trying to change that.

“Most salons don’t give paid vacation, and if there’s a 401(k), they certainly don’t match it,” says stylist Amber Rohleder. Another stylist, Susan Channell, sums it up this way: “My previous salon experience was ‘fend for yourself.’ This is the first of the three salons I’ve worked in that offered so many benefits.”

Studio 921 offers a 401(k) with a three percent match, one week of paid vacation (after the first year), flexible schedules (hey, the owners are mothers, too), and access to affordable group health insurance. This year, partners Colleen Smith and Judy Sulisufaj Kelly added dental and vision benefits at the request of employees. When the staff asked if the salon could be open seven days a week, they listened. The co-owners say they’re running the salon the way they would any other business, with common sense they picked up working at staffing giant Aerotek, where Smith was in finance and Kelly in sales.

In addition, the salon picks up 50 percent of the tab for continuing education and sponsors free in-salon training at least once a quarter to keep up with the rapidly changing beauty industry. “This is the first salon I’ve worked in where the ownership doesn’t get in your way,” says Janet Stephens, a stylist. “They’re always willing to try new things or add new services if you can bring in the business for it.” For example, when a massage therapist wanted to learn Thai massage, the owners gave her leave to go there.

“We learned a lot from Aerotek about retaining employees,” says Kelly. “Typically, salons are a revolving door. We wanted to be the antithesis of that.”

McCormick & Company

Number of times on this list in the past five years: Five
Location: Sparks.
Employees: 5,500 outside Maryland, 2,200 in the state.
What they do: Strive to make foods taste better through multiple brands and business units focused on spices and flavoring.

T. Rowe Price

Location: Baltimore.
Employees: 4,925.
What they do: Global investment management.
Why we like them: They keep up a familial environment in a high-stakes industry and help people thrive in their careers.
Best benefits: Generous retirement benefits, stock purchase plans to all employees, gym reimbursement program, health benefits extended to same- and opposite-gender domestic partners.

Diana Kendall might be a little biased in her affinity for T. Rowe Price—after all, she met her husband on the company softball team. In fact, it was things like coed sports teams and the congenial atmosphere that brought her to the company 10 years ago. She is also involved in community service and was able to take a day off last fall to help out with preparation for The Maryland Zoo’s ZooBoo fundraiser.

She’s stayed for the growth opportunities. Kendall has had a chance to advance five times and is now manager of mutual fund administration. “Our senior managers are very approachable,” she says. “You never feel an intimidating, hierarchical structure. I personally have had a lot of face time with our president and CEO, our chairman, our head of investments——some of my friends find that mind-boggling.”

August Vanderdonckt joined a T. Rowe call center straight from hogeschool, or post-secondary education, in his home country of Belgium. He, too, worked his way up, taking advantage of formal and informal training along the way. He’s now lead manager within global investment services. “I always felt, and I don’t think I’m an exception, that my boss was looking out for me, making sure I did my job right, but also how do we keep this person here and challenge him and make him grow if he wants to grow,” he explains.

In uncertain times, it’s important to Kendall that when her company is in the headlines, it is generally for something good. “We’re coming off a challenging time in the market,” she admits. “The company maintained a conservative stance, and I feel so many of us are proud of the decisions senior management made. I’m happy about the image we portray to the community.”

Merkle

Number of times on this list in the past five years: Three
Location: Columbia.
Employees: 1,400 nationally, about 400 in Maryland.
What they do: Marketing.

Under Armour

Location: Baltimore.
Employees: 3,363.
What they do: Design, produce, and distribute sports apparel, accessories, and, now footwear, coveted by pro-athletes and amateurs alike.
Why we like them: Team spirit doesn’t just apply to the end user of the products—it’s part of the corporate culture.
Best benefits: Company-wide bonus eligibility, subsidized cafe and fitness center at HQ, 50 percent discount on merchandise, discounts on sporting event tickets.

“You don’t have to be an athlete to work here, though many of our employees are, ” says Melissa Wallace, senior vice president of talent. “What you need is a love of the game, and, by game, I mean sport, whether it’s running or a team sport like football.”

The team spirit she alludes to is so important that every new hire (no matter how senior) attends UA 101, a two-day orientation. After a day of classroom work, newbies are sent to the distribution house to pack orders, ship products, and learn other basic operational and retail skills. “It’s important that every employee understand the complete lifespan of the product,” says Wallace.

Not surprisingly, the fitness of employees is encouraged. In 2010, Under Armour opened a new, subsidized gym at its Tide Point campus, the Combine 360 Training Center (CTC), which is managed by FX Studios. The Humble & Hungry Café (named after one of CEO Kevin Plank’s favorite expressions) is also a new addition. It serves healthy meals and snacks designed by the CTC’s trainers. The cafe is trying to be a zero-waste operation to increase Under Armour’s “green” impact. (It gets some of its organic vegetables and herbs from an employee-maintained urban garden.)

Under Armour is one of the fastest-growing companies in its industry, and sales in 2010 came within a few dollars of the $1 billion goal post.

Says Wallace, “Our mantra is to be the biggest, baddest brand on the planet.”

Northrop Grumman Corporation (Electronic Systems Sector)

Number of times on this list in the past five years: Five
Location: Linthicum.
Employees: 21,200 worldwide, 8,500 in Maryland.
What they do: Develop electronic systems and sensors for the U.S. Department of Defense and other government agencies.

VA Maryland Health Care System

Location: Baltimore (with facilities statewide).
Employees: 2,876, system-wide.
What they do: Health care for America’s veterans.
Why we like them: Beating that bad, old rap of VA hospitals as broken-down places with outdated technology and understaffing—and doing it with a remarkable esprit de corps.
Best benefits: It’s a federal agency, so there are competitive salaries, up to five weeks’ paid vacation a year, pension plans, and subsidies for transit and child care. The hospital foots the bill for continuing education, too.

There are a few things you notice when you enter the VA Maryland Health Care System. First is the volume of veterans sporting ball caps with their military designation. The hospital serves a distinct population and it’s evident right away. Second, you can’t miss the construction. The entry lobby atrium is sheathed in plastic to accommodate growth. Although the hospital has been in its current location less than 20 years, the aging of the Vietnam and Korean War population, coupled with young vet patients from Afghanistan and Iraq, have the hospital scurrying to keep up. The paint is just dry on a new women’s health center.

When the dust clears, the most defining thing about the hospital is the sheer number of computers. The hospital operates under a completely electronic recordkeeping system so a doctor (or team of doctors) can easily track and share a patient’s information across departments—or across the country. All medicines are tracked with a computerized bar-coding system. In the office of the trauma recovery program, clinical psychologist Sushma Roberts, Ph.D., demonstrates a new virtual reality simulator that helps vets with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) revisit battlegrounds from Vietnam up to Afghanistan to confront their repressed memories. For PTSD and substance-abuse patients in the hospital’s 10-bed residential facility, small but comfortable bedrooms open onto a pleasant living room with a flat screen TV, computer with Internet access, Xbox, and a Wii.

