We may be barely into November, but that hasn’t stopped major retailers from airing commercials, sending emails and promoting their holiday sales.

It seems like the holiday shopping season begins earlier and earlier every year, but many retailers have already been in the spotlight throughout the year because of their less-than-satisfied employees. Even during the holidays last year we saw a lot of protests by employees at retail giants like Walmart, speaking out against everything from low pay to being forced to work on Thanksgiving rather than being with their families.

Fortunately, not every retailer has employees looking elsewhere for a job and as retailers begin looking forward to what’s shaping up to be a booming shopping season, they may want to consider taking a page from the book of some of these retailers that not only manage to do well in the eyes of the customers, but also their most important asset—their employees.

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Forbes named these companies as being among the top 10 retailers to work for:

Costco

Costco has a reputation not only for being a big box warehouse store offering bulk deals on everything from toilet paper to sweatshirts, but they also have established themselves as one of the best retailers to work for in the country.

So what sets them apart from competition, including Walmart?

The company prides itself on building a family-like corporate culture despite their huge structure and aside from providing an environment that’s friendly and supportive, they also work to provide current employees plentiful opportunities for growth within the organization.

The company says the majority of its management team was promoted from within, and let’s not forget the pay.

In a world of living wage rhetoric and struggles by employees, Costco is surpassing its competition and offering an average pay of more than $20 per hour, compared to Walmart’s average of just over $11 per hour.

REI

REI is an outdoor, camping and recreational supply company that’s made it big particularly in recent years with numerous new stores opening up across the country and customers waiting in line during grand openings.

That success is certainly making its way to the employees of the company as well.

REI says it’s committed to offering employees significant reward packages for their employment services, from letting them use the sporting equipment for free or purchasing it at huge discounts to offering paid sabbaticals for long-term employees.

Their training program also offers an outdoor service program when you’re a new hire.

IKEA

You may recognize IKEA for being a huge global powerhouse offering ready-to-assemble furnishings of all kinds, but it’s also one of the top employers according to Forbes.

What makes IKEA a great place to work?

The company is really focused on inspiring employees and promoting a defined sense of direction that their employees can feel like they’re part of and can take pride in.

One of IKEA’s core values is also an interesting one—it’s okay to make mistakes.

Rather than having employees who are constantly fearing their mistakes, IKEA promotes the idea that it’s ok and everyone makes them. Their core values say making a mistake is a great way to improve your performance and learn for the future.

IKEA also really promotes the idea that you can move around within the company, and while it may be great to move up, you can move sideways or even down if that’s what suits you. There’s a lot of flexibility amongst positions and the furnishings retailer encourages the idea that you should be doing what you like and what’s best suited to you, even if that means moving to a different role within the company.

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