1. Booyah Advertising
2. Anderson Mason Dale Architects
3. Ave Maria Catholic School
4. Live Urban Real Estate
5. West + Main Homes
6. Footers Catering
7. Bloom Healthcare
8. Home Mortgage Alliance LLC
9. Integrity Locums
10. Cain Travel Group Inc.
11. Denver Scholarship Foundation
12. MassMutual Colorado
13. Lokal Homes LLC
14. Visiting Angels of Littleton
15. Done Plumbing & Heating
16. Brothers Plumbing, Heating and Electric
17. All Star Cleaning Services
18. Home Loan & Investment Co.
19. Choozle
20. Larson Financial Inc.
21. Centro
22. Pinnacle Real Estate Advisors
23. Muller engineering Co. Inc.
24. Swinerton Builders
25. Spyderco Inc.
26. GoSpotCheck
27. CORE Consultants
28. RevGen Partners
29. Baron Education
30. Cornerstone Apartment Services Inc.
31. NEI Electric Power Engineering Inc.
32. CyberGRX Inc.
33. Professional Assist Corporation
34. Bradsby Group
35. Billtrust
36. Denver Academy
37. Cooper Heating and Cooling Inc.
38. Vivax Pros
39. ANM
40. Primary Residential Mortgage Inc.
41. Galloway & Co. Inc.
42. Drury Hotels Co. LLC
43. Total Quality Logistics
44. Greystone Technology Group Inc.
45. SambaSafety
46. EMC Insurance
47. Pie Insurance Services Inc.
48. BCER Engineering Inc.
49. CCIG
50. Griffis Residential
51. RE/MAX Alliance
52. Electric Tobacconist
53. ECC-Environmental Chemical Corporation
54. Ulteig
55. Enerplus Resources (USA) Corporation
56. AFC Urgent Care Denver
57. Foster Graham Milstein & Calisher LLP
58. Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc.
59. Entravision Communications Corporation
60. Turner Construction Co.
61. Advanced Assembly
62. American Indian College Fund
63. Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses
64. LT Environmental Inc.
65. Camp Bow Wow (Corporate Division)

Midsize Company Winners

1. RE/MAX Professionals
2. Custom Made Meals
3. Madison & Co. Properties
4. Visiting Angels of Denver
5. Power Home Remodeling Group
6. Applewood Plumbing Heating & Electric
7. Brown and Caldwell
8. Cornerstone Home Lending
9. ezCater
10. Fransen Pittman General Contractors
11. Donor Alliance Inc.
12. Stryker Corp.
13. Ping Identity Corp.
14. Renewal by Andersen
15. 8z Real Estate
16. GSA Region 8
17. Extraction Oil & Gas Inc.
18. Weifield Group Contracting
19. Conga
20. Physician Health Partners
21. Delta Dental of Colorado
22. Burns & McDonnell
23. Risas Dental Management LLC
24. Encompass Health – Home Health and Hospice
25. Guild Education
26. Slalom Consulting
27. LONG Building Technologies
28. Adolfson & Peterson Construction
29. AllHealth Network
30. SEMA Construction Inc.
31. Aimco
32. Personal Capital
33. New York Life Insurance Co.
34. Syncroness inc.
35. Coalfire Systems Inc.
36. OpenTable
37. ICAT
38. The MITRE Corp.
39. Workplace elements
40. Lohmiller & Co. dba Carrier West
41. PorchLight Real Estate Group
42. SpotX
43. Wireless Vision
44. Tallgrass Energy
45. Mortenson Construction
46. Haselden Construction
47. Security Service Federal CU
48. Xactly Corp.
49. General Air Service & Supply

Large Company Winners

1. Salesforce
2. Edward Jones
3. Encore Electric Inc.
4. Progressive Insurance
5. Breckenridge Grand Vacations
6. RingCentral
7. Zillow Group
8. Keysight Technologies
9. Pinnacol Assurance
10. Gusto
11. Booz Allen Hamilton
12. Craig Hospital
13. Greystar
14. Fidelity Investments
15. OnDeck Capital Inc.
16. Charles Schwab & Co.
17. Saunders Construction Inc.
18. Accenture
19. Rose Medical Center
20. FirstBank
21. American Financing
22. USAA
23. Clinica Campesina/Family Health Services
24. Bright Horizons Family Solutions
25. Martin Marietta Materials
26. Mental Health Center of Denver
27. Jefferson Center for Mental Health
28. DaVita Inc.
29. Sturgeon Electric Company Inc.
30. CACI International Inc.
31. UCHealth
32. Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply
33. Vivage Senior Living
34. Nelnet Inc.
35. DSST Public Schools
36. Nutrien/Nutrien Ag Solutions

For the ninth year, The Denver Post has partnered with Philadelphia-based Energage to rank Colorado’s Top Workplaces. The process is based on a scientific survey of employees who rate their workplace culture. It also gives company insights about what makes them unique.

“In times of great change, it is more important than ever to maintain a connection among employees,” said Eric��Rubino,��Energage��CEO. “When you give your employees a voice, you come together to navigate challenges and shape your path forward��based on real-time insights into what works best for your organization.”

The process began in September 2019, when The Post began news coverage and promotions to welcome people to nominate companies as Top Workplaces. Energage also reached out to area companies. Throughout the process, 2,291 employers in the state were invited to have their employees take the survey. Any organization was eligible to participate, provided it had at least 50 employees in Colorado. Employers could be public, private, nonprofit, or governmental. There is no cost to enter the Top Workplaces program.

For 2020, a record 240 employers agreed to take the survey. Combined, they employ 97,288 people in Colorado. Of those employees who received questionnaires, 55,212 responded, either on paper or online. For this year’s winners list, 150 Colorado employers were ranked based on their employee survey feedback.

