For Oklahoma Companies on Fortune’s ‘Best’ List, It’s Not Just About Big Salaries

  • Joe Wertz

General Photographic Agency / Getty Images

Four Oklahoma Companies made Fortune’s annual “100 Best Companies to Work for” list.

What do Chesapeake Energy, Devon Energy, American Fidelity Assurance and QuikTrip have in common? Not surprisingly: great pay and cool perks.

But there’s something else at work here. And it’s not just super-sized salaries, corporate campus coffee shops or on-site dry cleaners.

The annual pay for the most-common salaried jobs at Oklahoma’s Fortune four are big, ranging from the $178,305 per-year average for an engineer at Devon, to $69,383 for a store manager at QuikTrip.

But the great pay isn’t just limited to the salaried set: Hourly employees of Oklahoma’s Fortune four make great money, too.

For example, the most-common hourly job at Oklahoma City-based American Fidelity Assurance is a customer service representative, according to Fortune. The typical, time card-punching customer service worker there takes home $44,135 a year — that’s 18 percent higher than what the average Oklahoman took home last year.

The average annual wage in Oklahoma was $37,246 in 2011, according to the state Employment Security Commission. Here’s how Oklahoma’s Fortune four compare when it comes to their non-salaried employees.

Annual Wages: “Best” Oklahoma companies vs. average

COMPANY MOST-COMMON HOURLY JOB ANNUAL WAGE % HIGHER THAN AVG.
Chesapeake Energy Lease Operator $77,675 109%
Devon Energy Floorman $58,633 57%
QuikTrip Relief Assistant $44,300 19%
American Fidelity Assurance Customer Service $44,135 18%

Average annual wage in Oklahoma for 2011: $37,246