No. 3: 1st National Bank

Location: Berlin, Wis.
Assets: $349 million
No. of employees: 85
President and CEO: Tom Jensen

The winter holidays bring deposits of cookies, candy canes and other treats to 1st National Bank. But employees have a powerful incentive to lay off the goodies.

About three quarters of them team up and take part in the bank's annual holiday weigh-in challenge, which rewards employees for maintaining their usual weight between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Prizes have included exercise DVDs, healthy cookbooks and gift cards.

The challenge is part of 1st National's wellness program, says Jenny Johnson, the bank's human resources leader. Employees compete in teams of four to six people, who are weighed in November and again in January.

"Very rarely do we see teams that aren't able to make that challenge," says Johnson. "Everyone kind of holds themselves accountable during that time period."

In addition to the weigh-in challenge, employees enjoy a paid day off for birthdays, flexible work schedules, and "Beer-30s," impromptu celebrations held toward the end of the work day to mark birthdays and anniversaries, or to relax after a busy day.

1st National, founded in 1876, operates eight branches in east-central Wisconsin.

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