The employee engagement survey of 24 questions gathers responses regarding issues relating to workplace culture:

• Alignment: where the company is headed, its values, cooperation, effective meetings
• Coaching: managers care about concerns, are helpful, encourage employee development
• Connection: employees feel appreciated, work is meaningful, working at full potential, clued in to each other
• Engagement: productivity, retention, recruiting
• Leadership: confidence in company leaders
• Performance: execution, open-mindedness, innovation, clued-in leadership
• The Basics: pay, benefits, flexibility, training, expectations

Employers that score high enough are recognized as Top Workplaces. Employers are categorized by size, and they are ranked within those size groups, to accurately compare results. Energage also determines special award winners based on standout scores on specific survey topics.

Did you look over the list and wonder why a particular company was not on it? It might be because it chose not to participate, or because it did not score well enough in the survey process. Energage occasionally disqualifies employers based on questionable results detected through statistical tests it runs to ensure organizations are accurately administering the survey.

Want your organization to participate in the 2021 program? Just go to denverpost.com/nominate to submit a nomination.

Editor’s note: The information contained in this list was taken from the Energage database — information provided by the businesses themselves. It was done pre-pandemic, so it’s possible some of the information is dated, but it is representative of the state of the companies when the survey was done and when the top 150 list was decided.

See the small- and medium-sized category winners here.��

No. 1

Salesforce

Years named: 1

Founded: 1999

Headquarters: San Francisco, Calif.

Employees: 40,000, with 508 in Colorado

Locations: 2 in Colorado

No. 2

Edward Jones

Years named: 8

Founded: 1922

Headquarters: St. Louis, Mo.

Employees: 47,317, with 855 in Colorado

Locations: 373 in Colorado

No. 3

Encore Electric Inc.

Years named: 2

Founded: 2003

Headquarters: Lakewood

Employees: 856, with 770 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

No. 4

Progressive Insurance

Years named: 3

Founded: 1937

Headquarters: Mayfield Village, Ohio

Employees: 39,966, with 2,483 in Colorado

Locations: 4 in Colorado

Facts: Progressive was the first auto insurance group to launch a website, the first publicly held company to report results monthly, and the first insurance company to offer pet injury coverage.

No. 5

Breckenridge Grand Vacations

Years named: 6

Founded: 1985

Headquarters: Breckenridge

Employees: 630

Locations: 1

Facts: Breckenridge Grand Vacations is a family-owned company that builds, sells and manages fractional resorts in Breckenridge.

No. 6

RingCentral

Years named: 6, 4 consecutive

Founded: 2003

Headquarters: Belmont, Calif.

Employees: 4,048, with 616 in Colorado

Locations: 2 in Colorado

Facts: RingCentral empowers employees to work better together from any location using its unified voice, video meetings, team messaging, digital customer engagement, and integrated contact center solutions.

No. 7

Zillow Group

Years named: 4

Founded: 2006

Headquarters: Seattle

Employees: 5,200, with 506 in Colorado

Locations: 3 in Colorado

Facts: Zillow Group is an online database of real estate and home-related companies that focus on all stages of the home lifecycle: renting, buying, selling, financing and home improvement.

No. 8

Keysight Technologies

Years named: 2

Founded: 2014

Headquarters: Santa Rosa, Calif.

Employees: 13,480, with 896 in Colorado

Locations: 3 in Colorado

Facts: Keysight manufactures equipment and software to design, test, manufacture and optimize electronics technology.

No. 9

Pinnacol Assurance

Years named: 4

Founded: 1915

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 656

Locations: 1

Facts: Pinnacol Assurance provides workers compensation protection to 57,000 Colorado employers and their employees.

No. 10

Gusto

Years named: 3

Founded: 2011

Headquarters: San Francisco

Employees: 700, with 693 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: Gusto processes tens of billions of dollars of payroll and enables thousands of businesses to provide employee benefits, including health insurance, retirement plans and college savings plans.

No. 11

Booz Allen Hamilton

Years named: 1

Founded: 1914

Headquarters: McLean, Va.

Employees: 27,000 with 611 in Colorado

Locations: 2

Facts: Booz Allen Hamilton is a consulting firm with experts in analytics, digital, engineering, and cybersecurity that helps clients choose the right strategy and technology to realize their vision.

No. 12

Craig Hospital

Years named: 7

Founded: 1907

Headquarters: Englewood

Employees: 1,056

Locations: 1

Facts: Craig Hospital is a nonprofit rehabilitation and research hospital that exclusively specializes in the neurorehabilitation and research of patients with spinal cord and brain injuries.

No. 13

Greystar

Years named: 2

Founded: 1993

Headquarters: Greenwood Village

Employees: 14,800, including 688 in Colorado

Locations: 85 in Colorado

Facts: Greystar provides property management services for residential housing, apartment homes, furnished corporate housing, and mixed-use properties that incorporate retail space.

No. 14

Fidelity Investments

Years named: 4, 2 consecutive

Founded: 1946

Headquarters: Boston

Employees: 40,000, with 900 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: Fidelity offers financial and retirement planning services and was one of the first U.S. companies to provide student loan repayment assistance to employees. More than 330 Colorado employees have saved $1.3 million since the program started in 2016.

No. 15

OnDeck Capital Inc.

Years named: 1

Founded: 2007

Headquarters: New York

Employees: 736, with 576 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: OnDeck has issued more than $12 billion in loans to more than 100,000 small businesses in more than 700 industries since the company was founded in 2007.

No. 16

Charles Schwab & Co.

Years named: 8

Founded: 1971

Headquarters: San Francisco

Employees: 19,500, with 4,136 in Colorado

Locations: 8 in Colorado

Facts: Charles Schwab offers a full range of securities brokerage, banking, money management and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisors.

No. 17

Saunders Construction Inc.

Years named: 3

Founded: 1972

Headquarters: Englewood

Employees: 539

Locations: 3

Facts: Saunders Construction is one of Colorado’s largest construction contractors and provides design-build, public-private partnership and commercial real estate development services.