“The system performs better than its reputation would lead you to believe,” says Dr. Richard Pierson, director of the Surgical Care Clinical Center, who has overseen a 30 percent growth in access to surgical services in less than five years. “That perception of the VA is outdated. If you look at the New England Journal of Medicine, the VA is frequently cited as a leader in innovation, outcomes, and quality.”

That pride in one’s mission is something you hear time and again when you talk to staffers, many vets themselves, at Baltimore’s VA Hospital, which is next to the University of Maryland Medical Center. (VA docs there are also on the UM School of Medicine staff.) And aside from benefits, pay, and perks, that’s something that makes people want to roll out of bed for work in the morning.

There’s no outmoded technology here. In fact, the surgery department just rehabbed all its outpatient rooms and the radiology department just got new CT and MRI scanners, not to mention a state-of-the-art new reading room that Eliot Siegel, chief of imaging services, calls “the reading room of the future.” Designed with a grant from General Electric, it features blue lighting (better to read scans by), ergonomic chairs, and radiology-inspired artwork on the walls. VA Maryland was one of the first hospitals in the world to go completely filmless with radiology.

“As a patient here, you have access to the best equipment in the city,” says Siegel.

Chris Buser, clinical director of the Post Deployment Health Reintegration Program, was so inspired by his work at the VA that he joined the reserves and served two active-duty stints. “This really is a place where the staff, the equipment, and patients are on the cutting-edge; this isn’t some broken-down system no one would want to go to,” he explains. “This is a place where our nation can be proud of how we take care of veterans.”

TESSCO Technologies

Number of times on this list in the past five years: Three
Location: Hunt Valley.
Employees: 950.
What they do: Creates and delivers products to support wireless systems.

Verizon Wireless

Location: Laurel.
Employees: 80,000 nationwide, 2,000 in Maryland.
What they do: Wireless service provider.
Why we like them: They’re committed to diversity and career development and share the company’s financial success with employees.
Best benefits: Many retirement-plan benefits, profit sharing, and comprehensive health coverage including on-site mammography.

Charlene Harvin lost her cousin to breast cancer, so she knows how important getting a regular mammogram is to her own health. However, at age 44, with two active teenagers to keep up with, as well as her job as a customer-service supervisor at Verizon Wireless, making the time for the screening just never seemed to happen. She was in the on-site gym at company headquarters when she saw the notice that Verizon Wireless was hosting mammography screenings right there in the offices.

“Once I saw it, I signed up because I realized it had been two years since my last mammogram,” she says. “You get busy, you’re running around and you just forget to take care of yourself when you are taking care of everyone else.”

Robin Bell-Crawford, an administrative coordinator, also took advantage of the on-site screening: “I welcomed the opportunity to go downstairs and be in and out in 20 minutes,” she says. The results showed an anomaly that turned out to be benign, but required a follow up with her primary doctor. “In my doctor’s office, they were shocked that the company paid for the exam. They said I was very fortunate to have that opportunity.”

As a busy working mother, Bell-Crawford has taken advantage of other Verizon Wireless benefits, such as tuition reimbursement that paid for credits toward a bachelor’s degree. Verizon Wireless’s commitment to women carries outside the company, too: Through its HopeLine program that responsibly recycles old phones, the company has distributed more than 90,000 phones with the equivalent of more than 300 million minutes of free wireless service to be used by victims of domestic violence.

W.R. Grace & Co.

Location: Columbia.
Employees: 5,910 total, 1,114 in Maryland.
What they do: Create and produce specialty materials and chemical products.
Why we like them: They’re generous to employees with extraordinary emphasis on health care and safety; also have a foundation for charitable works.
Best benefits: 100 percent tuition reimbursement, on-site medical clinic at headquarters, paternity leave for dads, 100 percent company match on 401(k) up to six percent of base salary.

You’d never know where W.R. Grace is located until you’re actually on top of it. The campus of its Columbia headquarters is tucked onto 166 verdant acres shaded by old-growth trees and embraced by a wooded walking path. It begs the question: Is this what a big, bad chemical company looks like?

Grace took a publicity hit a decade ago when it was forced to file for bankruptcy after facing several asbestos-related lawsuits. However, the Grace of today is profitable, with annual sales of $3 billion, has an impressive voluntary staff turnover rate of only five percent, and ranks high for safety: In 2009, their recordable safety incident rate was 0.70. (Anything below 1.0 is considered world-class.)

Matt Terpay, a supply-chain financial analyst, applied for a job at Grace after reading about the company in a past year’s “Best Places to Work” list in Baltimore. Grace has lived up to his expectations: “I love it here,” he says. “There are a lot of great people, the benefits are great. I just went and saw our company doctor on Monday, and she gave me some prescriptions.”

On-site medical care is a major bonus of working for Grace. A complete primary-care facility provides employees with fairly comprehensive health care including help monitoring chronic conditions like diabetes, full physicals, immunization for international travel, and flu shots. In another nod to wellness, the on-site gym has free personal training.

Another benefit Terpay has enjoyed is tuition reimbursement. Grace is currently paying for him to get his MBA at night. As part of its commitment to higher education, Grace has given more than $1.6 million in college scholarships to the children of its employees since that program started in 1989.

Grace is a major community presence, too. Its foundation, an independent 501(c)(3) founded in 1961, gives about $1.2 million annually to charitable causes.

Zynga

Location: Timonium.
Employees: 1,300, about 35 in Baltimore.
What they do: Develop social games for the Web.
Why we like them: They’ve transplanted a slice of the quirky Silicon Valley startup vibe to Timonium.
Best benefits: Quarterly bonuses, free gym membership, free catered lunch daily, four weeks vacation to start.

The Timonium offices of Zynga look a bit like a college dorm room. There are oversized black leather sofas strewn with gaming consoles for Xbox, several large, flat-screen TVs, and a Razor scooter that is propped against a desk where a houseplant is losing its battle for life. Even the employees look like they could be college kids. Everyone is young and wearing jeans with rumpled T-shirts and an array of colorful knit caps.

“It’s the Silicon Valley ghetto aesthetic,” laughs Brian Reynolds, chief game designer who got Zynga East off the ground about a year ago.

If you ever planted a virtual field on Facebook, you know Zynga. The San Francisco-based company is behind the popular FarmVille and Mafia Wars games on the social networking site. The staff designs and writes the games, deploying them online and managing the play of millions of people a day. “It’s sort of like running a television show,” says Reynolds. “You need to keep new episodes coming or players won’t come back.”

FrontierVille, which was developed in the Timonium office and launched in June 2010 and which is also a role-playing game like FarmVille (instead of a farm, though, the player plays the role of a pioneer in the American West), is the second most popular game on Facebook, a success that took the Maryland team by surprise and fueled tremendous growth.

As a thank you to the employees who built FrontierVille, the entire team went to Manhattan in December and took over the Rockefeller Center skating rink for an evening. The free lunch delivery from local restaurants every day and the super-casual dress code are also morale boosters. The company is at the forefront of a burgeoning industry and making serious money even in a recession, which it shares with employees through quarterly bonuses and generous awards. (Atlas Award winners who exemplify the Zynga work ethic get a $5,000 trip anywhere in the world; Zynga Spirit award winners get $100,000 of vested stock.)

