Best Places to Work: The 20 Best Companies

Smart Tuition: University of Pennsylvania
Location: West Philly
Industry: Higher education
Local employees: 20,493
Revenue: N/A

Cost of a four-year Penn education for a regular schmoe who walks in off the street: about $150,000. Cost if one of your parents works there: priceless. Well, almost. Penn covers 75 percent of the tuition for children of its employees. Granted, your kids have to be smart enough to actually get in — but even if they’re not quite Penn material, you’re not out of luck. The university’s direct grant program covers a big chunk of tuition at practically any other college in the country. (Currently, the limit is 40 percent of Penn’s tuition, or about $14,000 a year.) 3451 Walnut Street, 215-898-5000, upenn.edu.

Where Women are Part of the Club: Duane Morris, LLP
Location: Center City
Industry: Law
Local employees: 557
Revenue: $336.5 million

The Philly legal world can feel a lot like an old boys’ club, but Duane Morris is doing its best to smash the glass ceiling. “Traditionally, women don’t have quite as many role models for how to develop business as men do,” says partner Sharon Caffrey. The firm’s Women’s Initiative, led by Caffrey, offers networking and mentoring opportunities to female partners and associates, showing them how to be not just better lawyers, but better rainmakers — the people who bring in the dough that make the firm go. That empowering attitude has paid off in attracting both female law-school grads and lateral hires from other firms: 45 percent of Duane Morris associates are women, as are nearly
20 percent of the firm’s partners. 30 South 17th Street, 215-979-1000, duanemorris.com.

Best “Office”: 4 Walls, LLC
Location: Various Locations
Industry: Internet publishing and advertising
Local employees: 10
Revenue: $500,000+

Fitting that 4 Walls, a website that millions visit annually to find apartments and rental homes, has employees work from their homes. The virtual company’s numerous ­technology-based systems allow communication and monitoring to take place wherever, whenever. “The key to creating a great workforce isn’t offering the best salary and benefits packages,” says founder and CEO Ellen Thompson. “It’s about creating an environment where people feel excited about the work they’re doing.” With 4 Walls, you can have whatever sort of office you like. There’s no dress code. You can bring your pet to work. But the best perks: no public restrooms and no commute! Plus, your Internet and home phone are free. 610-649-9500, 4walls.net.

Old School, New School: Quaker Chemical Corporation
Location: Conshohocken
Industry: Chemical specialties
Local employees: 117
Revenue: $460 million

This almost 90-year-old chemical company, which supplies products to the steel, auto and construction industries, among others, has a unique culture that blends the best of an old-school workplace with the opportunities of the new economy. “Even though we’re an international company, we’re still small,” says company rep Jan Waldauer. Quaker’s U.S. headquarters in Conshohocken has fewer than 120 employees — which means politics and bureaucracy don’t reign, and there’s a family feeling. On the more progressive side: Quaker operates around the world, allowing some of its employees the opportunity to spend time in its offices in Amsterdam, Shanghai and Rio. Toss in a summer-hours program, an on-site fitness center and generous retirement benefits, and it’s no surprise the company has such a high stickiness factor: The average employee has been here for 14 years. 901 Hector Street, Conshohocken, 610-832-4000, quakerchem.com.

Pets Rule: Commerce Bank
Location: Cherry Hill
Industry: Banking
Local Employees: 5,000
Revenue: $2.87 billion

There are a lot of reasons to love Commerce, from the Commerce University leadership training program (you can take classes at lunchtime) to the “C-Sticker Program,” in which employees caught “doing it right” are given stickers redeemable for things like boogie boards, beach towels, jackets and charcoal grills. Our favorite perk, though, is the bank’s pet-friendly policy: No, you can’t bring your pooch to work, but Commerce does offer its employees discounts on local pet services, including pet health insurance, boarding and grooming. Here’s hoping its acquisition by Canadian company TD Bank doesn’t change the culture too much. 1701 Route 70 East, Cherry Hill, 888-751-9000, commerceonline.com.

Edited by Amy Strauss and Tom McGrath