Three Richmond-area companies are getting praise for extra efforts to help employees and the community.

The Center for Companies that Care, a Chicago-based nonprofit group, has named CarMax Inc., Virginia Commonwealth University Health System and Bon Secours Richmond Health System to its 2008 honor roll, along with 38 other companies across the nation.

"They are recognized both for providing a positive work environment and being actively involved in their communities in an ongoing way," said Marci Koblenz, co-founder and president of the organization, which advocates ethical and socially responsible workplaces.

The honor-roll companies are selected through employee surveys and an application process that judges organizations on 10 areas of employee support and community involvement.

CarMax made the honor roll for the first time, partly because of employee training programs and partly because of its support of education and youth leadership-development programs in the community. Bon Secours and VCU Health System, which have been selected in previous years, were chosen for programs such as child and elder care that help employees with work-life balance, and for outreach efforts to improve health in the community. -- John Reid Blackwell