Google, Costco and Facebook best employers

Google, Facebook and wholesale retailer Costco offer the best pay and benefit packages in the United States, according to employee ratings compiled by the US job site Glassdoor. Apart from Costco, whose generous social benefits stand out, four of the five top employers are high-tech firms, according to the survey. Top was Google, where a software engineer earns an average base salary of $119,000 a year and where employees have free access to a gym, laundromat, billiards and pet boarding. But "I've never met anybody at Google who actually took time off on weekends or on vacations," a former employee who worked there for eight years wrote. Facebook, sitting in third -- behind Costco -- is hailed for the autonomy it grants to its workers. It is followed in the rankings by Adobe, the computer software company. At the bottom of the list, in 25th, is eBay, which employs more than 5,000 people. At least 75 current or former employees of each firm responded to the survey.