The vacation picture is a winner, too: Zynga’s policy is an informal “take a break when you need one,” except for hourly employees, who get four weeks. “We try to get people to take a week off a quarter,” says Reynolds. “There’s only so much work people can do in a crunch.”

Avoiding Online Faux Pas
A job search is the time to clean up your e-act.

If you don’t think your employer is looking at your online presence, think again. Managers are now savvy about social media and look at a candidate’s profile online. Everything from your credit score to your legal history is only a few clicks away.

It isn’t always pretty. Just ask independent management consultant Alison Green who, until recently, served as the chief of staff for a local nonprofit. When an entry-level applicant included a link to his blog in his e-mail cover letter, the staff naturally clicked it.

“My hiring assistant forwarded it to me with a note that said ‘I can’t believe he talks about his blog in his cover letter, because if you notice, he writes all about chronic masturbation.’ I immediately clicked on it thinking she had to be exaggerating,” says Green. “Sure enough, he wrote about it frequently and not in a literary, Philip Roth way, but in a 22-year-old guy way.”

Needless to say, he didn’t get the job.

Although the applicant had given information on his blog to the potential employer, Green says her cursory Google search would have turned it up anyway. And it wasn’t the subject matter that bothered her, but what it revealed about the candidate.

“For me, it’s all about judgment,” she explains. “As an aspiring professional in the middle of a job search, there’s an issue with making it so easy for an employer to stumble on that.” Hiring isn’t an exact science and there’s only so much you can learn about a person in a one-hour interview, which is why the Web is so helpful.

“The Internet functions a little bit like being in a small town used to be, it’s a way to learn more about someone,” Green says.

Employers can find you online (those privacy settings aren’t firewalls, you know). Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t blog about your sex life or put topless photos on Facebook. Just don’t expect HR not to find it.

GETTING HIRED IN A RECESSION
Regardless of the industry, there are some job-seeking practices that always apply, even in a downturn.

“As a recruiter, our first impression is how you submit your application online,” says Joanie Montgomery, in HR at Levindale LifeBridge Health Center. “If the person isn’t taking the time to put what is necessary that we require on the application, it’s not a good show for us. I’m looking for those who take the time to give the attention to what we’re looking for.”
“Details are very important to us,” says Deborah Mello, a nursing recruitment and retention consultant at Sinai Hospital. “When we’re reviewing applications, we’re sorting out, not in.” That means making sure your cover letter and resume are tailored to a job. On a resume, put the most important and relevant criteria at the top. In cut-and-paste haste, don’t get sloppy and put another company’s name or the wrong position title on a cover letter. Remember there are at least five applicants for every one job, and HR can cut you for carelessness alone.
Many job seekers think they’re judged on their resume and interview, but every facet of your life, from your e-mail address to your online presence, speaks to your on-the-job potential. Make sure your e-mail address and voicemail message put forth a professional vibe. “I recently called someone and had to sit through a song message with really foul language,” recalls Mello. “If you are honestly seeking a position, every aspect of your life needs to be tailored.”
Certainly, many are career shifting these days, which can be hard when you’re up against people who have the exact criteria for a position. If you are trying to apply for a job where your soft skills—such as being articulate and poised—translate, but your hard skills—actual experience in a specific area—are lacking, take a course, get a certification, or somehow demonstrate a willingness to be educated in the new field.
If you make it to the interview, don’t blow it with silly mistakes. According to Montgomery, a few things turn an interviewer off right away. Wearing blue jeans is one. Multiple piercings are another. “Jeans and piercings might be okay if you are going to work in a rock band,” she explains. Even if you know staffers dress casually in the workplace where you’re applying, it’s still wise to dress up, not down. Another assignment is learning about the organization you’re interviewing with. “There’s nothing worse than asking an applicant, ‘What do you know about us?’ and them saying, ‘Not much,’” says Montgomery.
With so many qualified candidates, attitude is everything. Resumes of potential employees who demonstrate a flexible, can-do attitude and can offer examples of their ability to work with a team, meet deadlines, and exceed quality expectations will end up in that tiny “good pile.”
To really push yourself over the top, always follow up your interview with a thank-you note, either mailed or e-mailed. They get forwarded up the chain of command and show an extra level of effort others might forget.

RECESSION GOT YOU DOWN? CAREER CHANGE!

Plenty of jobs tanked in the bad economy, which has many people wondering if their industry will rebound before the bill collector comes knocking. If you’re one of them, the best idea might be to career shift.

“If you are doing everything right and the market isn’t biting, out of necessity you may need to expand your search,” says Cheryl Heisler, president and founder of the Chicago-based, national consultancy Lawternatives, used to help disgruntled lawyers find new career paths. With a glut of law school grads stagnating on the unemployment line, she now finds herself helping even happy lawyers to find a new way.

“There’s more to a person than the title on their diploma,” she explains. “I have an exercise where I ask people to strip away the label and break down their skill sets into things that are more generic and marketable, so you can see yourself as someone who can do something besides practice law, design a building, or finance deals.”

That’s what Mark Debinski did. When he joined CSD Architects in 2007, he couldn’t imagine a safer job than to be with a firm with over six decades of successful history and a national reputation. Debinski joined as CFO/COO to oversee a generational ownership change.

“In the spring of 2007, I realized the Titanic had indeed hit an iceberg and was taking on water,” he recalls. “Then the economy struck, and I found myself in the precarious position of telling a boardroom of people, ŒYour company is going out of business.'” The firm was dissolved in 2009. After seeing the company through its liquidation, Debinski had the misfortune of needing a job in the middle of a recession. Rather than beat down already well-beaten doors, he decided to listen to a voice inside his head that was telling him to pursue a long languishing desire to go into consulting. “I never had the risk tolerance to go out on my own,” he says. “This opened my eyes that the risk, in today’s economy, is no different whether you’re on your own or working for a firm. Who would have thought a solid, 62-year-old company would be out of business a few years ago?”

In summer 2010, he started Bluewater Advisory to do business consulting, team and executive coaching, and talent management. By working his professional network and word-of-mouth referrals, he’s got more business than he can handle.

According to Heisler, career change, especially in a recession can be liberating. “Once you realize your raw skills can find you opportunities, for the rest of your career you’ll realize you aren’t limited to one job title.”

HOW WE FOUND THEM

We started our process eight months ago with a round of calls and news releases to recruiters, business development leaders, community leaders and, of course, employees. And we promoted our survey on our website. To be considered, employers and/or employees then filled out two distinct, detailed questionnaires, which sought information on 401(k) programs, health benefits, career development offerings, and much more. As always, companies on our list, which is not ranked, had to be financial healthy, which we verified to the best of our ability, and hiring in the coming year.

If you spent 2009 hunkered down in your cubicle, hoping to avoid
the HR manager’s pink slips, you weren’t alone. Forget the foosball
table, the sweet view, and the free cola, it was a year to be thankful
just to have the pleasure of pulling in a paycheck.

Fortunately, even in the worst of times, the smartest employers
recognize that to attract and retain the very best, they’ve got to pony
up for more than just the basics. And the good news is that, after a
rocky year or two, many of those companies now seem positioned to grow,
which means more opportunity for you, those ambitious employees-to-be
they so covet.

