This year's list of 56 North Texas-based companies represents businesses large and small, public and private. The element that connects them is their focus on employee engagement and emphasis on job satisfaction, a positive working environment and community service — with a tinge of fun.

Scores on an employee survey administered by independent research firm Quantum Workplace determined placement on the Best Places list. The companies will be honored at a luncheon on Sept. 27, when the exact rankings will be revealed, and profiled in a special publication on Sept. 28. More details are available on the Best Places to Work website. For the full list of the 2012 Dallas Business Journal Best Places to Work honorees in alphabetical order, see below:

Large companies The Brandt Companies LLC Brinker International Inc. Capital One Financial Corporation CBRE Deloitte LLP Forest Park Medical Center Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center Haynes and Boone LLP Intuit Lincoln Property Company - Residential Mesquite Independent School District Methodist Health System Michaels Stores Inc. Service King Collision Repair Centers Sheraton Dallas Hotel Texas Health Resources Midsize companies Agencies of Change Cassidy Turley Catholic Charities of Dallas Inc. Darling Homes Higginbotham Hill & Wilkinson General Contractors Hyatt Regency Dallas Improving Enterprises Jones Lang LaSalle Lockton Companies NetApp Inc. New York Life Insurance Company - Dallas General Office Ryan LLC Slalom Consulting Sleep Experts Thompson & Knight LLP Transwestern Weber Shandwick Womack Machine Supply Co. Small companies Allyn Media BridgeWork Partners CuffLinks.com Financial Additions Firehouse Agency FITCO Frontline Source Group Inc. Great Expectations Kurz Group Inc. McKinstry MHT Partners MicroAccounting Solutions Mullis Newby Hurst LP PegasusAblon Research Across America Sendero Business Services Skintastic SNI Companies

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