No. 18

Accenture

Years named: 4, 3 consecutive

Founded: 1951

Headquarters: Philadelphia

Employees: 15,000, including 1,056 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: Accenture provides professional services in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations.

No. 19

Rose Medical Center

Years named: 6

Founded: 1948

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 1,200 with 1,110 in Colorado

Locations: 1

Facts: Rose Medical Center is a leader in comprehensive women’s health, surgical and endoscopy services, heart and vascular, orthopedics and spine surgery, total joint replacement, bariatrics, and sports, internal and aesthetic medicine. It was the first Denver hospital to allow Jewish, African American and female physicians to practice medicine.

No. 20

FirstBank

Years named: 9

Founded: 1963

Headquarters: Lakewood

Employees: 3,011, including 2,829 in Colorado

Locations: 110 in Colorado

Facts: Colorado’s largest locally-owned bank offers retail banking and financing solutions to consumers and businesses.

No. 21

American Financing

Years named: 3

Founded: 2001

Headquarters: Aurora

Employees: 533

Locations: 1

Facts: American Financing is a family-owned, minority-owned mortgage banker licensed in all 50 states that specializes in residential mortgages and home refinancing.

No. 22

USAA

Years named: 6

Founded: 1922

Headquarters: San Antonio, Texas

Employees: 34,850, with 1,910 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: USAA is a diversified financial services group originally formed by a group of Army officers who wanted to self-insure each other and formed the United States Army Automobile Association. USAA has since expanded to offer banking and insurance services to past and present members of the Armed Services.

No. 23

Clinica Campesina/Family Health Services

Years named: 8, 5 consecutive

Founded: 1977

Headquarters: Lafayette

Employees: 659, with 625 in Colorado

Locations: 5 in Colorado

Facts: Clinica plays a critical role in providing primary health care services to low-income and/or uninsured Colorado residents.

No. 24

Bright Horizons Family Solutions

Years named: 8

Founded: 1986

Headquarters: Watertown, Mass.

Employees: 32,388, with 818 in Colorado

Locations: 8 in Colorado

Facts: Bright Horizons operates more than 1,000 child care centers worldwide and partners with more than 1,100 leading employers across nearly every industry.

No. 25

Martin Marietta Materials

Years named: 2

Founded: 1993

Headquarters: Raleigh, N.C.

Employees: 9,000, with 1,366 in Colorado

Locations: 50 in Colorado

Facts: Martin Marietta, the largest underground miner of limestone in the U.S., is a leading supplier of building materials, including aggregates, cement, ready mix concrete and asphalt.

No. 26

Mental Health Center of Denver

Years named: 8

Founded: 1989

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 818

Locations: 32

Facts: The Mental Health Center of Denver serves people with mental illness, trauma, and co-occurring substance abuse disorders. The center provides a walk-in clinic and respite care as part of a statewide network of mental health, substance use and emotional crisis help.

No. 27

Jefferson Center For Mental Health

Years named: 8

Founded: 1958

Headquarters: Wheat Ridge

Employees: 620

Locations: 18

Facts: The Jefferson Center has served as a nonprofit, community-focused mental health care and substance use treatment provider for more than 60 years. The center is part of the statewide mental health crisis system.

No. 28

DaVita Inc.

Years named: 8, 2 consecutive

Founded: 1999

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 60,000, with 2,735 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: Davita provides kidney dialysis services through more than 3,000 outpatient dialysis centers in the United States and other countries.

No. 29

Sturgeon Electric Company Inc.

Years named: 8

Founded: 1912

Headquarters: Henderson

Employees: 1200, with 908 in Colorado

Locations: 6 in Colorado

Facts: Sturgeon Electric Company provides commercial and industrial electrical construction services, telecommunication services, traffic signals, and high voltage distribution, service and maintenance. Company founder, Dwight “D.D.” Sturgeon, put up the first outdoor Christmas light display to cheer up his sick son.

No. 30

CACI International Inc.

Years named: 3

Founded: 1962

Headquarters: Arlington, Va.

Employees: 22,000, with 1,279 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: CACI International provides information technology services to many branches of the federal government, including defense, homeland security, intelligence, and healthcare.

No. 31

UCHealth

Years named: 7

Founded: 2012

Headquarters: Aurora

Employees: 24,540

Locations: 200

Facts: The UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital is a Level I trauma center and the principal teaching hospital for the University of Colorado School of Medicine. U.S. News and World Report ranked the hospital the best in Colorado and the 15th best in the nation.

No. 32

Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply

Years named: 1

Founded: 1994

Headquarters: Bozeman, Mont.

Employees: 1,630, with 599 in Colorado

Locations: 13 in Colorado

Facts: Murdoch’s operates stores in five states and an e-commerce website.

No. 33

Vivage Senior Living

Years named: 2

Founded: 2012

Headquarters: Lakewood

Employees: 3,230, with 2,102

Locations: 31

Facts: Vivage is the largest skilled nursing Medicaid provider in Colorado and offers post-acute rehabilitation, senior living, and long-term care, including home health, hospice and pharmacy services.

No. 34

Nelnet Inc.

Years named: 1

Founded: 1978

Headquarters: Lincoln, Neb.

Employees: 6,200, with 520 in Colorado

Locations: 2

Facts: Nelnet helps students and families plan and pay for their education and makes the administrative processes for schools more efficient with student loan servicing, tuition payment processing, school administration software, and college planning resources.

No. 35

DSST Public Schools

Years named: 6, 4 consecutive

Founded: 2004

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 867

Locations: 16

Facts: DSST, formerly known as the Denver School of Science and Technology, is a public charter STEM network of 14 schools on eight campuses. Operated in partnership with Denver Public Schools, DSST is one of the top 200 public high schools in the U.S.

No. 36

Nutrien/Nutrien Ag Solutions

Years named: 1

Founded: 2018

Headquarters: Loveland

Employees: 22,000, with 757 in Colorado

Locations: 5

Facts: Nutrien is the world’s largest fertilizer company and produces and distributes 27 million metric tons of potash, nitrogen and phosphate products worldwide.

