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From left, Virginia Robinson and Millie Hargis celebrate as they accept the 1st place award for a midsize business on behalf of Jobot during the annual OC Top Workplaces at the Improv in Irvine on Wednesday, December 6, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)
From left, Virginia Robinson and Millie Hargis celebrate as they accept the 1st place award for a midsize business on behalf of Jobot during the annual OC Top Workplaces at the Improv in Irvine on Wednesday, December 6, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)
Samantha Gowen


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 9/22/09 - blogger.mugs  - Photo by Leonard Ortiz, The Orange County Register - New mug shots of Orange County Register bloggers.
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After a year headlined with the daunting words “inflation,” “recession” and “layoffs,” Orange County executives are reaching above economic headwinds and elevating their people instead.

Rather than focus on somber forecasts, companies honored in the 16th annual Top Workplaces program embraced these words instead: strong, elite, winning, family.

“We have to be strong in this market because this is a time when companies tend to get fearful, and we’ve chosen not to focus on fear but rather on change,” says Mike Hickman, chief executive at Seven Gables Real Estate, the No. 1 large company winner this year. It was Seven Gable’s second year in a row in the top spot.

At Optima Tax Relief in Santa Ana, the annual awards program is a way to make sure that management is getting things right.

“It’s one of the most important for us,” says CEO David King. “It’s most important for me because it relates to our employee experience — and if you don’t have a good one, you’re going to fail.”

In total, 146 companies were honored this year as Top Workplaces. The process begins in early summer, first with a nomination. Then employees are surveyed by the Register’s program partner, Energage in Philadelphia.

Newcomers in the list of winners in 2023 include Anthem Tax Services, ASICS America, Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Orange Coast, Ensign Energy Services, Microchip Technology Inc., Northwestern Mutual Orange County and TaxRise.

Some companies, like Experian North America, use the survey as a way to better connect with employees.

“It’s something that, especially for the Costa Mesa area team, we watch with bated breath.” says the division CEO Jennifer Schulz. She says Experian NA reviews every comment, using the anonymous insights “to continually improve company culture.”

Honorees told us that keeping a firm grip on a positive company culture and listening to the team were key.

At Raising Cane’s Fried Chicken Fingers, the company motto is “work smarter and not harder as one big family.”

And for John Patterson’s OC Auto Group, the work comes down to connections made. “Our business model is much more than selling and servicing cars. It’s about giving back to the community,” says John Patterson.

The Orange County Register's 16th annual Top Workplaces program opens for nominations Sunday, May 28. (Southern California News Group)

Here’s how the list of honorees breaks down by category:

  • 17 large companies out of 20 survey participants (500 or more employees)
  • 46 midsize companies out of 65 participants (100-499 employees)
  • 83 small companies out of 116 participants (99 or fewer employees)

Large company winners

1 Seven Gables Real Estate

2 Experian North America

3 Harbor Distributing

4 Optima Tax Relief

5 Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers

6 MemorialCare Shared Services

7 Americor Funding

8 Panda Restaurant Group

9 MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center

10 Ambry Genetics

11 Cox

12 BEHR Paint Co.

13 MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center

14 City of Irvine

15 MS International

16 MemorialCare Medical Group

17 Applied Medical

Medium-size company winners

Jobot

RBA Builders

3 Moulton Niguel Water District

4 Roth Staffing Cos.

5 John Patterson’s OC Auto Team

6 Marque Medical

7 Nations Direct Mortgage

8 Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club

9 Tait & Associates

10 Antis Roofing & Waterproofing

11 Northwestern Mutual Orange County

12 IPS-Integrated Project Services

13 Performance Lighting System

14 Blue-White Industries

15 CLA

16 Main Electric Supply

17 Marsh McLennan Agency

18 Vocational Visions

19 TaxRise

20 Anthem Tax Services

21 Coury and Buehler PT

22 Ally

23 Ensign Services

24 ASICS America

25 Evolus

26 Harvey & Co.

27 Microchip Technology

28 El Niguel Country Club

29 South Coast Community Services

30 Edward Jones

31 Hometown Equity Mortgage (theLender)

32 Markon

33 KDC Construction

34 Freedom Village Continuing Care Retirement Community

35 Seneca Family of Agencies

36 Climatec

37 Omega Accounting Solutions

38 Service Champions Plumbing, Heating & AC

39 Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Orange Coast

40 Waymakers

41 Seabreeze Management Co.

42 HUB International Insurance Services

43 SmartFinancial

44 Exemplis

45 Herbalife

46 Girl Scouts of Orange County

Small company winners

1 Trusted Mortgage Capital

2 Priority Plus Financial

3 Anvil Real Estate

4 Moffett Plumbing & Air

5 Sidepath

6 Open Gym Premier

7 Geraci Law Firm

8 The Energy Coalition

9 W. L. Butler

10 Misa Stefen Koller Ward,

11 Clear Mortgage Capital

12 Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation

13 CPS Insurance Services

14 SetSchedule

15 Sequoia Equities

16 Alleviate Tax

17 Bluepoint Mortgage

18 DEB Construction

19 Strategic Sanitation Services

20  Kahana Feld

21 Beyond Blindness

22 National Services Group

23 ExoAnalytic Solutions

24 Church & Casualty Insurance Agency

25 Quantum ePay

26 ConsumerDirect

27 SmartStop Storage Advisors

28 ECOS

29 US Alliance Group

30 Boost Health Insurance

31 Erickson-Hall Construction Co.

32 CyberCoders

33 Harris & Associates

34 Leave Timeshare

35 Optimum Professional Property Management

36 CDF Labor Law LLP

37 Fenix Consulting Group

38 Pinner Construction Co.

39 Previon

40 Southern California Illumination

41 Tarsus

42 H. Hendy Associates

43 NAVCO

44 Kimco Staffing Services/KTimeHR

45 Trilogy Financial Services

46 FM Restaurants

47 Beazer Homes

48 Restaurant365

49 Savills

50 DBM Group

51 Western Resources Title Co.

52 LSA Associates

53 Milender White

54 Murow Development Consultants

55 Watersafe Swim School

56 Coyne & Associates Education Corp

57 Prominent Escrow Services and Quality Escrow

58 Providence Capital Funding

59 Walker & Dunlop

60 Ekedal Concrete

61 Orion Lending

62 Technologent

63 Planet DDS

64 TechMD

65 Southland Physical Therapy

66 TABER

67 IronOrbit

68 Biolase

69 Obagi Cosmeceuticals

70 Brown and Streza

71 Advanced Office

72 Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County

73 Alvaka

74 Genea Energy Partners

75 Roland DGA Corp.

76 Consolidated Analytics

77 Perficient

78 Consolidated Contracting

79 Hirsch Pipe & Supply

80 CBIZ

81 Kagan Publishing & Professional Development

82 Ori-gen

83 The Emazing Group

To participate in the 2024 program, go to ocregister.com/nominate.

MORE ONLINE

To read more about the 146 organizations named in the Top Workplaces survey, go to ocregister.com/business.

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