The Best 50 Places To Work In 2012

Several publications produce lists of the best companies to work for. Fortune magazine analyzes metrics like benefits, voluntary turnover, and work/life balance to determine which employers are the best. TheBoston Globesurveys employees at a couple hundred organizations. And while both offer valuable lists, perhaps no ranking can capture the shifting attitudes of employees more accurately than Glassdoor, because it collects that information from thousands of companies year-round.

There are some common traits in all the companies that make this year's list. "Communication," says Robert Hohman, Glassdoor's CEO. "They're really good at refining the mountain, pointing at the mountain, and saying 'that's what we're going to climb.' "