As part of our regular efforts to bring you the skinny on who’s best,
we rounded up 20 first-rate employers. They offer great benefits,
competitive pay, family-friendly policies, a commitment to professional
development, inspiring leadership, great digs, or all of the above. And,
you guessed it, they’re all hiring. So, whether you’re just curious or
actively seeking a new place to park your patootie from 9 to 5, read on
to learn what these stellar employers have to offer.

Ascend One

Employees: 735 total; 455 in Maryland. Who they are: A
privately held family of businesses—including CareOne Services, Amerix
and 3CI—that help consumers get out of debt and manage their finances. What we love: A virtual work option that lets employees work from anywhere. Best benefits: Formal
mentoring, tuition assistance of up to $5,000 per year, adoption
assistance, up to four weeks’ vacation in the first year of employment.

Getting from her Baltimore County home to Ascend One’s Columbia
offices used to be a one-hour haul for Raenice Bains, a quality
specialist who has been with Ascend One for seven years. Evenings were
worse. The commute to her Coppin State college classes often meant
crawling bumper to bumper for more than an hour and a half.

“It was awful,” says Bains, 33. “Stressful mornings, stressful evenings, no time to study.”

But these days, it takes her about 30 seconds to get to work: That’s
because Bains is part of Ascend One’s vast virtual workforce, and her
commute takes her no farther than the second floor, to a home office
that once was a den. There she logs on to the company’s network and
monitors the calls of Ascend One’s customer service representatives, 80
percent of whom also work from home.

To stay in touch with workmates, she uses the company’s newly updated
intranet, The Vibe, and only occasionally visits the office.

“It’s been a great experience,” says Bains, who has been working from
home for about two years. “It helps me to be more involved in my school
work and gives me time to study.”

And while the super-short commute may be the biggest bonus, Bains
also credits telecommuting with allowing her to pitch in more for her
parents, with whom she shares a home, especially her father. “My
father’s been sick, so working from home has helped me to help him,” she
says.

And Ascend One’s tuition reimbursement program has been icing on the
cake for Bains: It’s paying for part of her schooling and gives her one
more reason to love her job. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” she
says.

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield

Location: Canton, Owings Mills, and other locations regionally. Employees: 5,250 total; 2,891 in the Baltimore area. Who they are: A not-for-profit health insurer. What we love: Solid benefits, family-friendly policies. Best benefits: Six
weeks paid maternity leave, on-site fitness center, tuition assistance
up to $4,000, flexible work arrangements, on-site dining, bank, and dry
cleaners.

If you’re looking for an example of how CareFirst helps its employees
move up the ladder, you need look no farther than Julie Fisher, who
started working for the organization nearly 25 years ago as a claims
examiner.

“I was actually collecting unemployment and had just gotten out of
the army,” says Fisher, who today is senior director of service and
operations technical support. “It’s such a big company with so much
opportunity.” It helped, too, that Fisher’s immediate bosses focused
heavily on development and often acted as mentors, both formally and
informally.

In fact, their mere presence was inspirational. “I would see
different women here in the company being very successful and
progressing and being valued,” says Fisher. “There are a number of
females in significant roles here and they are very accessible.”

In fact, 62 percent of CareFirst’s management team is female. And the
organization has long had family-friendly policies in place—like
flexible scheduling. “I’ve always had management that was very
flexible,” says Fisher, who had four children while working at CareFirst
and at times had to take advantage of that flexibility. “In turn, I’ve
made it a practice to ensure that that flexibility was there as well”
for other employees.

And now that her children are in college, Fisher is equally grateful
for the company’s benefits, including its retirement and savings plans.
“Their benefits overall here are very, very rich,” she says.

CollabraSpace

Location: Annapolis. Employees: 41. Who they are: A privately held provider of web-based collaboration solutions. What we love: 100 percent employer-paid health insurance and four-week paid sabbatical after five years of service. Best benefits: Equity
awards for all employees if company meets goals, bonus plan and profit
sharing, 100 percent of health and dental insurance paid for employee
and family, tuition assistance.

The moment Leah Burman learned that her good friend, Ramsay Key, was
moving to the Baltimore area, she knew she had a mission: to recruit Key
to work with her at Annapolis tech company CollabraSpace.

Burman thought Key would be a solid addition to her team, but she
also knew he’d enjoy working in an environment that manages to mix the
high energy and creativity of a startup with the pay and stability of an
established company. In her own five years there, Burman had found
CollabraSpace to be both rewarding and flexible and “still small enough
to be able to really listen to what we need.”

That fact was evident shortly after Burman joined, when she and
others suggested instituting a policy to award a four-week paid
sabbatical to all employees who reach the five-year mark. “I threw that
out there and they said, “Okay, we’re gonna do it,” she recalls. In the
coming year, she’ll have a chance to take advantage of the policy, which
is offered in addition to an employee’s regular paid time off and can
be cashed in if it’s not used. And Key likely will get his chance, too.
It took two years, but in 2009, Key was one of 12 new hires at
CollabraSpace, half of which were referred by friends.

Euler Hermes ACI

Location: Owings Mills. Employees: 6,000 globally; 200 in Baltimore. Who they are: A trade credit insurer and accounts receivable management solutions provider. What we love: Stability, good benefits, long tenures, lots of opportunity to grow internationally. Best benefits:
Annual bonuses that range from 10 percent to 30 percent of salary,
tuition reimbursement of up to $6,000 per year, referral compensation
program that pays out $7,000 for qualified applicant referrals, $50 per
month to offset the cost of public transportation, $500 annually for
employees who drive fuel-efficient cars, and $250 to employees who buy a
fuel-efficient car.

When Peruvian Linda May walks the halls of the Owings Mills trade
credit insurer and hears her coworkers speaking Russian, or Chinese, or
Spanish, it’s music to her ears. “I love it,” says May. “It’s a very
global company.”

So global, in fact, that when May suggested last October that the
company host an international lunch—a sort of cultural exchange through
food—she was overwhelmed by the response. In the end, the lunchtime
event drew employees from across the globe who shared about 30 dishes
from their native cuisines.

“Someone from Chile brought meat empanadas, and we had pork roast and
German pasta, estofado de pollo, arapes, and gulab jamun from
India—they were delicious,” says May, rattling off the list of dishes.
Even Pennsylvania and Louisiana got their due—with shoofly pie and
jambalaya, of course.

The international flavor works in other ways, too, says Euler Hermes
employee Chris Starr, who in April is moving from Baltimore to a new
position in Paris. “For people who want to go [overseas] there’s a lot
of opportunity. It’s really exciting.”

Integral Components

Location: Westminster. Employees: 60. Who they are: A family run contract manufacturer of cable and electro-mechanical assemblies. What we love:Management that really cares about employees. Best benefits: Company pays 100 percent of health, dental, and vision premiums, deductibles, and copays.

Bill Keiser doesn’t seem the type to brag. But as he winds his way
through the assembly floor of the Westminster company he founded and
points out the company’s finer features, there’s more than a little
pride in his voice. “It’s a heated floor,” Keiser says. “That was the
number one complaint about the old building.”

