The Great Place to Work^® Institute has released the list of 100 Best Companies to Work for 2009. We have also covered the lists for 2008 and 2007. Employee-Owned Companies Abound on Fortune Magazine's Top 100 List for 2009 announces that approximately 14% of the companies on the 2009 list are employee owned and cites how the 17th Annual ESOP Economic Performance Survey (EPS) found that 92.4% of members believed that employee ownership was good for business:

January 26, 2009 (Washington, DC) – The recently released list of top 100 companies by Fortune magazine shows that employee owned companies in the U.S. are becoming more prominent. Approximately 14% of the companies on the 2009 list are employee owned.

According to Fortune, a company has to be at least seven years old and have more than 1,000 U.S. employees to be eligible. Fortune conducts an extensive survey of employees to name the top 100 companies. Two-third of the score is based on survey responses and the rest on a Culture Audit which includes information about pay, benefits, demographics, and communications practices, among other criteria. The Great Places to Work Institute created the survey used by Fortune. A list of the top 100 companies can be found here - http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2009/.

"Employee owned companies are out there doing exactly as intended, creating great places to work," said J. Michael Keeling, president of The ESOP Association. "In 2008, an economic performance survey conducted among ESOP Association members showed that 92% of companies believed that employee ownership was good for business. With this in mind, our nation's leaders should be looking to these companies and examining business practices and culture to help make our economy stronger."

One interesting observation: the CNNMoney website allows you to search by benefits, including healthcare, childcare, work-life balance, telecommuting, sabbaticals, and unusual perks. However, one of the biggest and most important benefits, employee ownership, was mysteriously left off the list.