The best small, medium-sized places to work Graniterock among top 10 By ANDREA COOMBES CBS MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO - You may never have heard of these winners, but the best small and medium companies to work for certainly hear their employees, according to a report by The Society for Human Resource Management. Analytical Graphics, a Pennsylvania-based aerospace-software developer, serves daily breakfast, lunch and dinner to its 170 workers and their families, provides a fitness room and laundry room with free washers and dryers and offers free holiday gift-wrapping. Plus, the company holds weekly staff meetings, during which, over a hot lunch, the chief executive updates everyone on company performance figures and news and answers questions. Those are just some of the reasons why the company won top honors as the best small business to work for from the society, which released the list Monday at its annual conference. The list of 50 top small and medium companies to work for nationwide was compiled for the society by the Great Place to Work Institute, a San Francisco research company that produces Fortune's ''100 Best Companies to Work For.'' Companies apply to be considered and then the institute surveys employees and company executives. More than 18,000 workers at 155 companies were surveyed for this inaugural small and medium companies list. Small companies on the list employ 50 to 250 workers and medium companies have 251 to 999 people. The No. 1 medium company is Acuity, a property and casualty insurer in Sheboygan, Wis., which provides extensive training and continuing education opportunities, as well as biannual half-day ''state of the union'' sessions where employees can ask questions and get answers, according to the report. That willingness to provide information and listen to workers characterizes all 50 winners, said society spokesman Frank Scanlan. ''They communicate to their employees, they ask for their feedback on how to improve the organization, they give them the latitude to do their jobs and make decisions and they find ways to keep them engaged, passionate and excited about their work,'' Scanlan said. Plus, many of the employees surveyed said that these companies ''feel like a family,'' he said. Northeast Delta Dental, a Concord, N.H.-based insurance company, earned the fourth-place small-business spot, partly because of its vigorous performance-review program. Workers keep ''me'' files of praise they've received and the ways they've grown on the job. That file is used in their evaluations, which include self-appraisals. Employees also rate their managers -- anonymously -- and managers are trained on how to give and receive feedback. And under the company's ''bright ideas'' program, almost half of workers' 153 suggestions for improving the business were adopted last year, according to the society's report. At Johnsonville Sausage, based in Kohler, Wis. -- No. 19 of the medium-size companies -- workers feel they have a say in running the business, according to the report. Employees are authorized to shut down the production line at any time if something is amiss and they hold meetings before each shift to discuss the days' work and any problems. New employees attend 16 hours of training at ''Johnsonville University,'' which includes information on cash flow and profits.