Carpet is a no-no in his business because of the nature of the work,
so Keiser had the floor heated, installed multiple heating-control
panels throughout the room, and even climate-controlled the warehouse.
On the assembly floor, he took a detour from the typical assembly line
and gave every employee a desk, with drawers. Outside, he built a deck
with a grill for employees to use. And Keiser gives every hourly
employee a one-hour paid lunch break, even if they don’t use it.

It’s all part of his philosophy to treat employees “like they’re part
of the family,” says Keiser. When employees need money—for cars, or
houses, or school—Keiser has been known to step in with interest-free
loans. “Most times, we get paid back,” he says with a grin that tells
you he considers it worth the risk.

When the company has a good year, as it did in 2009 when it added
several new accounts, Keiser spreads the wealth. At year end, he divided
$365,000, as well as trips and prizes, among the 55 non-family
employees. It’s the kind of treatment that doesn’t go unnoticed:
Employees tend to stay. And they tend to return the love.

“Our boss really cares about us,” says Frances Burke, a cable
assembler who was the tenth employee hired and has no plans of leaving.
“He makes sure that if we want anything, we get it.”

The Johns Hopkins Hospital

Location: East Baltimore and other locations. Employees: 10,000. Who they are: Health care provider. What we love: Prestige, solid benefits. Best benefits: Employer-funded
pension plan, tuition reimbursement of up to $10,000 per year, half the
cost of undergraduate tuition at any college paid for the children of
employees, adoption assistance of $5,000 per child.

If you’re looking for an impress-your-friends place of employment,
Johns Hopkins clearly rates. The hospital has been named by U.S. News
& World Report as the nation’s best for 19 years in a row, which no
doubt helps to attract patients and employees alike.

Plus, its close location to, and affiliation with, The Johns Hopkins
School of Medicine (which has been the top recipient of NIH research
funding for 16 years), the school of public health, and the nursing
school also make the campus an intellectual hotspot that offers up a
diverse array of opportunities.

“It’s such a large, diverse hospital, and there are just so many
different fields you can go into,” says nurse researcher Linda Costa,
who, in addition to conducting research for the hospital, also teaches
at the school of nursing. “You don’t have to leave the hospital to do
something different.” Just three years into her job, Costa knows she’s
relatively new compared to her peers, who “seem to stay for a long
time,” she says. “It’s a great work environment.”

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Location: Laurel. Employees: 4,800. Who they are: A not-for-profit engineering, research, and development organization. What we love: Cool line of work, big-company benefits. Best benefits: Tuition
reimbursement for up to 18 credits per year for full-time employees,
dependent scholarships worth 50 percent of annual tuition for four
years.

In a low-key mission operations room on the nearly 400-acre campus of
JHU’s Applied Physics Lab, a team of engineers sits quietly at a small
bank of computers. Their job: to guide two unmanned aircraft toward
their destinations. One is bound for Mercury, the other for Pluto. With a
few strokes of the keyboard, the mission controllers can check in with
the craft or make adjustments to its course. Pretty cool, even for those
who’ve been here a while. Or, as Pluto mission operations manager Alice
Bowman says, “We do it every day and it’s still amazing to us.”

The missions are just two of the many underway—APL has 600 projects
going on at the moment—in biomedicine, undersea warfare, homeland
security, and other fields. And if you’re not a physicist, don’t
despair. Despite the name, the company hires mostly engineers and
actually has a wide variety of positions, including those associated
with the multitude of services on campus, which range from a contracted
cafeteria service to a credit union, a post office, and even a fire
department.

Best of all, since its work is done for the U.S. government, APL
manages to maintain relative stability, even through economic downturns,
which means there’s never a bad time to put in an application.

LifeBridge Health

Location: Various. Employees: 7,028. Who they are: LifeBridge
Health consists of Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Levindale Hebrew
Geriatric Center and Hospital, LifeBridge Health and Fitness, Courtland
Gardens Nursing and Rehab Center, and affiliated units. What we love: A commitment to helping employees grow, good benefits. Best benefits: Employee
pension plan, tuition assistance program worth up to $5,000 per year,
adoption assistance, participates in Live Near Your Work program.

When LifeBridge says it cares about your career, you can rest assured
that they mean it—at all levels of the organization. LifeBridge, for
example, has a formal leadership development program for all managers
and supervisors, and all 20-hour-plus employees are eligible to take
part in a tuition assistance program.

For those who aren’t ready for college, LifeBridge’s skills
enhancement program provides college prep classes, courses in math and
reading, help earning a GED or high school diploma, or courses in
computer skills and medical terminology. There is a full-time workforce
development coordinator who steps in with guidance for employees seeking
to develop themselves professionally and one-on-one career coaching.

Employees accepted into some hospital-sponsored training programs get
paid for time away from their job to complete training, and LifeBridge
has even arranged for special tuition rates at certain schools. Plus,
there are programs to offer financial assistance to nursing students who
want to pursue a career in nursing at LifeBridge facilities.

Lockheed Martin

Location: Bethesda (with operations in Baltimore and elsewhere). Employees: 140,000 worldwide; more than 1,800 in Baltimore. Who they are: The Middle River operation focuses on vertical launching systems and ship building for the military. What we love: Commitment to diversity, plus big-company benefits and opportunities. Best benefits: On-site fitness centers and gym discounts, tuition assistance, flexible work arrangements.

As one of the largest corporate employers in the country, and the
largest employer of entry-level engineers and scientists—annually the
company hires about 5 percent of all engineering grads in the
U.S.—Lockheed Martin clearly has an appetite for talent. But how does
talent feel about Lockheed Martin? Pretty good, apparently. The company
consistently wins kudos as a great place to work, especially among
undergraduate engineering students.

So, what’s the appeal? For one thing, Lockheed, whose culture has
become more entrepreneurial in recent years, offers up rewarding
challenges, even to new employees, says Harry Malecki, a senior
mechanical engineer who graduated from college in 2006 and is in the
third year of a leadership development program there.

“There’s a lot of opportunity to do something that’s cutting edge,”
says Malecki, who is part of a research and development team mostly
comprised of young engineers. His team is three years into a project
that is now making substantial progress. “But Lockheed had to have a lot
of faith in us to think that we could get to this point,” notes
Malecki. “That says a lot.”

Martek Biosciences

Location: Columbia. Employees: 585 worldwide; 170 in Baltimore. Who they are: Developer of nutritional products. What we love: Inclusive culture, feel-good line of work, growth potential. Best benefits: Equity compensation plan, annual cash bonus plan, free gym access, tuition assistance of up to $5,250.

It’s 11:30 on a Monday morning, and commercial services manager Iesha
Queen is sitting down to eat some bread. But she’s not in the
lunchroom, and she’s not here because she’s hungry. Instead, Iesha is
seated at a computer in Martek’s sensory lab, ready to put her taste
buds to work. First, she’ll nibble the control product, an ordinary
chunk of white bread presented on a tray in a small plastic cup, then
rinse her mouth and try another sample. After each test, she’ll answer a
few easy questions on a computerized form.

