Fortune's Best Companies To Work For 2017: Quicken Loans, 3 More Michigan Firms On List

DETROIT, MI — Dan Gilbert’s Quicken Loans is the 10th-best place to work in the United States, according to the latest version Fortune's Best 100 Companies to Work For. The Detroit-based online home lender, which slipped from No. 5 in last year’s ranking, is among four Michigan-based companies that made the elite list.

Others are Stryker, a Kalamazoo-based medical device maker, No. 19, up from 21 last year; Credit Acceptance, a Southfield-based auto lender, No. 43, down from No. 27 last year; and Plante & Moran, a Southfield-based accounting firm, No. 51, down from No. 33 last year.

The internet giant Google topped the list for the eighth time in 11 years. Fortune, which has been ranking workplaces for so years, cited Google’s free gourmet food, haircuts and laundry service for its employees, among many other perks.

In its ranking of Quicken Loans, the editors at Fortune cited colorful headquarters in which workers ride hoverboards and a basketball court that overlooks downtown Detroit. Gilbert, who owns the Cleveland Cavaliers, also handed out more than 1,500 event tickets to employees last year. The company, which employs 13,690 people at 29 work sites and has 849 current job openings, has been on the Fortune list for 14 years.

Stryker, which employs 25,000 people in 197 locations and has 875 job openings, manufactures medical equipment for orthopedics, surgery, neurotechnology and spine treatments. Fortune cited a workforce of “amazingly talented” high achievers. The publicly traded manufacturing company founded in 1941 had revenues of $7.1 billion in 2016. It has been on the Fortune list for seven years.

Employees at Credit Acceptance said “everyone is valued” and the opportunities to grow at the company are “just awesome,” according to Fortune. More than 70 percent of the company’s 1,700 employees in four locations take advantage of flexible scheduling at least once a year. The company, which has been on the list four times, has 175 current job openings. Founded in 1972, the publicly traded company has $825.3 million in revenues in 2016. One staffer told Fortune: “No matter where you started, you have the resources to reach your goals.”

Rounding out the Michigan list was Plante & Moran, which has made the list 19 years of the list’s 20-year history. Every employee gets a miniature ruler on Day One to reinforce the accounting firm’s management philosophy of the Golden Rule. “It’s more than a symbol,” one employee told Fortune. “Caring for others is the cornerstone of our culture.” The company employs 2,165 people at its 20 locations and has 135 current job openings.

The list features 12 companies that have made the ranking every year since the list began 20 years ago, including Publix, REI and Goldman Sachs. Five newcomers to Fortune's list in 2017 are Pinnacle Financial Partners, SAP America, Delta Air Lines, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare and AT&T.

To select the 100 Best Companies to Work For, Fortune and Great Place to Work survey more than 230,000 people. They anonymously assess their workplace, including the quality of their leaders, support for their personal and professional lives and their relationships with colleagues.
Fortune says the Top 10 Best Companies to Work For are:

1. Google
2. Wegmans Food Markets
3. The Boston Consulting Group
4. Baird
5. Edward Jones
6. Genentech
7. Ultimate Software
8. Salesforce
9. Acuity
10. Quicken Loans

View the full list here.

Photo of One Campus Martius, where Quicken Loans is headquartered, by Bnoshoj via Wikimedia Commons