With only six employees, Keane Creative in Tempe is still a baby in the market, but its loft-style office and laid-back atmosphere already make it a great place to work.

Go Daddy
godaddy.com
Seen a Super Bowl in the last five years? Then you undoubtedly know about Go Daddy. Founded in 1997, the Scottsdale-based Internet domain name registration company (now the largest in the world) has captured attention in recent years with a series of racy commercials launched on Super Bowl Sunday. But while the pin-up beauties might get the bulk of the world’s attention, Go Daddy employees get the spotlight inside. Honored as one of the Valley’s best places to work four years in a row by the Phoenix Business Journal, Go Daddy has more than 2,000 employees (including those in Iowa, Colorado and Washington, D.C.). More than just domain registration, Go Daddy also has a staff of developers that creates most of the company’s products. The business has built a laid-back work environment in line with its wild-child marketing campaign. Beyond competitive salaries and benefits, which include free dental and medical, Go Daddy also likes to motivate within by offering employees shots at prizes, like all-expenses-paid trips around the world, cash-grabbing opportunities in the “money machine” and its annual tradition of paying one employee’s rent or mortgage for an entire year. 

LARGE

USAA
usaa.com
It’s tough to stay focused on employees when there are more than 22,000 of them, but mega insurance, banking and investment provider USAA has found a way to watch out for the little guy inside while still providing services to more than 6 million members of the U.S. military community on the outside. Named a top place to work by Fortune magazine, as well as by more than a half dozen other organizations, USAA’s list of employee perks includes reimbursements for education and training and a full slate of benefits that kick in on a person’s first day on the job. There’s also the killer campus, which goes beyond ergonomic work spaces (though you will find those here) and offers sunshine-laden break rooms, an on-site cafeteria, a state-of-the-art fitness center and childcare. USAA has six locations in the United States; the Phoenix location has just more than 3,000 employees and is located at Interstate 17 and Happy Valley Road in north Phoenix.

American Express
americanexpress.com
Ranked No. 62 on Fortune magazine’s 2008 list of the 100 best places to work, this leading credit company boasts high salaries (the most common salaried job pays just more than $55,000 annually), steady job growth and the ability for employees to relocate around the country and the world. Flexibility is a common recruitment theme here, too, thanks to flex scheduling, compressed workweek options and a supportive climate for telecommuting. The company also has been recognized as a great company by Working Mother magazine and several other workplace evaluation organizations worldwide. The Phoenix-based call center operates on a 24/7 basis and employs a staff of 7,500. There are more than 30,000 American Express employees throughout the U.S.

Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc.
kimley-horn.com
Wouldn’t it be nice to walk through your office and get a $50 on-the-spot bonus from a co-worker you helped out on a big project? That scenario really happens at engineering and land planning firm Kimley-Horn. Another routine member of Fortune’s list of the best workplaces, the firm stands up to its stiff competition with equally impressive benefits that include flexible scheduling, paternity leave and an atmosphere that oozes teamwork. But Kimley-Horn also throws in some unique perks. Headquartered in North Carolina with offices in Phoenix, the company encourages employees to build their own engineering practice within the firm, which empowers them as business owners without some of the start-up business headaches. This concept, which Kimley-Horn refers to as the “practice builder” program, has created a sense of ownership within the company and has made individual employees and the firm as a whole dependent on one another.