SAS, the leader in business intelligence, was again named to Fortune's annual "100 Best Companies to Work For" list.
SAS has appeared on the prestigious list all 10 years it has been published, logging six top-10 ratings. This year, SAS also appeared on the lists for companies with the best child-care, healthcare benefits and work/life balance programmes.
"Our continuing presence on the Fortune list shows that employees are our most important asset," said Jeff Chambers, SAS Vice-President of Human Resources. "We go to great lengths to minimise life's distractions however and wherever we can. It is not altruism. It just makes good business sense."
SAS employees are unusually loyal. Annual turnover is about 4% in an industry in which 20% is the norm. The 2006 SAS employee survey found SAS workers are proud of the work they do and believe their work contributes to SAS' success. To keep satisfaction high, CEO Jim Goodnight convened an employee committee representing all major SAS divisions. Its mission: to help executives understand employee issues.
"Satisfied, committed employees lead to quality software and services, which leads to loyal customers," Chambers said.
Complete rankings and accompanying stories appear in the 22 January issue of Fortune and are currently available at www.fortune.com. In 2004, SAS' consistent appearance on the list earned the company a membership in the magazine's Hall of Fame, whose 22 inductees have appeared on every list since 1998.
Much has changed in the American workplace over the past decade. In 1998, 18 companies on Fortune's list offered telecommuting; today 82 do. Only 28 companies on the list offered domestic partner benefits; now that number is 70. Competition to get on the list has intensified: This year 446 companies vied for a slot, up from 161 in 1998.
Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz of the Great Place to Work Institute in San Francisco compile Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list based on two criteria: an evaluation of the policies and culture of each company, and the opinions of the company's employees. The latter is given more weight; two-thirds of the total score comes from employee responses to a 57-question survey that goes to a minimum of 400 randomly selected employees from each company. The survey asks about things such as attitudes toward management, job satisfaction and camaraderie within the organisation. The remaining one-third of the score is based on an evaluation of each company's demographic makeup, pay and benefits programmes, and culture. Companies are scored in four areas: credibility (communication to employees), respect (opportunities and benefits), fairness (compensation and diversity) and pride/camaraderie (philanthropy and celebrations).
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SAS is the leader in business intelligence software and services. Customers at 40 000 sites use SAS software to improve performance through insight into vast amounts of data, resulting in faster, more accurate business decisions; more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; compliance with governmental regulations; research breakthroughs; and better products. Only SAS offers leading data integration, intelligence storage, advanced analytics and traditional business intelligence applications within a comprehensive enterprise intelligence platform. Since 1976, SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know. www.sas.com
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