Genentech, Alcon among ‘Best Companies to Work For’

New York-Fortune magazine has named Genentech and Alcon Laboratories to its latest “100 Best Companies to Work For” list.

South San Francisco, CA-based Genentech, with almost 11,000 employees in the United States, is fifth in the 2008 rankings. The achievement marks the company’s 10th consecutive year on the list, a distinction that cannot be claimed by any other biotechnology company, according to Genentech.

This year marks Alcon Laboratories’ 10th consecutive time on the list, too. The company, with almost 6,000 employees in the United States, ranks 60th on the 2008 list, five spots up from last year. Alcon Laboratories noted that Fortune cited the company’s retirement program, which matches employee contributions 2.4:1, as well as its benefits package, financial compensation, and U.S. headquarters campus in Fort Worth, TX.

Fortune worked with the Great Place to Work Institute to compile the list. About 1,500 firms were contacted, and 406 participated. Two-thirds of a company’s score was based on responses from a minimum of 400 randomly selected employees to a 57-question survey of their attitudes about management’s credibility, job satisfaction, and camaraderie. The other one-third of each score was based on a company’s responses to a “culture audit” that included detailed questions about compensation and benefit programs as well as a series of open-ended questions about hiring practices, methods of internal communication, training, recognition programs, diversity efforts, and other issues.

The full list appears in the Feb. 4 issue of Fortune and is available at www.fortune.com/bestcompanies.