Best Places to Work 2011: How the winners were chosen

Companies selected as Best Places to Work in the North Baywere analyzed by the editorial staff of the Business Journal on the basis of several criteria, including the employer application, the survey ratings by employees, the number of responses, size of the company, the breakdown of responses from management and non-management as well as written comments by employees.

In all, 130 companies were nominated, from which 67 winners emerged from Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties.

Winners are grouped by size so that employee scores are comparable.

Nominations for Best Places to Work in the North Bay were sought starting in April. Anyone within a company can nominate their business by completing a simple form. A minimum of 20 employees was required.

Nominated companies were then contacted by the Business Journal and invited to submit a company application and to ask employees to complete an online survey.

The survey was set up through Zoomerang, a widely used online polling service. Companies had four weeks in June and July to complete the application and survey, for which a minimum number of responses was required, depending on company size.

After an analysis of the employer application and online responses, the winners were announced Aug. 19. Winners will be honored at a reception Sept. 29.

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