“The whole point is to see if you can tell the difference,” says
Queen, who volunteers weekly for sensory tests. Her responses help
Martek—which makes DHA, a fatty acid that has been shown to improve
brain health throughout life—ensure its product can be added to others
without compromising the taste. For Queen, who is in sales, being part
of sensory tests is just one way to be involved in product development.

For her effort, she gets a little payback in the form of gift cards
and a chance to win bigger prizes. If she has a great product idea, she
could pocket $10,000 through the company’s quarterly innovation awards.
It’s all part of a culture that emphasizes inclusion and collaboration.
But for Queen, there’s one more big incentive: “Working for a company
where I believe in the product,” she says. “It makes me feel really good
about coming to work.”

Best of all, Martek has plenty of room for growth. The company
recently announced plans to develop biofuels from algae and is pursuing
other scientific applications for its products, as well.

McCormick & Company

Location: Headquartered in Sparks, various locations worldwide. Employees: 8,765 worldwide; 2,048 in Maryland. Who they are: Manufacturer of spices, herbs, seasonings, and flavors. What we love: Culture of caring for employees (and employees who care back). Best benefits: Employer-paid
pension plan, stock purchase plan, employee dividend/annual bonus
program, on-site health care facility, tuition assistance of up to 100
percent, scholarship program for employees’ children, paid week off
between Christmas and New Year’s for most employees.

It’s 8:35 on a Friday morning, and McCormick CEO Alan Wilson is
standing before his second big group of employees of the day. In broad
strokes, he outlines the financial quarter’s challenges and
accomplishments, then hands out employee awards and thanks this group,
the financial shared-services division, for its hard work through an
uneasy year. He’s been through this drill six times in recent
days—including at a 6 a.m. meeting on this day with distribution center
employees—and will hit a total of about 13 such meetings in the coming
week as part of the company’s regular quarterly employee meetings.

“It’s about recognizing the good work people are doing and
communicating to them how the business is doing,” Wilson says, standing
just outside the dining room that’s been converted to meeting space for
today’s gathering. “It’s about keeping the whole family atmosphere.”

That family atmosphere can be a tricky proposition for a global
enterprise with nearly 9,000 employees, but it’s one McCormick’s
workforce says the company has always managed to nail. How do they do
it? Wilson says a big element is the company’s culture—which emphasizes
teamwork. But McCormick also delivers with strong benefits, flexible
work arrangements, and family-friendly policies. And that wins loyalty.
“There’s the phrase, ‘McCormick for life,'” says general ledger manager
Ginny Coughlin. “People really stay here. And when I tell people I work
at McCormick, they ask, ‘Can you get me a job there?'”

MedStar Health

Location: Various. Employees: 26,000. Who they are: A
nonprofit regional health care system with nine hospitals, including
Good Samaritan Hospital, Harbor Hospital, Union Memorial Hospital, and
Franklin Square Hospital Center. What we love: A commitment to professional development. Best benefits: MedStar hospital stays capped at $100 out of pocket, tuition assistance of up to $3,000 per year.

When Mary Cierkowski started working at Harbor Hospital 21 years ago
as an executive secretary, she had no real plans for moving up the
corporate ladder. And she certainly didn’t imagine that 10 years later,
with the help of MedStar, she’d be setting her sites set on a paralegal
career, and taking real steps toward achieving it.

Eight years after joining the company, Cierkowski became a student,
using MedStar’s tuition reimbursement program to pay for studies toward
an AA degree, and later earned paralegal certification. “I couldn’t have
done it if it weren’t for them,” says Cierkowski, who is now a legal
department manager. She says the work she does today is “something I
never dreamed I’d ever be capable of doing 20 years ago.”

In addition to educational help, MedStar also offers robust career
development programs, from career coaching to free training in basic
skills and programs to help associates train for a career in nursing.

For Cierkowski, it all adds up to a great place to work. “People
think I’m crazy because I always say I love coming to work,” she says.
“But I feel very valued. They are supportive of you in absolutely every
way.”

Other employees echo the sentiment. In its most recent biannual
employee survey—which is handled by HR and financial consulting firm
Watson Wyatt and boasts an impressive participation rate of 87
percent—MedStar’s Baltimore hospitals surpassed 70 percent in employee
satisfaction, a rating Watson Wyatt considers “world class.”

Merkle

Location: Headquartered in Columbia. Employees: 1,100 nationwide; 450 at Maryland headquarters. Who they are: A marketing company. What we love:Nice building, “Dream Grants,” big rewards. Best benefits: Tuition assistance of up to $7,500 per year, Dream Grants, up to $5,000 for employee referrals, flexible work arrangements.

When Merkle looks for employees, it seeks out seven core attributes:
You’ve got to be smart, curious, have a sense of urgency, be committed
to a vision, be passionate, be an achiever, and be fun. Sounds like a
long list, but nail those traits and you’ll fit in well here, where hard
work is rewarded with ample opportunity to learn and achieve.

In fact, perpetual learning is a key part of the Merkle employee
experience. Case in point: Merkle’s Dream Grants, which let employees
tackle a new experience—from climbing a mountain or surviving in the
wilderness to mastering the art of dog sledding—and all on the company’s
dime.

Employees also pursue learning through the company’s generous
tuition-reimbursement program or by attending Merkle University, an
in-house education and training program led by Chairman and CEO David
Williams.

Of course, it’s always nice to work in style, too. Merkle’s shiny
Columbia headquarters, completed in June 2008, boasts a cafe and coffee
bar (with free fountain drinks, coffee, and espresso machines), casual
lounges with plasma TVs, wireless Internet access, XM satellite radio,
outdoor patios, a company store and pool, and foosball tables. For
health nuts, there’s an on-site gym and fitness classes.

And while Merkle laid off a few employees in early 2008 due to waning
business in the financial services sector, the company has more than
made up for it with growth in the pharmaceutical and retail sectors.
Merkle expects to hire as many as 200 employees in the coming year.

M&T Bank

Location: Baltimore, plus locations nationally and locally. Employees: 14,480 total; 2,439 in greater Baltimore. Who they are: Provider of commercial and retail financial services. What we love: Good benefits, stability, culture of ownership. Best benefits: Employer-paid
pension plan, employee stock purchase program (employees own about 20
percent of the company’s stock), on-site fitness club, tuition
reimbursement, flexible work schedules.

Sure, M&T’s vision statement is a bit bold. After all, the bank
says it strives to “be the best company our employees ever work for, the
best bank our customers ever do business with, and the best investment
our shareholders ever make.” But ask Derrick Lawrence, a vice president
of central operations who has worked his way up through the ranks, and
he’ll tell you M&T delivers. “They take the vision statement very,
very seriously,” says Lawrence. On the employee front, “at every level,
you have access to a tremendous amount of training tools. So you get to
function at your optimal level.”

M&T also encourages bank employees to give back to the community
through community outreach and charitable activities. “We’re part of the
community and we want to be perceived as the bank next door,” says
Lawrence. That means lots of feel-good activities, including chances to
join forces with the Baltimore Ravens in volunteer work. (M&T bought
naming rights to the stadium in 2003.)

