The awards program was created in 2009 and is a project of the Orange County Business Journal in partnership with Workforce Research Group.

This county-wide survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Orange County, California, benefiting the county's economy, its workforce and businesses.     From its central location in Newport Beach, Savills Orange County provides commercial real estate advisory services for clients throughout Southern California including the Inland Empire. The office is comprised of over 45 commercial real estate professionals including office and industrial tenant advisors and project management, research and development, and global occupier services providers. The Orange County team is committed to community service and performs multiple volunteering initiatives throughout the year including most recently at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County. Savills Orange County is led by Vice Chairman Royce Sharf and supported by Senior Director of Operations Kelly Burroughs.

Organizations from across the county entered the two-part process to determine the Best Places to Work in Orange County. The first part consisted of evaluating each employer's workplace policies, practices, and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 20% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 80% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determined the top organizations and the final ranking. Workforce Research Group managed the overall registration and survey process in Orange County and analyzed the data and used their expertise to determine the final ranking.

The ranking of the winning organizations was released via a special section of the Orange County Business Journal’s July issue that can be viewed here.