“The more complex it is, the better we are,” says Meg VanderLaan, Encore Electric chief marketing officer. “We excel at the projects that are complicated and highly technical like hospitals, universities, data centers, office structures and museums.”

The company wins awards for safety and quality. In April, Encore Electric won a 2020 Associated General Contractors Construction Risk Partners Build America Award in the category of Specialty Contractor for their work on the Gaylord of the Rockies Resort. In 2019, Encore Electric was named the Construction Safety Excellence Award Grand Award winner by the AGC and Willis Towers Watson. Encore Electric was honored for its safety record and safety culture and was considered the “safest company in the nation.”

“We’ve always had a strong safety culture,” VanderLaan says. That’s one of the reasons why our employees stay with us.”

Encore Electric also has been honored with the 2019 Colorado Apprentice Award for Outstanding Employer from the Business Experiential-Learning Commission, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, the Colorado Department of Higher Education and the Colorado Workforce Development Council. The award recognized five Colorado employers for their apprenticeship programs and efforts to further awareness.

The company recognizes the need to not only train the technicians of the future but also to recruit them. That’s why Encore Electric has created the “Exit the Room, Enter a Career,” mobile escape room. The mobile lab allows students to learn about electrical design technology, how electricity works, and what it’s like to be an electrician. The company takes the mobile lab to middle and high schools to spark an interest in a career as an electrician or in technology solutions, VanderLaan says.

Since launching the lab in August 2019, it made 150 stops before the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily halted its use, VanderLaan says.

In addition to focusing on quality work and safety, Encore Electric also commits to charitable giving.

The company holds an annual Encore Gives! Day where employees give up a Saturday and bring friends and family to volunteer at events like trail restorations, river cleanups, and yard maintenance for non-profit organizations in Glenwood Springs, Eagle, Denver, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins. Team members also volunteered to do park maintenance north of Cheyenne, Wyo. More than 75 employees volunteered last fall.

“We believe that we belong in the communities where we live and work,” VanderLaan says. “And we want to contribute to that community.”

No. 3

Encore Electric Inc.

Years named: 2

Founded: 2003

Headquarters: Lakewood

Employees: 856, with 770 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

“Regardless of what happens with COVID-19 and the challenges it presents now, and in the months ahead, it’s important to have financial goals,” says Todd Young, Edward Jones financial adviser and regional leader for 60 branch offices in the Denver metro area.

“People are still building plans to send their kids to college. They are still preparing for retirement,” Young says. “It’s critical to be able to work with someone one-on-one who will take the time to understand what you need and help you build strategies to meet your goals. You need someone who can help you navigate the next days and the months ahead.”

Young knows his clients, especially those who may be retired or are nearing retirement, are especially nervous about the future. That’s why he and his associates have been proactive about reaching out to clients to let them know there’s a plan that’s appropriate for them.

Edward Jones, founded in 1922, has 373 locations in Colorado. In addition to working to help its clients, Edward Jones also works to support the communities it serves. Volunteerism is a vital component of the firm’s culture.

“We all feel very fortunate that we get to do what we do, so we contribute our time to giving back,” Young says.

Edward Jones raised more than $3.3 million in 2018 for the Alzheimer’s Association annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s. As a presenting sponsor for the event, the company’s total contribution topped $6 million. In Colorado, the company organized 39 Walks to End Alzheimer’s that drew 314 participants and raised more than $56,000.

Looking to the future, Edward Jones plans to continue recruiting more high-caliber financial advisers and will continue its Goodknight mentorship programs to ensure new associates are successful. The company devotes 24% of net profits annually — $229 million in 2018 — to profit sharing for associates who have been employed six months or more and work at least 20 hours a week.

“Our philosophy is we work together, we share our financial rewards, and that brings out the best in everyone,” Young says. “That’s something that personally I cherish.”

No. 2

Edward Jones

Years named: 8

Founded: 1922

Headquarters: St. Louis, Mo.

Employees: 47,317, with 855 in Colorado

Locations: 373 in Colorado

The company, which is named for the street where its founders, Todd Narlinger and Michael Turra, had their first investment property, has six offices in the Denver metro area. Madison & Co. Properties is committed to providing a high-quality experience for buyers, sellers, and its agents.

“Our company prides itself on providing a collaborative team environment with an extensive mentoring program that provides structured training, professional coaching, business planning, and a boutique culture that celebrates young professions as well as embrace family lifestyles,” says Shannon Cruz, director of agent development and operations.

When Cruz joined the company in October, she was impressed by the culture.

“Madison really hits a home run on that end,” she says. “There’s a lot of collaboration. No one is afraid they will say too much. No one is too good to train another broker or give them advice. We’re all in this together to provide the best possible service.”

To do that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has worked to be flexible and recognize that its brokers now have additional demands on their time.

“Everything just shut down. We had brokers who all of a sudden had to also become school teachers,” she says. “We recognized that and are working to adjust to a new way of living and working.”

The company’s brokers also continually work together to discuss new initiatives and create new processes.

“We want to make sure we’re always in front of the game and provide the very best in technology, support and training,” Cruz says.

No. 3

Madison & Co. Properties

Years named: 7

Founded: 2008

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 161

Locations: 6

Logo: Yes

“We relish the challenge that digital presents and thrive most when we’re solving problems for our clients,” says Aubree Cross, Booyah head of marketing.

With its team of 70-plus experts, Booyah builds and optimizes ad campaigns for Google, Facebook and Amazon. It also helps businesses navigate policy and determine the most effective options.

“Digital is a more complicated, fragmented, difficult-to-understand landscape than it’s ever been,” Cross says. “That’s where we are at our best and offer the most value to brands. Through the pandemic, we’ve been in a position to leverage our problem-solving skills and attitude to aid clients in one of their most intense times of need.”

Although Booyah works in TV and print advertising, the agency’s focus is digital.

