2021 Best Mortgage Companies to Work For: The employers on this year's list detail how they're keeping staff energized and engaged as they enter a second year of remote work.

National Mortgage News presents its third annual Best Mortgage Companies to Work For - an awards program dedicated to recognizing the industry's premier employers and providing them with employee feedback highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.

The program is a collaboration between National Mortgage News and the Best Companies Group, which conducts extensive employee surveys and reviews employer reports on benefits and policies. The employee survey covers eight topics: Leadership and Planning; Corporate Culture and Communications; Role Satisfaction; Work Environment; Relationship with Supervisor; Training, Development and Resources; Pay and Benefits; and Overall Engagement.

Following a thorough assessment of the organizations, the survey data was analyzed and the companies received an overall score that determines their rankings. The overall score comprises the employee survey (worth 75%) and the employer questionnaire (worth 25%). To qualify for consideration, organizations with 25 or more employees need a minimum response rate of 40% while organizations with 25 or fewer employees need 80%.

Companies must opt-in to the rankings and participation is open to a standalone mortgage lender, mortgage broker, mortgage servicer, or mortgage unit of a diversified financial services firm with at least 15 permanent employees working in the United States. Not all companies that participate in the survey make the list. The survey also includes open-ended and demographic questions.

In addition to insights and anecdotes about corporate culture, special events, HR policies and benefits, executives and employees gave us a peek at how the 50 lenders, brokers and servicers on the list make things fun - both at the office and in this year's shift to remote work.

What follows are three features on employee stock ownership plans, maintaining unity in the pandemic and next-level appreciation programs with interviews from the 50 mortgage companies in this year's rankings. Visit the Best Mortgage Companies to Work For homepage on the National Mortgage News website to see more facts and full rankings of the 2021 list, as well as last year's results.

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