Popular with employees: Independence charters a bus once a year for employees — and one guest each — to go to Nashville for a shopping day. Attendees get a long-sleeve shirt, $10 for lunch and the chance to win gift cards on the bus.

Tim Colvin used to make consumer loans at Community Trust Bank. Now, as the bank's "dream manager," he spends his workday counseling the bank's employees on everything from figuring out how to adopt a baby to landing their ideal job.

Popular with employees: On-site yoga classes are taught by employees who are certified instructors.

Popular with employees: Winters in Maine can be brutal, so Machias Savings has a "Spring Fever Week" to help employees get through the end-of-winter slump with some fun. The week includes dress-down days, group photo contests and prizes.

Popular with employees: Management has an open-door policy and regularly visits branches to solicit input. Employees are encouraged to call or drop in on senior executives.

Popular with employees: Branches that win a monthly trivia contest get a catered lunch.

Popular with employees: Winners of a wellness challenge get cash and prizes. Last year 87 employees split $10,000.

Popular with employees: A discretionary profit-sharing program typically doubles the regular 401K match for all employees.

Popular with employees: Free soda, coffee and hot chocolate are always available, and there's popcorn on Fridays.

Popular with employees: The CEO sends employees hand-written birthday cards with a small cash gift.

Popular with employees: More than half of First Horizon's employees take advantage of flexible-scheduling options, such as telecommuting, compressed workweeks or job sharing.

Popular with employees: Each spring and fall, full-time employees can request a 60% reimbursement on up to $600 worth of new clothes.

Bonus/incentive program: 1st National distributes 5% of its quarterly profits to employees, with all full-timers getting an equal share and part-timers receiving half a share. The bank also puts 10% of its profits in a pool that's used to reward employees for things like achieving goals and showing ingenuity.

Popular with employees: The fitness room is always open, and free pedometers are supplied to everyone.

Popular with employees: A highlight of the annual Easter egg hunt is $2,000 of cash hidden in the eggs.

Popular with employees: Somerset's "Lunch with the President" program gives each employee the opportunity to participate at least once a year.

Popular with employees: Employees get their birthdays off and the CEO hosts monthly birthday lunches.

Many of the bank's policies bubbled up through meetings of the Employee Excellence Council, a group of roughly 50 volunteers — from tellers to senior vice presidents — that offers input on benefits, working conditions and anything else that comes to mind.

An employee committee that goes by the name CHEER has one mission: make the $1.5 billion-asset Boiling Springs Savings Bank a fun place to work.

Popular with employees: Each summer the bank sponsors a Thursday afternoon outdoor concert series called Sonic Lunch in its hometown of Ann Arbor.