Facebook named the No. 1 place to work in the US

It’s been a tumultuous year for Facebook (FB), which has been the subject of scrutiny amid revelations that Russia purchased ads on the social network to meddle with 2016’s U.S. presidential election. But that hasn’t affected how many Facebook employees feel about working there.

On Wednesday, job site Glassdoor announced the social network ranked No. 1 atop its “100 Best Places to Work in 2018” list, which ranks companies based entirely on reviews that employees post to Glassdoor. This is the first time Facebook has topped Glassdoor’s list since 2013, beating other tech companies such as Google (GOOG, GOOGL) at No. 5, HubSpot at No. 7, World Wide Technology at No. 8, Ultimate Software (ULTI) at No. 10., Yahoo at No. 65 and VMWare (VMW) at No. 33. Apple (AAPL) also made the list but slid 48 spots from last year to No. 84.

“It’s clear employees love working at Facebook,” said Glassdoor CEO Robert Hohman in a statement. “What we really see them appreciate most is the company’s mission-driven culture, transparent leadership and the fact that their work literally impacts the lives of billions of people worldwide.”

Many Facebook employee reviews currently on Glassdoor’s site explained the advantages of working at the social network include good work-life balance, a very open and transparent work culture, and the opportunity to work alongside smart colleagues they can learn from. Facebook also offers competitive salaries — the average software engineer earns $126,780 a year — alongside comprehensive benefits and perks: four months of paid parental leave for new mothers and fathers, $4,000 doled out to parents for each child birth, subsidies for pre-school tuition and lots of free food.

In previous interviews with Yahoo Finance, Facebook employees said they appreciated the fact that the company embraces transparency and lets workers be themselves.

“I’m Southern, I’m black, I’m Jehovah’s Witness, I love video games — I’m a lot of things — and I’m expected to bring all those things to my job every day,” explained Tory Hargro, a Facebook product design manager who leads the social network’s Live video efforts and creative design team.

This latest bit of good news puts a cap on an otherwise roller coaster of a year for Facebook. Although the social network topped Wall Street expectations in its most recent quarter and the company’s core advertising business continues to perform extremely well, the company also faced stiff headwinds in the public eye, as it struggled for months to accept responsibility for the role it played — inadvertent as it was — in last year’s U.S. presidential election. Still, while its reputation may have temporarily taken a hit with some users, clearly its work culture hasn’t.

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JP Mangalindan is the Chief Tech Correspondent for Yahoo Finance covering the intersection of tech and business. Email story tips and musings to jpm@oath.com. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

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