“Our selection to this prestigious list signifies national recognition of our success in making Erickson a great place to work,” Erickson said. “It affirms the success of our efforts to make employees feel valued through our quality programs and benefits, and of the power of our mission to serve.”

One of the more prevalent factors in this year’s list is that most of those companies excel in creating jobs. In total, they added 67,000 employees to their payrolls in the past year and employ a total of nearly 1.6 million – up 16 percent from the number employed by companies on last year’s list.

Fortune works with the Great Place to Work Institute – a global research and consulting firm – to conduct the employee surveys. Of about 1,500 firms that were contacted, 406 companies participated in the 2007 survey.

Roughly 100,000 employees at those companies responded to a 57-question survey created by the institute. Surveys are typically sent to no fewer than 400 employees at random in each company. The majority of the company’s score is based on those results.

The survey quizzes employees about their attitudes about management’s credibility, fairness, job satisfaction and camaraderie. Scoring is also based on the company’s responses to the institute’s culture audit, which includes questions regarding pay and benefit programs, as well as several open-ended questions about hiring practices, methods of internal communications, training, recognition programs and diversity efforts. Its addition to the list was well aligned with the company’s celebration of the 25th anniversary of Charlestown in Catonsville, its first senior living community.

The outlook for Erickson’s future is bright, according to Steve Dollase, senior vice president for human resources. “We are positioned to continue our growth, nearly doubling our work force and the number of residents that we serve by 2012,” Dollase said in a statement.

“We know that what distinguishes Erickson is our company mission, vision and values, and our focus on caring and serving our residents and fellow employees and it’s exciting to see that acknowledged nationally.”