Based on worker feedback, 125 Bay Area organizations were designated as ‘Best Places to Work’ by the San Francisco Business Times and Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. The top employers were split into five divisions based on staff size and included Intuit, Juniper Networks, Kaiser Permanente, Genentech and Santa Clara University (1500+ workers); Kimpton Hotel Restaurant Group, Zynga, Riverbed Technology, Fairmont Hotels Resorts, and Fenwick West (501-1500); Bradley Real Estate, Box.net, Workday, DPR Construction and Demandforce (101-500). Rankings were derived from multiple-choice surveys distributed to over 180,000 employees at 301 nominated companies.

For complete results, visit bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco.

On the Job Front

CORTE MADERA – Circle Bank, which operates seven days a week, has opened its sixth and largest branch here.

FOLSOM – Staffing firm Mainstay Business Solutions has shut down after losing a 2-yr dispute with the state EDD over $16.5 million in unpaid unemployment taxes and penalties. They employed 48 local admin staffers and had placed over 400 workers in the region and another 7500 workers elsewhere in CA. All will lose their jobs with Mainstay, although it is likely that many of the employers will make arrangements with other staffing firms to retain the affected workers.

FREMONT – Meltwater Group, which monitors electronic media and provides search-engine marketing services, is opening a new 8700-sq-ft RD office here.

ROSEVILLE – Colorado-based Sunflower Farmers Market is opening its first CA store on May 11. They need directors, dept managers, clerks, cashiers, bakery/meat/deli staffers, and expect to hire up to 100. Apply online at sfmarkets.com . . . BookKeeping Express, which provides accounting services for small businesses, just opened here. . . US Cryotherapy, has opened the first cold-therapy clinic in the nation.

SAN FRANCISCO – A $1.5-billion development plan to build thousands of housing units on Treasure Island has been approved. . . Twitter will lease 200,000 sq ft of space on Market Square, enough for 1200 more employees when they move in mid-2012. . . Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick Pearson LLP, a Chicago-based firm specializing in insurance law, has opened a new office with 7 partners and 4 associates.

SAN JOSE – Of the nation’s major metropolitan areas, San Jose is ranked 20th for its small-business vitality, according to The Business Journals. . . Cisco Systems is discontinuing the manufacture of Flip video devices, which will cut 550 jobs out of the picture in a realignment plan.

SUNNYVALE – Bloom Energy expects to add more than 1000 new jobs and quadruple its local manufacturing space for producing solid oxide fuel cells known as “Bloom Boxes.”

UNION CITY – Packaging distributor Container Consulting Services is expanding its footprint at Willowbrook Business Center, from about 34,000 to 45,000 sq ft. o

MODESTO – After losing its major wholesale account with SaveMart Supermarkets last October, which accounted for most of its bread business, Word-of-Mouth Baking Co closed at the end of March.

REDWOOD CITY – After more than a year of negotiations with a union representing 2700 nurses, Stanford Hospitals Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital has agreed to a 4-percent pay raise retroactive to April 2010, another 4-percent increase effective this month, and enhanced support for professional development programs.

ROSEVILLE – 850 registered nurses will get an immediate 5-percent pay increase, plus another 14 percent over the next three years, after the CA Nurses Association/National Nurses United ratified a new agreement with Sutter Health hospitals. In Auburn, 250 nurses will get a 3-percent increase immediately, and 14 percent over 3 years.

SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY – The Business Forecasting Center at the University of the Pacific says that the San Joaquin County and Valley have “turned the economic corner” and are showing signs of recovery.

SILICON VALLEY – According to the University of the Pacific’s Business Forecasting Center, this area is leading the state in the recovery and “experiencing robust growth.”

Article source: http://www.jobjournal.com/thisweek.asp?artid=3148