Add in good benefits and it all adds up to a workplace that employees
love. Average tenure at the bank is 8.7 years, compared with the
industry average of just 3.9. “I think people like the fact that the
bank goes out of its way to create a very friendly and happy working
environment,” says Lawrence. One last bonus: M&T has been profitable
for 132 consecutive quarters, or 33 years, which means you can add
stability to its list of assets.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (Electronic systems sector)

Location: Headquarters is in Linthicum,
with several other offices locally. (National headquarters moving to
Washington, D.C. area in 2010.) Employees: ES employs
about 21,000 people worldwide, including about 8,500 in Maryland—most of
them in the greater Baltimore area (Northrop Grumman has 120,000
employees worldwide/10,700 employees in Maryland). Who they are: ES designs, develops, and manufactures defense and commercial electronic sensors and systems. What we love: Solid benefits and pay, a commitment to listening to employees and to developing employees’ careers. Best benefits: Homeowners’
discount program, tuition reimbursement, flextime and alternative work
arrangements, subsidized backup child care and adult/elder care.

How’s this for a perk? ES offers an online mentor-matching service. And the partnerships are pretty surprising.

Take ES fellow engineer Chandler Archuleta and director of learning
and development Tracey Draper. On paper, they didn’t look like the
perfect mentoring match. After all, they’re in different fields, right?

But actually, Archuleta says connecting with Draper has been a boon.
“Her knowledge is so valuable,” says Archuleta. “It shows me a
completely different perspective.”

He was seeking someone with experience in leadership. Draper, for her
part, was hoping to give back to the organization after eight years
moving progressively up the leadership ladder. They were soon meeting
informally, with Draper offering suggestions to help Archuleta improve
his management skills. “I don’t want it to ever end,” says Archuleta
with a laugh.

The informal mentoring program, called Mentoring Connection, is just
one part of ES’s efforts to help employees develop professionally. The
company also does speed mentoring—think speed dating but without the
romance. And ES also covers the full cost of tuition and fees for
employees, offers technical and leadership training programs, and has a
career-services center.

There’s more that makes ES appealing, including reward programs for
employees—the most popular has paid out $5.9 million to more than 8,500
participants—a reputation for competitive pay, and flexible work
arrangements. And, of course, there’s the allure of working on
high-tech systems that help protect our nation.

NuStar Energy

Location: Baltimore City. Employees: 1,700 worldwide; 27 in Baltimore. Who they are: A petroleum products and liquid storage facility; transports oil via pipelines; also refines crude oil for asphalt. What we love: No layoffs, small company feel with corporate benefits. Best benefits: Company-funded
pension plan, an all-employee bonus plan that in 2008 averaged 8
percent of pay, health coverage that’s rated the best in the industry by
Hewitt Associates, and a tuition reimbursement plan that pays 80
percent of costs, including books.

If first impressions can be trusted, the one Tim Hutson exudes is all
business. In the flurry of activity that goes along with being terminal
manager of a bustling liquid storage facility, there isn’t a lot of
time for warm fuzzies. But when Hutson talks about his employer, San
Antonio, TX,-based NuStar, he comes surprisingly close to gushing.

“I just can’t say enough about this company,” he says earnestly.
“They take care of their employees.” He should know—Hutson has spent the
past 26 years working his way up the ranks and through various changes
in local management. What he’s come to appreciate most about NuStar:
“They put their money where their mouth is.”

For starters, NuStar has never had a layoff. When business is slow,
employees are put to work on capital improvements or equipment upgrades.
NuStar’s benefits also are notably good, and the company often pitches
in to match employees’ charitable donations and to help improve
staffers’ lives. Hutson’s son, for example, won one of the company’s
$10,000 college scholarships.

It’s the kind of dynamic that breeds fierce loyalty. Last summer,
Hutson had the company’s name painted in 8-foot letters on the side of a
storage tank that’s visible to drivers as they enter the Harbor Tunnel.
“I wanted to put something up there, just for recognition,” he says.
“It’s a matter of pride.”

Raytheon Solipsys

Location: Fulton. Employees: 185. Who they are: A
wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon, Solipsys makes advanced tactical
display and communication systems and integrated command-and-control
networks for Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. What we love: Intriguing work, a culture built on teamwork, good benefits. Best benefits: 401(k)
with 200 percent match on employee contributions up to 4 percent of
salary, tuition reimbursement of up to $7,000 per year, week off between
Christmas and New Year’s.

It’s a cold December Wednesday, but the employees at Solypsis are
warming up inside their shiny new office building with pizza and play.
At the four Nintendo Wii’s stationed around the company’s multipurpose
room, Solipsys employees flaunt their non-work skills—batting, bowling,
and guitar strumming away as their peers look on. It’s all part of Wii
Wednesday, one of Solipsys’s regularly scheduled employee events.

“These people work hard and they play hard,” says human resources
director Robin Goble. The events offer a chance to wind down, connect
with coworkers, and just have fun. And they’re a good way for Solipsys
to say thanks to its employees, who labor to ensure the company’s
command and control products perform “without fail.”

Of course, there are other perks, like paid time off between
Christmas and New Year’s, a generous 401(k) match, an ideal location in a
manicured work-and-play complex, and the chance to contribute to
high-tech defense projects.

TESSCO Technologies

Location: Timonium, Hunt Valley. Employees: 920. Who they are: A publicly traded wireless technology products and solutions supplier. What we love:Close-knit culture, good benefits. Best benefits: Employee
stock purchase plan, annual and quarterly bonus program, tuition
reimbursement up to $5,250, $1,000 toward cost of buying a home.

We don’t have to tell you, recessions stink. But some companies get
through them better than others. When TESSCO started to feel the burn of
a bad economy early in 2009, it made the painful decision to cut pay by
5 percent for employees and 10 percent for management. Ouch. But the
cost-cutting helped TESSCO avoid large-scale layoffs and continue to
grow its business.

And six months later, with business back on track, TESSCO thanked its
employees for their sacrifice in the best way possible, reinstating
everyone’s pay and even paying back the six month’s worth of lost
salary.

The whole thing was a bonding experience, says Suzanne Laleker, the
human resources director. “It went a long way in making people feel as
if they directly contributed to the company and, in return, they were
paid back.”

That symbiotic relationship is part of the culture, which puts real
value on listening and responding to employees. When TESSCO employees
feel they’re due for a raise, for example, they fill out a compensation
adjustment request, in which they can talk up their recent
accomplishments and make their case for more money. “It’s truly a
company that rewards value, so when you think you’ve added value, you go
ahead and tell them,” says marketing associate Paul Garland, who
recently asked for, and got, a raise.

It helps, too, that management is highly accessible, and, thanks to a
no-enclosed-offices layout, often just a cubicle away, says Garland.

The company has made the Forbes list of the 200 best small companies
for three years running and, after a few months of no growth in 2009, is
back on the growth track, which means, yes, they’re hiring.