“In short, digital sells itself. The spreadsheet does the selling and showcases all the evidence of digital’s impact on brands’ businesses. You pay $1 for a click, and you can be confident that the click a) actually happened, and b) led to some further action (or at least visitation) on your website,” Cross says. “We also love that, because of its inherent trackability, there’s nothing subjective about digital. The data is the data. Performance in traditional media relies so much on subjective tastes or whether someone likes the aesthetic of the TV or print ad. Digital is the most addressable, defensible, trackable, best media there is, especially now, in the face of historical digital consumption as more and more consumers stay home.”

Booyah offers an appealing work environment and doesn’t have trouble recruiting employees.

“It’s so easy to bring people to Colorado. As soon as they buy a house, we know we have them forever,” Cross says.

The agency is committed to training and offers a robust benefits package.

“We have dedicated director-level experts in each of the digital disciplines (search, display, social, organic, Amazon, etc.) whose role is to train and facilitate the growth of our employees. Through in-depth onboarding, regular training sessions, and easy access to reps at Google, Facebook, etc., our employees are set on a path for rapid learning and growth,” Cross says.

Company benefits include no-cost medical insurance options, free parking, and subsidized meal cards from local eateries, plus unlimited paid time off after the first year, flexible working hours, quarterly team events, and a dog-friendly office.

The company also holds an annual Shark Tank-type competition where anyone at the agency can pitch ideas for helping clients or improving the company culture. And Booyah likes to make sure it also has fun with events like an annual ski day, a yearly Rockies baseball outing, Halloween and winter holiday parties, an annual agency kickball tournament, and quarterly team outings like go-kart racing.

also rewards loyalty with anniversary gifts. For example, after five years with the company, the award is a vacation, complete with air travel and hotel credits, as well as a stipend for meals and activities.

No. 1

Booyah Advertising

Years named: 1

Founded: 2001

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 71, with 70 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

They know that the teachers, students, parents and staff make working at Ave Maria special, says Elizabeth Leach, the school’s marketing director.

“There is an undeniable sense of caring and respect for every person who enters through our doors. Our teachers are committed and dedicated to the education and success of all their students. They chose to work at Ave Maria because they believe in our mission of educating the whole child, and they see that mission come to fruition every day on our campus.”

The school, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2020, serves about 500 students in preschool through eighth grade. It focuses on the education and development of the whole person (spiritual, moral, intellectual, physical, social, and emotional) to allow each student to achieve full potential through Catholic teaching, challenging academics, and strong community involvement.

One of the school’s most significant challenges this year has been adapting to keep faculty and students safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The administration at Ave Maria has been working all summer long to create contingency plans for several possible scenarios for a safe return to school this fall,” Leach says. “It has been an exhaustive process.”

The school consulted with Tri-County Health, community physicians, and followed CDC recommendations to create guidelines and processes to allow both on-campus classes and a full-time distance learning option when the new school year starts on Aug. 13.

“We’ve made improvements to our facilities such as hands-free amenities, air purification systems, and enhanced cleaning services and times,” Leach says.

Teachers participated in creating policies for the new school year, she says. “Our highest priority is the health and safety of our teachers and students,” Leach says.

“We wanted to make sure that they felt comfortable and safe to return to school if they chose too. In addition to the enhancements to our facilities, which also benefit our teachers and staff and students, we’ve increased the PPE options for our teachers to utilize throughout the school year. ”

Ave Maria Catholic School

Years named: 8, 4 consecutive

Founded: 2000

Headquarters: Parker

Employees: 50

Locations: 1

Before the pandemic hit, Colorado’s economy was cruising along with a 2.5% unemployment rate.

Two of the state’s top economists predict Colorado will finish the year with about 130,000 fewer jobs than when it started.

“I think job growth will continue through the rest of the year, albeit at a slower pace than we’ve experienced in the past,” says Rich Wobbekind, senior economist with the Leeds School of Business Research Division at the University of Colorado-Boulder. “I anticipate a long road to recovery.”

Brian Lewandowski, executive director of the business research division at Leeds School of Business, says the hardest hit industries will be tourism, retail, restaurants, and health care. Other professions, including engineering, architecture, and software development, proved more resilient.

“We’ve seen some bounce back after the spring, but the bigger question is how the economy will perform this fall and winter,” he says.

Signs of recovery

Although COVID-19 hit Colorado tourism hard, some areas see a rebound this summer as campgrounds and rentals fill up with people eager to get out and have a summer vacation, Lewandowski says.

Some retail locations, like the outlet mall in Castle Rock, have performed better than expected, he adds. “With its open-air environment, the mall appeals to people who were eager to get back outside and have a more normal experience.”

But it’s too early to guess what will happen with the mountain resorts this winter, Lewandowski says. “It all will depend on if the virus resurges and when a vaccine is available.”

Many employers have been able to recall workers, and some have been able to expand.

“Colorado is doing better than the average for the rest of the country,” Wobbekind says. “But we’re not in the top five for growth like we have been the past few years.”

Diversified economy

Colorado’s economy is a bit more diversified now than it has been in past economic downturns, but the state still relies heavily on energy production.

Colorado is a top 10 energy-producing state for oil and natural gas, but that only accounts for 3 percent of the state’s gross domestic product, Lewandowski says. Still, the drop in oil prices has hurt the state and especially counties that rely on oil production like Weld County, which produces 90 percent of the state’s oil.

The good news is some industries are seeing growth, Wobbekind says. “We have grown in sectors that are not being as adversely affected now like biotech and cloud computing.”

And new businesses continue to consider relocating to Colorado.

In June, the Colorado Economic Development Commission awarded $14.8 million in incentives to four companies that could bring 1,217 jobs to the state. Most of those jobs would pay more than $125,000 a year.

Michelle Hadwiger, deputy director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development, said companies in Japan, Korea and Europe, especially in bioscience and manufacturing, also are considering Colorado.

