Each year, different organizations such as Canada's Top 100, The Financial Post's Top 10 and Fortune Magazine's Top 100, release their lists of the best companies to work for. Instead of listing who we think are the best companies to work for, this article is the first in a three part series that will outline the attributes that make for a great work place, and how you can find the right employment to suit your needs.

The best companies to work for may not always be the best company for you to work at. Each individual's personal circumstances are different. Your age, the size of your family, how many children you have, whether or not you are a single parent, your level of education, where you live, your transportation options and your personal financial situation are all going to be deciding factors when determining what is the right kind of job and company for you.

One of the most important attributes of a good employer is that they care about your overall quality of life. If you have a family, flexibility will provide you with balance between work and family to ensure a long term and happy employer/employee relationship. For some families flexibility is even more important than compensation.

Inflexible employers who offer strict shifts, pre-timed and monitored breaks and are nitpicky about sick days can be a challenging fit for mothers who have young children. P.A. days, sick days because of increased incidences of illness (children bring home all kinds of sicknesses) and staying home with sick children as well as holiday and summer child care planning can make maintaining employment difficult for mothers as well as fathers who are single parents.

The best companies to work for are often the ones that offer flexibility.

Those who require flexibility in their employment may find the flexibility they need with a placement agency. Placement agencies are not employment agencies in the sense that they do not place their employee in one particular company, where the terms of employment are determined by the employer, which can result in the inflexibility mentioned in this article, above. .

When you work for a placement agency you are an employee of the placement agency and will be trained in a role, then placed in several different companies. At retail, for example, one week you could be working at Fortinos and the next weekend at Walmart. You are able to tell the placement agency your availability and then they will call you for shifts as it works within your schedule. Because placement agencies will usually have a large workforce, if you are called for a shift that you cannot work, you don't have to worry that you will have an unhappy employer on the other end of the phone.. They can simply contact another employee to fill the shift.

We only live one life and quality of that life is important. Happiness and family should always be a top priority and a definite way to ensure that you enjoy the right work / life balance is to work for an organization that matches to your personal needs.