2007 "100 Best Companies to Work for"®
in America
Milton Moskowitz and Robert Levering
While many commentators long for the workplace of old --- with fully paid health care, generous pensions, and lifetime job security --- from our ringside seat as compilers of the "100 Best" list for the past decade, we've seen that for many lucky employees, the workplace has never been better. Today's workplace is better in these respects:
- It's more flexible.
- It's more of a learning environment.
- It's more diverse in terms of female and minority representation.
- It's more supportive of employees raising a family.
- It's more democratic in terms of employee stock ownership.
- It's more open in terms of communication upwards and downwards.
- It's more fun: parties and celebrations galore.
We have tracked this progress in our annual Culture Audit© questionnaire to companies applying for a place on the list and in our annual Trust Index© employee survey conducted with more than a million workers over the past 10 years. From flextime and on-site child care to stock options and concierge services, many perks unusual a decade ago have become commonplace today - at least among America's best employers. Not every company in America is like Google or Genentech or Wegmans but the 100 we select are beacons for the rest of the business world. Appearance on this list often prompts an avalanche of benchmarking requests. Several of these companies - SAS Institute, Starbucks and Southwest Airlines - have even been featured favorably on the CBS program, "60 Minutes," known for its skewering of companies for sleazy practices.
The composition of our list has changed dramatically over the past decade. There are fewer manufacturers, many more professional service firms (legal, accounting and IT consulting), health care providers and retailers. This change partly reflects the changing nature of the economy to service occupations, but we believe it is also a direct result of the increasing competition for workers in a number of specific industries, most notably in hospitals, where there is a severe shortage of nurses.
To learn more about the Best Companies:
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