Need for office space

One of the future’s most significant question marks is what will happen to all the state’s office space.

Many companies announced that employees could continue to work remotely through 2020 and even until the spring or fall of 2021. “We’ve seen a lot of evidence that companies are not rushing back to the office,” Lewandowski says.

Employees have adapted to working from home, and employers have learned they can function efficiently with remote workers.

Gary Nafus, Salesforce senior vice president for enterprise sales, says the workplace of tomorrow looks very different from March’s workplace.

“We are responding to the new realities of physical distancing and redesigning all our workspaces, including employee working floors, meeting rooms, kitchens and social lounges, coffee bars, building lobbies, elevator cabs, reception areas and more,” he says.

The COVID-19 pandemic will change the future of work forever, Nafus says. “Nearly 70% of people believe the pandemic will permanently change the nature of work, and more than 50% say that flexible work locations are very important to them. An all-digital, work-from-anywhere world is becoming the new normal.”

That change may mean a glut of available office space and put more pressure on already struggling retail and restaurant operations in areas like downtown Denver that once were packed with office workers, Lewandowski says. “Can they survive if the workers don’t return?”

As employees continue to work from home, Wobbekind predicts that demand for high-speed internet service will increase in more residential areas.

Changing workforce

The pandemic has created at least one positive change. It’s driving up wages for some workers at businesses like Amazon and Kroger, King Soopers parent company.

“Despite the GDP plunging 33%, wages went up in the second quarter,” Wobbekind says. “That could be beneficial for closing the wage gap.”

Many of the industries that have been hardest hit by the pandemic are those with the lowest wages: restaurants, retail, leisure, and entertainment.

Both Lewandowski and Wobbekind hope that many unemployed workers can seek new training opportunities that will help them find better-paying jobs as the economy improves.

“There will be a lot of possibilities with new things that open up,” Wobbekind says. “For now, people will have to do the best they can and maybe look at free educational opportunities so they can try to upgrade their skills. That way, when the time comes, and the bell rings, you’re ready to get going.”

Editor’s note: The information contained in this list was taken from the Energage database — information provided by the businesses themselves. It was done pre-pandemic, so it’s possible some of the information is dated, but it is representative of the state of the companies when the survey was done and when the top 150 list was decided.

No. 4

Visiting Angels of Denver

Years named: 7, 5 consecutive

Founded: 2008

Headquarters: Wheat Ridge

Employees: 160

Locations: 3

Facts: Visiting Angels of Denver provides supportive home care services for seniors and adults that allow them to safely stay in their homes and provide peace of mind to their families.

No. 5

Power Home Remodeling Group

Years named: 3

Founded: 1992

Headquarters: Chester, Penn.

Employees: 2,600, with 165 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: Power a full-service, sustainable exterior home remodeler, provides energy-serving solutions with its product line of windows, siding, roofing, doors, solar roofing panels, and attic insulation.

No. 6

Applewood Plumbing Heating & Electric

Years named: 7, 4 consecutive

Founded: 1973

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 165

Locations: 1

Facts: Applewood Plumbing Heating & Electric, which is known for its bright orange trucks, is one of Colorado’s only family-owned plumbing, heating, drain cleaning, cooling and electrical repair companies.

No. 7

Brown and Caldwell

Years named: 1

Founded: 1947

Headquarters: Walnut Creek, Calif.

Employees: 1,753, with 163 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: Brown and Caldwell’s two founders had the vision to create a full-service environmental engineering and construction firm. The company works to safeguard water, maintain infrastructure, and restore habitats to help communities thrive.

No. 8

Cornerstone Home Lending

Years named: 7

Founded: 1988

Headquarters: Houston, Texas

Employees: 1,575, with 226 in Colorado

Locations: 53 in Colorado

Facts: With more than 80 offices in 18 states, Cornerstone Home Lending is a full-service residential mortgage banker. Cornerstone’s home loan transactions are handled in-house to ensure the company meets its agreed-upon closing date.

No. 9

ezCater

Years named: 2

Founded: 2007

Headquarters: Boston

Employees: 884, with 234 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: ezCater connects businesses with more than 70,000 caterers and restaurants across the U.S. to make it easy to order food online for everything from office lunches to offsite client meetings. ezCater offers a curated list of the best business caterers for 22,743 cities and towns across the United States.

No. 10

Fransen Pittman General Contractors

Years named: 3

Founded: 1994

Headquarters: Englewood

Employees: 187

Locations: 2

Facts: Fransen Pittman is a premier Colorado-based construction company that specializes in buildings that transform communities and the lives of the people working, learning and living in them. The company participates in the Environmental Leadership Program for Colorado and was the only construction company to receive the Silver Environment Leader award.

No. 11

Donor Alliance Inc.

Years named: 6, 5 consecutive

Founded: 1985

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 152, with 150 in Colorado

Locations: 4

Facts: Donor Alliance is the organ and tissue procurement agency for Colorado and most of Wyoming. The not-for-profit organization serves nearly a million residents and more than 110 hospitals.

No. 12

Stryker Corporation

Years named: 1

Founded: 1941

Headquarters: Kalamazoo, Mich.

Employees: 33,000, with 305 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: Stryker is one of the world’s leading medical technology companies and offers innovative products and services that help improve patient and hospital outcomes.

No. 13

Ping Identity Corp.

Years named: 6, 3 consecutive

Founded: 2002

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 938, with 376 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: Ping Identity provides cloud identity security solutions to more than 800 of the world’s largest companies, government organizations and cloud businesses. Ping Identity’s services allow more than 42 members of the Fortune 100 to secure the information of hundreds of millions of employees, customers and partners.

No. 14

Renewal by Andersen

Years named: 6

Founded: 2011

Headquarters: Smithfield, Rhode Island

Employees: 1,200, 294 in Colorado

Locations: 5 in Colorado

Facts: Renewal by Andersen serves more than 100 markets in the United States and has become one of the largest window replacement window companies in the country since opening its first store in Minnesota in 1995. The company has installed nearly 3 million windows.

