Confessions of a Corporate Shopaholic

If yesterday’s list of top companies for work-life balance seems to be a bit too narrowly focused for you, glassdoor.com has published their annual poll on best places to work for the year 2011, based solely upon the opinions and ratings of actual employees, instead of company financials or human resource indexes. 

So let the drum roll begin…

1. Facebook
2. Southwest Airlines
3. Bain & Company
4. General Mills
5. Edelman
6. Boston Consulting
7. SAS Institute
8. Slalom Consulting
9. Overstock.com
10. Susquehanna International Group
11. CareerBuilder
12. MITRE
13. QuikTrip
14. Shutterfly
15. NetApp
16. Trader Joe’s
17. Goldman Sachs
18. McKinsey & Company
19. National Instruments
20. Apple
21. Analog Devices
22. Northwestern Mutual
23. Procter & Gamble
24. BB&T
25. Synopsys
26. Chevron
27. Scottrade
28. Bristol-Myers Squibb
29. MassMutual
30. Google
31. Travelers Companies
32. Fluor
33. Monsanto Company
34. Publix
35. John Deere
36. QUALCOMM
37. Morgan Stanley
38. State Farm
39. Adobe
40. REI
41. Salesforce.com
42. Ford Motor
43. Turner Broadcasting
44. Genentech
45. Intel Corporation
46. American Express
47. Nike
48. Deutsche Bank
49. Cummins
50. Capital One

According to glassdoor.com, “the ranking is determined based on the results of a 20-question survey that captures employees’ attitudes about: Career Opportunities, Communication, Compensation & Benefits, Employee Morale, Recognition & Feedback, Senior Leadership, Work/Life Balance, and Fairness & Respect.”

Here’s what some employees said about the top companies:

“The energy and direction of the company! There’s plenty of opportunity to take on new responsibilities and build the future of Facebook.”  – Facebook employee (Palo Alto, CA)

“The company was founded on the principle that in order to succeed you need to treat your co-workers as well as your customers. This had led to industry leading salaries, benefits and a fabulous place to work.” – Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant (location n/a)

“Always interesting and challenging, hardly ever boring, never menial. Everyone here is super intelligent and motivated. They really take care of their employees.” – Bain & Company employee (location n/a)

Same as yesterday, I also have the privilege of working for one of the top 50 list above.  All I can say is that everyone go about answering these survey questions differently and they are highly subjective.   What’s important for you may not be what I consider a priority at this stage, and vice versa.  Nevertheless, it never goes wrong to select bigger and more established global companies to work for as they have a bigger brand name to lose should their value proposition, policies and governance are not up to par.  Bottom line is, I have never been shy about my personal belief:  I don’t look for a caregiver at work.  I look for a place where I can add value in return for a fair pay check, and I know that place will be challenging.  If there exists a workplace that is filled with love, harmony, unconditional support, tolerance and complete equal opportunities, I guess none of us would be needed and hired in the first place.

* Oh well, non-profit or religious organizations an exception, of course.