41 Colorado Companies Recognized by Outside Magazine

Colorado companies stole the show on Outside magazine's list of the "100 Best Places to Work in 2017," in total taking up 41 spots on the national ranking. Aspen-based Forum Phi Architecture took the No. 1 spot, while Denver-based, Ground Floor Media secured No. 2, followed by Boulder's Avid4 Adventure and WhippleWood CPAs, headquartered in Littleton. The Santa-Fe based publication works with the Best Companies Group to survey employees, grading the companies on engagement and work environment, average salaries, vacation time, culture, perks and policies.

"For us, we're looking at businesses in places where our readers dream about living," says Jonah Ogles, articles editor at Outside. "I think Colorado is a place … where people come there for recreation."

Noting the blurring of work and life, "Our mission as a company is to make life easier for hard-working on-call professionals," says Todd Vernon, CEO and co-founder of Victor Ops (No. 43). "While kegs and ping-pong are nice, people show up to work at VictorOps every day to be challenged, to innovate and to do great work."

Vernon encourages his team to get out of the office and explore the trails and open space available in Boulder. 

Though Colorado and California (the second-most represented state on this year's list) may be obvious recreational havens, Ogles says he thinks the mentality is trickling out. 

"I would guess we're going to see more of this as millennials gain more power in the workplace," Ogles says. "I don't know a single millennial-aged colleague or friend who would not be favor of this, even the ones focused on increasing revenue. I would guess that across the board we're going to see a boom in the next five to 10 years."

Ogles adds one of the things that stood out to him about the 2017 list was the number of companies that offer unlimited vacation. He also admits the list is heavy on marketing and PR agencies, citing their desire to show clients how it's done.

"I came here [to Outside​] eight years ago," Ogles says. "One of the good companies on the list [at that time] had a kegerator and a foosball table. Now, if you look at these companies. they're offering unlimited vacations, work-from-anywhere policies. And that's where companies are going, because they realize, 'Hey, if we let employees go home to see their family for a couple weeks, they come back re-energized, fresh and there are actual economic benefits."

Colorado enlarged its share of the list, taking up 37 spots in 2016.

The list and ranking of Colorado companies are:

·       Forum Phi Architecture, Aspen, No. 1

·       GroundFloor Media, Denver, No. 2

·       Avid4 Adventure, Boulder, No. 3

·       WhippleWood CPAs, Littleton, No. 4

·       Pax8, Greenwood Village, No. 6

·       Room 214, Boulder, No. 7

·       Charles Cunnife Architects, Aspen, No. 11

·       Natural Habitat Adventures, Louisville, No. 13

·       Pellucid Analytics, Boulder, No. 14

·       Bluetent, Carbondale, No. 18

·       MyRounding, Denver, No. 19

·       Adaptive Sports Center of Crested Butte, Crested Butte, No. 23

·       TeamSnap, Boulder, No. 25

·       Cloud Elements Inc., Denver, No. 27

·       FullContact, Denver, No. 29

·       303 Software, Denver, No. 30

·       Sterling-Rice Group, Boulder, No. 31

·       Colorado Outward Bound School, Denver, No. 35

·       Polar Field Services Inc., Littleton, No. 36

·       Creative Alignments, Boulder, No. 41

·       VictorOps, Boulder, No. 43

·       Blizzard Internet Marketing Inc., Glenwood Springs, No. 47

·       Powder7, Golden, No. 50

·       SummitCove Vacation Lodging, Golden, No. 52

·       Mondo Robot, Boulder, No. 53

·       TDA_Boulder, Boulder, No. 56

·       CampMinder, Boulder, No. 58

·       RA Nelson, Avon, No. 60

·       Zen Planner, Highlands Ranch, No. 63

·       BSW Wealth Partners, Boulder, No. 64

·       First Descents, Denver, No. 65

·       Backbone Media, Carbondale, No. 67

·       Namaste Solar, Boulder, No. 77

·       Ska Brewing Co., Durango, No. 80

·       Tendril, Boulder, No. 82

·       New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, No. 83

·       Apto, Denver, No. 84

·       Ascent360 Inc., Golden, No. 85

·       Turner, Denver, No. 89

·       CCY Architects, Basalt, No. 94

·       Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, Dillon, No. 95

"We're very proud of the list," Ogles says. "As good as this is for companies, we do this for our readers. Every year, we hear from people who say, 'Hey, six years ago, I saw this business you listed in your Best Places to Work issue and I applied and I work there and I love it.' People actually care."