Getting better all the time;
Being best doesn't have much to do with appearing on a list.

Richard Herrera, owner of Richard Herrera About Hair in Portland, stands proudly in front of a mirrored wall neatly lined with sunset orange bottles of hair products. The smell of ammonia hangs in the air, as a stylist slathers color on her client's head. Blow dryers hum while Steely Dan pumps through the speakers.

"This is an artistic, high-energy environment," says office manager Johnna Chesley who's been with Herrera for 11 years and calls him a second father. "His name is on the door, but he trusts me to make decisions. And he's taught me a lot about the world."

Richard Herrera About Hair has participated in the 100 Best Companies to Work For survey every year since Oregon Business launched it back in 1995. More often than not, the salon doesn't land a spot in the top 100, but year after year, Herrera keeps coming back. "It's not so much about the competition," he says. "It's about keeping our standards up; it's about continuing to push ourselves to be better."

Like many other "regulars" whose names aren't among the 100, Herrera's business certainly ranks above par in terms of benefits, compensation, employee perks and environment. The line between the best and the rest can be a thin one.

Take Neil Keily, for example. The Portland-based general contractor, a long time best company applicant who doesn't appear among the 100 best this year, rearranged its entire organizational structure into teams after a carpenter expressed concern that the growing company was losing its family feel.

And bear Creek Corp. (aka Harry and David), also not on this year's list, is widely known for its employee-oriented attributes. The Medford-based e-tailer is big on continuing education, providing free career development and personal enrichment classes at the Bear Creek Academy. It also trains supervisors in Spanish.

What best-company applicants have in company applicants have in common -- and have in spades -- is the commitment to employees' well-being. At Herrera's it shows up all over the salon, from half-priced haircuts for family members to low-cost corporate gym memberships. The lessons he imparts to his staff, many of them in their early 20s, are designed not only to turn out great stylists, but to nudge them down a path to lifelong success.

"I teach them about the importance of investing and buying a house," says Herrera, who asks his professional clients -- doctors, lawyers, CPAs -- to make presentation to employees on insurance, real estate and retirement. More than half of the staff invests up to 11% of their salary each month through the company retirement plan.

Herrera is a good coach for the internal as well as the external, doing whatever it takes to instill self-assurance in his young stylists who suddenly find themselves interacting with the salon's suit and tie clientele. "The biggest thing I need to work on is confidence," says 22-year-old Chelsea Gomes, who graduated from Mt. Hood Community College and has been an apprentice at the salon for seven months. "Richard just tells me, these clients are here to get their hair cut, and you know how to do it. He always says, 'You're never wrong, it's just a learning experience.'"

Every Herrera employee spends eight months to a year as an apprentice, and continuing education is required. To pay for it, employee commissions from the sale of hair products go into that worker's education fund for travel, tuition and wages while away.