Once again, SAS, the Cary, NC-based business analytics software and services provider, finds itself on Fortune’s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. This time, it’s #1, a slot that has been home to such venerable exemplars as Wegman’s Supermarkets, Google, The Container Store, and Genentech.
SAS is the real thing. It’s relatively easy to splash onto this list once or twice. But showing up for 13 years in a row takes more than luck.
Why They Keep Making It
Fortune’s annual article about the list always seems to focus on the perks and creature comforts of the best places to work. We think that misses the mark. Most of the companies that rise to the top echelons of the ranking deserve to be there – but more for their culture of leadership, trust, and excellence than for their gyms, childcare, and free food.
Thirteen years ago, the year SAS showed up on Fortune’s first “100 Best” list, I toured the SAS campus outside Raleigh, while researching Bill’s and my first book, Contented Cows Give Better Milk. Here’s an excerpt from the passage we wrote about SAS:
“Every floor of each of the eighteen buildings on its sprawling Cary, North Carolina, campus has a well-stocked break room with a veritable cornucopia of stuff to eat and drink, everything from crackers to M&M’s, all paid for by the company. Everyone is trusted to consume only what they want. There’s nothing to stop someone from shoving three boxes of Cracker Jacks in their bag and schlepping them home for those nights when they’ve got the munchies. Well, maybe there is. Perhaps it’s the fact that they’re trusted not to.”
Fortune’s online article about SAS and the list features a string of comments from readers, many of whom appear to be current and former employees. Almost all are in agreement with Fortune’s #1 assessment of the company. (One guy allowed, “dont like them [sic]“.
But another, styling himself Viktor Kunovski, put it best:
“The best companies in the 21 century will be the ones who understand that:
- Fact 1: Employee fulfilment drives customer satisfaction.
- Fact 2: Customer satisfaction drives shareholder value.
- Fact 3: Leadership development drives employee fulfilment. [sic]
Congratulations SAS, just show the way.”
Did someone say Contented Cows Give Better Milk?
Again, SAS’s remarkable perks are but a manifestation of the trust between the company and the people who work there. The fact that employees have unlimited sick days is great, but even greater is the fact that the company trusts people not to abuse the trust indicated by the policy. Those who do – get to look for other jobs…so that those who don’t – get to keep the privilege.
Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and the followup Contented Cows MOOve Faster. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.
