La Jolla Area Firms Makes Fortune Magazine's Best Companies to Work For List

Two San Diego-based companies and several others with large operations in the region made Fortune magazine's list today of the best 100 companies for which to work.

Scripps Health, which operates hospitals and facilities in La Jolla, ranked 24th, up 19 spots from last year's list. The magazine lauded the healthcare provider for planning $300 million in budget cuts by 2016 without laying anyone off.

Scripps Health, with headquarter near UC San Diego, had 12,779 employees and 352 openings as of Jan. 2.

"It is an honor to be named to Fortune's '100 Best' list for the seventh year and being listed as No. 24 is our highest ranking yet," said Chris Van Gorder, president and CEO of Scripps. "It's the people that we hire, the work that we do, and a culture of transparency and communication that makes Scripps a great place to work."

The company said it created a resource center for employees affected by budget cuts to help them find other positions within the organization. According to Scripps, 84 workers took part in the program last year, saving the firm around $1 million in severance costs.

Sorrento Valley-based Qualcomm ranked 32nd, down 21 spots.

The producer of technology for mobile devices provided $1,500 bonuses to 1,794 employees last year for filing new patents, according to Fortune. The firm had nearly 18,000 U.S. employees and around 400 openings just after the new year.

• investment advisor Edward Jones, No. 4
• Quicken Loans, No. 5
• Turbo Tax-maker Intuit, No. 8
• information technology giant Cisco Systems, No. 55
• Adobe Systems, No. 83
• Intel, No. 84
• Navy Federal Credit Union, No. 96
• Hitachi Data Systems, No. 98.

Others on the list with operations in San Diego are USAA Financial, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants (operator of Hotel La Jolla), CarMax, Marriott International, Darden Restaurants, Nordstrom, Four Seasons Hotels, the Cheesecake Factory and Hyatt Hotels.

—City News Service