Apple Named No. 10 Best Place to Work in U.S.

Apple has climbed into the top 10 list of Best Places to Work in 2012, joining other technology companies Google (No. 5) and Facebook (No. 3). Apple, which claims the No. 10 spot, is already one of the world's most successful businesses: The company is poised to overtake HP as the world's leading PC maker, its iPhone and iPad mobile devices are the leading smartphones and tablets in the world, and the company also has more money than the entire U.S. government.

The fourth annual list was compiled from results of a Glassdoor.com survey, which asked more than 250,000 employees from more than 65,000 companies 20 questions about career opportunities, communication, feedback, compensation, benefits, and their perceived work-life balance, among other things.

Apple earned a company rating of 3.9, which falls into the upper end of the satisfied category on the ratings scale. Last year, Apple ranked No. 20 on the 2011 list with a 3.7 score. The No. 1 company on this year's list, Bain & Company, scored a 4.7 company rating and was named the No. 1 consulting firm by Vault. Bain & Co. was No. 3 in last year's Glassdoor survey.

Unlike other workplace awards, there is no self-nomination process, said Glassdoor in its press release. Instead, it's all about what the employees have to say when it comes to their satisfaction with workplace factors like compensation & benefits, work-life balance and career advancement opportunities. Not to mention, the awards also take into account how well employees feel their CEO is leading the company.

New Apple CEO Tim Cook scored among the best, in that regard. In 2012, Cook's approval rating was 96 percent; only two other CEOs bested Cook in this category, including National Instruments CEO James J. Truchard and NetApp CEO Tom Georgens, who both had perfect scores. The year prior, former Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs had a 97 percent approval rating.

Apple, which has won countless other company accolades from Fortune (World's Most Admired Company), BusinessWeek (Most Innovative Company, World's Best Company) and Forbes (America's Top Companies), received a number of glowing reviews from employees.

I've been there for 11 years, and I am still going to work everyday, said one test engineer from Cupertino, Calif. We work on things people really love.

Apple has the absolute best culture in the business, hands down, said a tech support agent from Salt Lake City. The benefits are amazing, especially for such a low position in the company. You work from home, which is very nice on gas. Benefits include tuition reimbursement, fitness reimbursement, Internet reimbursement, medical, dental, vision, 401k plans.

The majority of complaints, while few, are centered around the baffling lack of mobility within the company, and the utter secrecy surrounding new products.

This job is very near the bottom of the totem pole, said the Salt Lake City tech support agent. As a technical support advisor you hear every complaint from both the customer as well as management. Most people expect Apple products to be perfect, which wears on you. The pay is average.

Other tech companies that broke Glassdoor's top 50 were Intel, which ranked at No. 32, and Groupon at No. 40.

Apple is quickly expanding its work force to try and keep up with high customer demand. The company hired roughly 10,000 employees over the last year, and now has about 60,400 workers full-time as of September. Apple is also building a new spaceship-like office in Silicon Valley to accommodate the growth, which will roughly house 13,000 employees from its Cupertino headquarters.