Top-Paying Companies

Associates at Bingham McCutchen take home an average $256,312 total compensation annually. See which other Best Companies to Work For offer big paychecks.

1. Bingham McCutchen

Average total pay: $256,312
For: Associate*

Best Companies rank: 30
Headquarters: Boston, MA

For the second year in a row, this law firm is the top-paying Best Company to Work For. Lawyers fresh out of school get starting salaries of $160,000 a year, topped off with fat bonuses. (Non-attorneys are eligible for bonuses too.) Bingham, which prides itself on keeping pay scales "competitive at all times," looked at compensation at other law firms in mid-2007 and immediately boosted pay a hefty 20%.

Bingham, which enjoyed a lengthy growth spurt fueled by a series of mergers, pulled in its horns a bit after the financial crunch hit last year. The firm laid off 2.5% of staff, offering severance ranging from four weeks' to six months' pay.

Courtesy: Lehigh Valley Hospital

2. Lehigh Valley Hospital & Health Network

Average total pay: $244,605
For: Physicians*

Best Companies rank: 76
Headquarters: Allentown, PA

Lehigh will celebrate its 100th birthday in 2009, now encompassing three hospitals, eight community health centers, and a network of 400 physicians and physician practices. With 9,000 employees, it's the largest employer in the area.

Lehigh is proud of its status as a National Magnet hospital, a designation of nursing excellence that only 5% of the nation's hospitals enjoy. Nurses average a $56,196 salary, supplemented by a $2,607 bonus. Unusual for hospitals, it maintains a 50% match of employee contributions to 403(b) retirement plans up to 4% of pay.

3. Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe

Average total pay: $240,955
For: Associate*

Best Companies rank: 87
Headquarters: New York, NY

This global corporate law firm pays lawyers and support staff "at or above market" in every area where they have offices, including Hong Kong, Beijing and Moscow. In the U.S., legal secretaries' average total pay is $77,702 annually. A whopping 98% of employees received bonuses in 2007: For support staff, they averaged $8,893; for associates, $34,325.

To keep employees making less than $60K a year from having to spend too much on health insurance, Orrick has a sliding scale for premiums: The more you make, the more you pay. Unlike virtually every other law firm, Orrick covers between 55% and 100% of the premium for non-partner lawyers and support staff; partners get zero subsidy.

4. Alston & Bird

Average total pay: $203,655
For: Associate*

Best Companies rank: 36
Headquarters: Atlanta, GA

Alston & Bird's 800 lawyers represent such corporate heavyweights as UPS, Delta Airlines, Nokia and Dow Chemical. Of the 309 partners, nearly 20% are women, a high percentage in the law field. Attorneys and support staff get treated and paid well: Legal secretaries make more than $66,000 a year on average, for example, including bonuses of $3,400. The firm adds 7% of pay to every employee's 401(k) plan, regardless of whether employees contribute.

In the wake of the financial crisis, Alston & Bird redeployed people from slow practices to busy areas, encouraged employees to cut their commutes by telecommuting one day a week or working longer hours four days a week, and offered early retirement packages to employees with more than 20 years' service.

5. Perkins Coie

Average total pay: $190,126
For: Associate*

Best Companies rank: 82
Headquarters: Seattle, WA

At this Seattle law firm, lawyers make a little under $200,000 total pay annually; legal secretaries earn $63,000. A support staffer gave this impressive list of her benefits: $2,000 in technology flex plan allowance, $80 for wellness program participation, $475 for 20th anniversary with firm, $1,500 performance bonus, $50 Nordstrom gift card, $3,500 year-end bonus.

The 1,700-employee firm received some 11,780 job applications in 2007. Because community service is part of its culture, Perkins Coie says it looks for candidates "who are compassionate and willing to help others."

Courtesy: Devon Energy Corporation

6. Devon Energy

Average total pay: $186,882
For: Engineer*

Best Companies rank: 13
Headquarters: Oklahoma City, OK

The largest independent oil and natural gas producer in the U.S., Devon pumps half a million barrels of oil a day. Among its hourly employees, most are lease operators, who make more than $88,000 a year on average. Half the employees here received restricted stock grants. Devon's new 401(k) retirement plan calls for annual company contributions of 11% to 22%.

As of mid-January, the company had 158 job openings in areas ranging from HR and finance to geology, engineering and exploration.

7. Chesapeake Energy

Average total pay: $178,108
For: Toolpusher*

Best Companies rank: 73
Headquarters: Oklahoma City, OK

Now the nation's largest producer of natural gas, Chesapeake took some tough hits last year. It paid a lot of money for leases when natural gas prices were high, and got stung in 2008 as prices plummeted.

Chesapeake stock swooned 80%. In an e-mail to all employees, founder Aubrey McClendon reminded them that Chesapeake has 36,000 wells producing natural gas every day and urged them to focus on cost control. As for the stock price, he said, "Over time it will take care of itself but in the meantime, just ignore it."

There were no layoffs. And the company awarded new stock grants in October, giving the 4,466 employees on staff in June a total of 373,975 restricted shares valued at $12.8 million.

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