The Best Companies to Work for in 2014: Bain & Co, Twitter and LinkedIn

US consulting company Bain & Co.has been named the best company to work for in 2014 by an online career community survey, while Facebook, the topper in 2013, slipped to the 5th position.

The Employees' Choice Awards by Glassdoor are conferred to companies that fare the best in anonymous feedback provided by employees to the online portal.

The survey, which named the top 50 companies, was limited to US firms, but many of these are multinationals employing workers from around the world.

The cumulative average ratings from half-a-million employees were taken to arrive at the rankings. In the survey the employees were asked to rate their satisfaction in key indicators such as work-life balance, senior management, culture and values.

Samantha Zupan, spokesperson for Glassdoor, told Forbes that the awards help job seekers to make informed decision on where to apply.

"Finding a job you love is tough work but the feedback from people on the inside, it can make the job search process easier", she said.

"In addition, insights into what makes the winners 'employers of choice' can offer HR and recruiting professionals at any company valuable perspective on what works when it comes to fostering a great company culture".

In 2013, Bain was ranked 4th in the wish list of jobseekers.

"The best part about working at Bain is the people. The people make fantastic culture, provide wonderful professional development and coaching opportunities, and make the job fun".

Social networking site Twitter grabbed the second spot in the list. In a company that employs more than 2,000 people from around the world workers remain closely connected with CEO Dick Costolo in steering the company in the right direction, Zupan said, according to the report.

The third-best place to work was LinkedIn, which employs more than 4,800 employees in 26 cities around the world. The nature of the work and ethos help employees "find passion and purpose in their jobs", the report said.

Eastman Chemical Company and Facebook came at the 4th and 5th positions, respectively.

The firms that made it to the list for the first time are Twitter, Disney, Chick-fil-A, Mayo Clinic, Wegmans and eBay.

Meanwhile, seven of the companies in the list have repeatedly fared well in the survey since it started in 2009. The most consistent performers are Bain & Company, Google, Chevron, National Instruments, Apple and CareerBuilder.

Glassdoor holds that companies need to genuinely value their employees and make employee satisfaction a priority.

"Digging deeper into the companies that make this year's Best Places to Work list and what makes them employers of choice, we see employees across all 50 companies speak favourably about mission-driven company cultures, opportunities for career advancement, great colleagues and challenging work environments", Zupan said.