The Best Places to Work In America - SAS #1

FORTUNE magazine has released its annual list of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America.  No surprise that SAS tops the list for the consecutive second time. SAS has effectively created an environment that artfully blends the critical business imperatives of engaged employees and sustained profitability. The company's approach to its people is an outstanding example of what it takes to be a best place to work.



SAS, #1 Best Place to Work In America

 I had the pleasure of visiting SAS twice during the fall of 2010.  The campus is beautiful and the employees are warm and engaging. What struck me most about SAS is the obvious support for work-life balance. SAS employees work hard and many work long hours. But they do so largely on their terms, with an abundance of employer support. A paramount example is found in the child care centers, which maintain shorter hours than some on-site company child care facilities. Why? In keeping with the commitment to work-life balance, the shorter hours encourage parents to put family first.



Harmony is prevalent throughout the zen-like campus. People are very busy, but the atmosphere exudes calm. Based on the company's financial success, it's obvious that employees are productive, but the frenetic chaos so often found in tech companies seems completely absent.

SAS was a very welcoming place to visit.  Employees exhibited a genuine sense of appreciation to those of us who came to the events on the campus. We were treated as honored guests.  A specific experience during each of my visits will illustrate the point:

1. I was a conference speaker during my first visit to SAS. My usual speaker regimen involves a very early arrival to the conference venue, to assess the layout and ensure that my planned approach to the delivery of the presentation will be effective. In this case, I carried a large box with a number of handouts. Two SAS employees saw me sitting outside the conference venue with my large package. Both went out of their way to locate someone to open the building early, escort me in and help me set up. I knew that these were busy people and I am certain that they had other, more pressing things to do. But at that moment, they saw a guest who needed assistance and that became their most important task.
2. My second visit to SAS was in connection with the Great Place to Work Executive Strategy Network, a group of representatives of the 100 Best Places to Work in America. SAS leaders were invited to join us for the opening event, a lively keynote speech by a well-known author.  Fay Merrideth, an external communications executive for SAS, took the seat next to mine.  We engaged in an enjoyable exchange for some time before the event began. After the event, we traded business cards and agreed to keep in touch. Later that day, Faye sought me out and handed me a gift bag. Inside was a personal note of appreciation with a beautiful T-shirt depicting a North Carolina lighthouse. Faye's gesture made me feel genuinely appreciated and created a tangible, lasting impression of the values that SAS imparts on its employees.

These are the attributes that contribute to a great place to work.  It's not a collection of programs or benefits that are implemented in order to check off boxes on an application. It's a welcoming, trusting culture and a meaningful employment experience. SAS has mastered the recipe for creating a genuinely great place to work.

Congratulations to SAS and every one of its employees on this well-deserved repeat award!

Work at a Great Place

If you have to work, why not work at a great place?

This blog talks about great places - how companies become best places to work and how they stay best places to work. 


Employees of best places to work are happy employees!
Photo by Kat
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyger_lyllie/56688439/ 

  

There are lots of best places to work lists, each with its own criteria.  But the companies that populate these lists all have some common attributes that we'll discuss in detail.

You may be a business owner seeking ideas to transform your company into a best place to work.  Perhaps you don't own a company, but you're a leader in an organization and want to make the workplace the best it can be.  Or you may be a job seeker, trying to figure out how to land a job in a best place to work. 

Regardless of the group in which you fit, you'll find tips, hints, advice and ideas that will apply to your situation. This blog has two simple goals:   

1. To help make every company a little bit better
2. To help every worker just a little bit happier

Thanks for reading this introductory post. There will be lots more to come!