No. 15

8z Real Estate

Years named: 6

Founded: 2009

Headquarters: Boulder

Employees: 190, 187 in Colorado

Locations: 15 in Colorado

Facts: 8z Real Estate was formed in a cramped Boulder office with the revolutionary notion that the real estate experience was broken and needed to be fixed for both consumers and agents. The company now has 15 offices and more than 150 agents throughout Colorado. 8z Real Estate provides in-house mortgage, title, rentals, and insurance services.

No. 16

GSA Region 8

Years named: 2

Founded: 1949

Headquarters: Washington, D.C.

Employees: 11,000, with 354 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: GSA Region 8 works strategically to spur economic development in the communities it serves. The agency awarded nearly $80 million in contracts to small businesses in fiscal year 2019.

No. 17

Extraction Oil & Gas Inc.

Years named: 4

Founded: 2013

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 324, 320 in Colorado

Locations: 2 in Colorado

Facts: Extraction Oil & Gas is a Denver-based domestic exploration and production company that uses the latest in energy development technology and focuses primarily to develop oil and natural gas resources in the Denver-Julesburg Basin.

No. 18

Weifield Group Contracting

Years named: 9

Founded: 2002

Headquarters: Centennial

Employees: 541, with 465 in Colorado

Locations: 2 in Colorado

Facts: Weifield Group Contracting, a national leader in cutting-edge electrical construction, builds energy-efficient buildings in Colorado, Texas and Wyoming.

No. 19

Conga

Years named: 2

Founded: 2006

Headquarters: Broomfield

Employees: 515, with 280 in Colorado

Locations: 1

Facts: Conga, which is the top paid application on the Salesforce App Exchange, has spent more than a decade creating products that simplify and automate data, documents, contracts and reporting. One of the founders came up with the company’s name because it����ap products work like a conga line.

No. 20

Physician Health Partners

Years named: 8, 4 consecutive

Founded: 1996

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 242, with 238 in Colorado

Locations: 2

Facts: Physician Health Partners works with PHPprime and Colorado Community Health Alliance to provide health care to more than 500,000 Coloradans in Denver and Colorado Springs.

No. 21

Delta Dental of Colorado

Years named: 1

Founded:1968

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 194

Locations: 1

Facts: Delta Dental of Colorado helps its customers create healthy smiles by providing dental care benefits to its 1.4 million customers.

No. 22

Burns & McDonnell

Years named: 9

Founded: 1898

Headquarters: Kansas City, Mo.

Employees: 7,580, with 254 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: Burns & McDonnell is an employee-owned company with more than 7,500 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists and consultants. It provides design and engineering services in a variety of industries ranging from telecommunications and transportation to municipal, military and manufacturing.

No. 23

Risas Dental Management LLC

Years named: 3, 2 consecutive

Founded: 2011

Headquarters: Phoenix, Ariz.

Employees: 720, with 206 in Colorado

Locations: 7 in Colorado

Facts: Risas Dental focuses on providing quality,k affordable dental care and braces.

No. 24

Encompass Health

Years named: 7, 3 consecutive

Founded: 1998

Headquarters: Dallas, Texas

Employees: 12,500, with 279 in Colorado

Locations: 7 in Colorado

Facts: Encompass Health is one of the country’s largest Medicare-certified home health and hospice service providers in the nation. The company provides skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and additional services from more than 300 branch offices.

No. 25

Guild Education

Years named: 1

Founded: 2015

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 406, with 404 in Colorado

Locations: 1

Facts: Guild Education works with leading employers including Walmart, The Walt Disney Company, Lowe’s, Chipotle and Discover to build strategic higher education programs for their employees. Its programs help adult learners with programs including high school completion, trade programs, and associate, bachelor and master’s degrees.

No. 26

Slalom Consulting

Years named: 9

Founded: 2001

Headquarters: Seattle

Employees: 7,800, with 324 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: Slalom is a business and technology consulting firm focused on strategy, technology, and business transformation. The company has strong partnerships with more than 200 leading technology providers including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Tableau.

No. 27

LONG Building Technologies

Years named: 6

Founded: 1965

Headquarters: Littleton

Employees: 440, with 251 in Colorado

Locations: 4 in Colorado

Facts: LONG Building using building technology services to make commercial, institutional, and industrial facilities of all types and sizes automated, efficient, green and safe.

No. 28

Adolfson & Peterson Construction

Years named: 4, 3 consecutive

Founded: 1946

Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minn.

Employees: 709, with 315 in Colorado

Locations: 1

Facts: Adolfson & Peterson Construction is a family-owned company that offers preconstruction and construction services to the commercial, education, healthcare, hospitality, industrial, multifamily, municipal, recreation and senior living industries.

No. 29

AllHealth Network

Years named: 2

Founded: 1955

Headquarters: Englewood

Employees: 421

Locations: 13

Facts: AllHealth Network provides behavioral healthcare to more than 17,000 children, adults and older adults, families and couples. Its services include counseling, psychiatry, crisis services, substance abuse treatment, an adult acute treatment unit, services offered to the criminal justice system, vocational and social rehabilitation, school-based services and an on-site pharmacy.

No. 30

SEMA Construction Inc.

Years named: 3

Founded: 1991

Headquarters: Centennial

Employees: 550, with 351 in Colorado

Locations: 1

Facts: SEMA Construction is a full-service contractor that provides civil and industrial construction services. Approximately 80 percent of its business comes from government contracts awarded through a competitive bid process.

No. 31

Aimco

Years named: 8

Founded: 1994

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 972, with 306 in Colorado

Locations: 10 in Colorado

Facts: Aimco is a Real Estate Investment Trust headquartered in Denver that is one of the largest owners and operators of apartment properties in 17 states and the District of Columbia.

No. 32

Personal Capital

Years named: 6

Founded: 2009

Headquarters: San Carlos, Calif.

