100 Best Companies to Work For  "Not to be confused with the Fortune 100, a subset of the Fortune 500." The 100 Best Companies to Work For is an annual list published by "Fortune" magazine that ranks U.S. companies based on employee happiness and perks"." Like the Fortune 500, the list includes both public and private companies. The list was first published in 1998. Hilton received No. 1 placement in the most recent 2020 ranking. To compile the list, "Fortune" partners with the Great Place to Work Institute to survey a random group of employees from each company. A company's score is based on the "Trust Index Employee Survey" and the "Culture Audit." According to the magazine, the Trust Index "asks questions related to employees' attitudes about management's credibility, overall job satisfaction, and camaraderie." The Culture Audit includes "detailed questions about pay and benefit programs and a series of open-ended questions about hiring practices, methods of internal communication, training, recognition programs, and diversity efforts." Google (part of Alphabet) has been ranked first on the list eight times, since the company's first appearance on the list in 2006. Since then, 2018 was the first year the company was not on the list. Additionally, Wegmans, SAS Institute, W. L. Gore, REI, Goldman Sachs, TDIndustries, Publix, Four Seasons, Whole Foods, The Container Store, Cisco, Marriott, Genentech and Nordstrom have all have been on the list at least 17 times.