Under Armour

Location: Locust Point. Employees: 3,000+. Who they are: A publicly held developer, marketer, and distributor of performance apparel, footwear, and accessories. What we love: Energetic and exciting culture, nice offices, and, of course, the employee discount. Best benefits: Stock
options and stock purchase program, annual bonuses, tuition
reimbursement up to $6,000 per year, adoption assistance of up to
$5,000, home-buying assistance of up to $2,000, on-site dining, casual
dress code.

When Under Armour signed on as an official supplier for two teams in
the 2010 Winter Olympics, senior director of innovation and outdoor Nick
Cienski and a product manager flew to snow training camp at Mount Hood,
OR to kickstart the design of the teams’ outerwear. In their luggage: a
sewing machine and a laminator. “We measured the athletes at the
training camp in Oregon, sewed that night, and had them back to the
athletes the next morning,” says Cienski.

“That’s the Under Armour DNA, to get out there and make decisions,”
chimes in Kip Fulks, senior vice president of innovation and outdoor.
Nineteen months, 12 trips, and countless hours of work later, the red,
white, and blue custom-designed gear—which cost about $1 million in
research and development alone—was ready to ship.

As Fulks and Cienski explain how they accommodated the athletes’ need
for tunes by integrating electronics into the clothing or added thumb
hooks for easy cinching, another part of Under Armour’s DNA emerges.
That would be “passion for the product,” which comes directly down from
founder and local-boy-made-good Kevin Plank. The result is a palpable
vibe of excitement that greets you the minute you walk into Under
Armour’s Tide Point offices, which have recently been expanded and
upgraded. One sweet new addition: a fully operational basketball court
that doubles as an auditorium.

Wegmans Food Markets

Location: Hunt Valley, with a new store
opening in Landover in 2010, and future plans for stores in Bel Air,
Columbia, Crofton, Frederick, and Germantown.Employees: 38,000+; about 700 at Hunt Valley store. Who they are: A privately held grocery chain. What we love: Employees-first philosophy, great benefits. Best benefits: Defined contribution retirement plan, scholarship program worth up to $2,200 per year.

When Wegmans sets out to create its infamous “theater of food,” the
first thing it does is think about the actors. That would be the
employees, and Wegmans goes to great lengths to make sure they’re
well-trained and happy.

And it’s not just us saying so. The company has made Fortune
magazine’s list of “100 Best Companies to Work For” each year for the
past 12 years. The grocer stands out, in part, because it offers some
pretty impressive benefits for its field, including health care coverage
for full- and part-time employees—including coverage for same-sex
domestic partners—and a 401(k) with employer match.

Most impressive, though, is the company’s scholarship program: It has paid out more than $71 million over the past 26 years.

How We Found Them
We started our process with a
round of calls to the professionals who deal with employers firsthand:
recruiters, business development leaders, community leaders, and, of
course, employees. To be considered, employers then filled out our
detailed questionnaire, which sought information on 401(k) programs,
health benefits, diversity initiatives, career development offerings,
maternity and parental leave, and much more. In considering companies,
we worked to end up with a mix of large and small companies from a
variety of industries. As always, companies had to be financial healthy
and hiring in the coming year. Our list is not ranked; the employers are
listed in random order.

10 FUN PLACES TO WORK

Orioles: Solid benefits and a culture of promoting from within, not to mention the ballpark views and free O’s games.

The National Aquarium: The Aquarium has positions
that range from “visitors’ services” jobs to marine mammal trainers, and
boasts an upbeat, explorative culture.

Maryland Institute College of Art: MICA has tuition reimbursement, a hearty 403(b) match, and you’re surrounded by creativity.

Millennial Media: This Canton-based mobile
advertising network offers up the fun, fast-paced culture you’d expect
from a startup, plus ample benefits.

Blue Sky Factory: This little Federal Hill tech company offers up solid benefits, bonuses, and a super-casual dress code.

Planit: The fast-paced advertising and marketing
agency has a fun and funky workspace with fabulous harbor views, plus a
beer-stocked bar.

Trader Joe’s: This specialty grocer has a casual, energetic environment, plus a promote-from-within culture.

Baseball Factory: This Columbia-based organization trains players of all ages and advises high school baseball players on the recruiting process.

Ravens: The organization offers game tickets, use of the team’s training facilities, and on-site meals served during the season.

The Baltimore Museum of Art:The BMA has impressive
benefits, a collaborative culture, and it’s one of the few cultural
organizations that avoided layoffs last year.

How does your workplace compare?

It was a tough year for employers, and many couldn’t quite insulate
employees from the pain. Some 60 percent of employers surveyed
nationally by The Society for Human Resource Management in early 2009
reported they’d had to cut back on benefits. What they do offer:

Health Benefits
Percentage of employers offering:
Dental insurance: 96%
Prescription drug coverage: 96%
Chiropractic coverage: 80%
Mental health coverage: 80%
Vision insurance: 76%
Employee assistance program: 75%
Medical flexible spending accounts: 71%
Long-term care insurance: 39%
Domestic partner coverage (opposite sex): 37%
Domestic partner coverage (same sex): 36%
Health care coverage for part-timers: 35%
Acupressure/Acupuncture cost coverage: 28%
Retiree health care coverage: 26%
Laser-based vision correction coverage:19%

Preventive Health and Wellness
Wellness resources and information: 72%
On-site vaccinations: 64%
Wellness programs: 59%
24-hour nurse line: 50%
Smoking cessation program: 39%
Fitness center membership subsidy: 35%
Weight loss program: 30%
On-site fitness center: 21%
Nutritional counseling: 19%
On-site blood pressure machine: 18%
Massage therapy at work: 12%
On-site medical clinic: 5%
On-site nap room: 4%

Financial
Life insurance: 91%
Defined contribution retirement savings plan: 90%
Employer match for defined contribution retirement savings plan: 72%
Undergrad education assistance: 63%
Graduate education assistance: 59%
Employee referral bonus: 52%
Individual investment advice: 38%
Retirement planning services: 35%
Defined benefit pension plan: 29%
Sign-on bonus: 27%
Matching charitable contributions: 19%
Scholarships for employees¹ family members: 17%
Stock options: 16%
Transit subsidy: 13%
Parking subsidy: 10%
Free or discounted home internet service: 6%

Paid Leave
Paid bereavement leave: 90%
Paid jury duty (above that req. by law): 62%
Paid vacation plan: 47%
Paid military leave: 24%
Family leave above FLMA leave: 22%
Paid time off for volunteering: 15%
Paid adoption leave: 15%
Paid paternity leave: 15%
Elder care leave above FLMA: 11%
Paid sabbatical: 5%

Family Friendly Features
Bring child to work in an emergency: 29%
On-site lactation room: 25%
Domestic partner benefits (not including health care coverage): 14%
Child care referral service: 13%
Elder care referral service: 11%
Adoption assistance: 10%
Access to backup childcare service: 5%

Flexible Work Benefits
Casual dress day: 59%
Flextime: 54%
Compressed Workweek: 37%
Telecommuting (full-time): 19%

Other benefits
Mentoring: 22%
Food service/subsidized cafeteria: 21%
Dry cleaning services: 10%
Pet Health insurance: 3%
On-site haircuts: 1%

Source: Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)’s 2009 Employee
Benefits Survey Report