Employees: 386, with 165 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: Personal Capital is an industry-leading digital wealth management company that manages more than $12 billion in assets.

No. 33

New York Life Insurance Co.

Years named: 8

Founded: 1845

Headquarters: New York

Employees: 11,388, with 202 in Colorado

Locations: 4

Facts: The Colorado General Office is committed to helping its customers build, protect and preserve wealth, by analyzing their clients’ insurance and financial needs.

No. 34

Syncroness Inc.

Years named: 3, 2 consecutive

Founded: 1998

Headquarters: Westminster

Employees: 154

Locations: 1

Facts: Syncroness is a full-service engineering company that provides technical product development and engineering work packages for companies and organizations in the United States and internationally.

No. 35

Coalfire Systems Inc.

Years named: 3

Founded: 2001

Headquarters: Westminster

Employees: 729, with 209 in Colorado

Locations: 2 in Colorado

Facts: Coalfire is a cybersecurity consulting firm that works with its clients to manage risk and avert cybersecurity threats.

No. 36

OpenTable

Years named: 1

Founded: 1998

Headquarters: San Francisco

Employees: 1,200, with 258 in Colorado

Locations: 2 in Colorado

Facts: OpenTable is the world’s leading online restaurant reservations service and works with more than 54,000 restaurants in 20 countries. The company leverages data to provide personalized restaurant recommendations.

No. 37

ICAT

Years named: 6

Founded: 1998

Headquarters: Broomfield

Employees: 216, with 187 in Colorado

Locations: 1

Facts: ICAT provides catastrophe insurance coverage to business owners and homeowners located in hurricane- and earthquake-exposed areas of the United States.

No. 38

The MITRE Corporation

Years named: 1

Founded: 1958

Headquarters: Bedford, Mass.

Employees: 8,695, with 219

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: MITRE manages federally-funded research and development centers that support several U.S. government agencies. The company provided the technical know-how to pioneer the nation’s first air defense and air traffic control systems.

No. 39

Workplace ELEMENTS

Years named: 1

Founded: 2008

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 152

Locations: 2

Facts: Workplace ELEMENTS sells office furniture and fixtures, and designs workplaces that foster collaboration, communication and productivity.

No. 40

Lohmiller and Co.

Years named: 6, 4 consecutive

Founded: 1990

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 190

Locations: 4

Facts: Lohmiller and Company is an independently owned wholesale distributor of heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment, parts and supplies. The company primarily distributes Carrier products in Colorado and Wyoming. We primarily distribute products for Carrier Corporation in Colorado and Wyoming.

No. 41

PorchLight Real Estate Group

Years named: 7

Founded: 2005

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 207

Locations: 5

Facts: PorchLight Real Estate Group offers concierge-style real estate services in the greater Denver metro area and Boulder. A 100% women-owned business, PorchLight has received numerous accolades. In addition to being named to The Denver Post’s Top Workplaces list for seven years in a row and has been recognized as one of the Top Women-Owned Companies by both the Denver Business Journal and ColoradoBiz Magazine.

No. 42

SpotX

Years named: 6, 1 consecutive

Founded: 2007

Headquarters: Broomfield

Employees: 487, with 278 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: SpotX is a global video ad serving platform that provides digital media owners with the ability to monetize content with video advertising on desktop, mobile and connected devices.

No. 43

Wireless Vision

Years named: 1

Founded: 2004

Headquarters: Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Employees: 3,410, with 156 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: Wireless Vision, which operates more than 650 T-Mobile-branded retail stores nationwide, is the largest T-Mobile exclusive partner in the United States.

No. 44

Tallgrass Energy

Years named: 5

Founded: 2012

Headquarters: Lakewood

Employees: 807, with 371 in Colorado

Locations: 14 in Colorado

Facts: Tallgrass Energy transports crude oil and natural gas from the Rocky Mountains, Upper Midwest and Appalachian regions. The company owns and operates more than 8,300 miles of nature gas pipeline, more than 850 miles of crude pipeline and more than 300 miles of water pipeline across the United States.

No. 45

Mortenson Construction

Years named: 6, 4 consecutive

Founded: 1954

Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minn.

Employees: 4,500, with 368

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: Mortenson Construction was named the 18th Top Contractor of the Top 400 contractors in the U.S. by Engineering News-Record. Mortenson has built some of Denver’s most iconic projects, including Denver International Airport Hotel and Transit Center, Coors Field, Pepsi Center, Denver Art Museum and the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center.

No. 46

Haselden Construction

Years named: 5

Founded: 1973

Headquarters: Centennial

Employees: 415, with 409 in Colorado

Locations: 3 in Colorado

Facts: Haselden Construction is a top general contractor on the Front Range that has provided exceptional, client-centric construction services in Colorado, Wyoming and the Western United States. The company provides general contracting, construction management, design-build, turnkey development and preconstruction services.

Logo: Yes

Photo: None

No. 47

Security Service Federal Credit Union

Years named: 3, 1 consecutive

Founded: 1956

Headquarters: San Antonio, Texas

Employees: 1,736, with 292 in Colorado

Locations: 17 in Colorado

Facts: Security Service Federal Credit Union is one of the nation’s top 10 credit unions. It has more than $9.5 billion in assets and 774,000 members in Texas, Colorado and Utah.

No. 48

Xactly Corporation

Years named: 3

Founded: 2005

Headquarters: San Jose, Calif.

Employees: 600, with 245 in Colorado

Locations: 1 in Colorado

Facts: Xactly delivers a scalable, cloud-based enterprise platform for sales organizations including setting sales quotas, planning territories, managing incentive compensation and predictive analytics.

No. 49

General Air Service & Supply

Years named: 1

Founded: 1969

Headquarters: Denver

Employees: 188, with 184 in Colorado

Locations: 9 in Colorado

Facts: General Air Service & Supply is a third-generation, family-owned business and the largest independent gas and welding supplier in Colorado.