Ingredients for a Best Place to Work: The average employee age at Akran Marketing (asi/522788) is 30, and youthful ideals (mentorship, innovation and a huge focus on wellness) are a strong part of the culture. Mikas Agarwal – the company’s chief digital officer and 19-year-old son of Akran’s founders, Raman Agarwal and Monica Channa – highlights three aspects in particular: youthful energy, diversity, and the ability to be forward thinking. “Having this young blood is very motivating,” he says. “It makes it into a unique environment. We’re not like everyone else. There’s always change and a push for more going on in our company and it makes it fun and exciting.”

Top Benefits & Perks: Lots of companies on the Counselor Best Places to Work list treat their people like family. But what elevates Akran Marketing is the lengths that it goes to for its people. Aside from a medical and wellness package, which Agarwal says is extensive, the company also provides perks like home buying assistance. In one instance, the person who tutored Mikas and his brother Manav (the company’s assistant manager of operations) while they were in high school had later joined the company. He wanted to buy a home to start his family, but was struggling financially. Raman (a previous Counselor Bess Cohn Humanitarian Award recipient) and Monica helped him get a mortgage. Another time, an employee had been all the way through the buying process, but the deal fell through on closing day. Akran stepped in to supplement the mortgage – about $100,000 – so the employee could get his house a little bit later.

“There’s endless support we offer that’s way beyond any employer’s duties,” Agarwal says, noting that everyone also gets free lunch on Fridays and the company hosts an employee event almost every week. “My parents think everyone is part of the family and we’re all one big family together. If one person is unhappy, we’re trying to see what’s going on at home, how we can help, how we can mentor them. We’re always willing to lend a hand.”