http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2010/full_list/

1/25/2010 4:08:04 PM

Mine is on the list. Which kinda sucks b/c I don't really like my job, and it appears that I don't have many choices that are better.

1/25/2010 4:18:17 PM

Mine did not make it, but sometimes makes lists like this.

1/25/2010 4:20:58 PM

Mine isn't on the list, could never be on the list, but hey, at least I've got a check.

1/25/2010 4:26:01 PM

#16. Cisco

Quote :

"What makes it so great? The Silicon Valley stalwart has become one of the nation’s largest providers of on-site child care with the opening of a second center; 800 children are enrolled, and parents at HQ can track their kids via computer."

Funny, that this is the thing they focus on when there is no on-site daycare other than at the HQ in San Jose. RTP is the world's second largest site with ~4000, employees, but no daycare here or any other site. It's a perk that the majority of Cisco employees could never take advantage of.

I really wonder what criteria they use for these rankings. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad place to work, but I really can't think of anything that should set it apart from any other gigantic mega-corporation. There used to be such things, but they have long since been taken away (stock options, free sodas, paid home broadband to name few).

Now we have awesome perks such as forced vacations and promotions without raises. I imagine John Chambers would describe the fact that employees still have a job as being a perk. Sure, I'll take being employed vs. being unemployed any day, but as far as being a great place to work, #16 is completely overrated in my mind.

1/25/2010 4:40:02 PM

Nice post Bobby

1/25/2010 4:45:17 PM

hey now, i was reading fortune when i was 25.

1/25/2010 4:50:40 PM

i find it hard to believe a company must have >1100 employees to make it in the top 100. i guess the higher number of employees makes group benefits more economical?

[Edited on January 25, 2010 at 5:58 PM. Reason : .]

1/25/2010 5:57:46 PM

^my company has some great benefits for example 100% coverage of you and all your dependents for health, dental, vision. But we are relatively small in comparison to the companies on that list.

1/25/2010 6:05:55 PM

Wow, that's awesome. we just switched to some wierd plan where there's no co-pays for regular checkups but everything else (and i mean EVERYTHING else, including rx drugs) the insurance doesn't touch until some the outrageously high deductible is fully met. then insurance picks up 80% for in network care and 60% out of network, and some sort of rx plan kicks in. i want to say that out of pocket max is $100k.

the whole thing is super complicated and near as i can tell it damned near extortion.

[Edited on January 25, 2010 at 6:21 PM. Reason : .]

1/25/2010 6:21:18 PM

wegman's hasn't fired anyone in over 40 years?

1/25/2010 6:25:19 PM

^Wot?

The article says no layoffs in 94 years.

1/25/2010 7:26:51 PM

Quote :

"free sodas"

WTF no free sodas....

I used to love filling my bookbag every Friday in order to have mixers for that weekend. This past a co-op i used to work with said he finally used his last pack of AA batteries from when we co-op together fall 06

[Edited on January 25, 2010 at 8:09 PM. Reason : a]

1/25/2010 8:09:07 PM

What criteria? The list is completely useless without some explanation.

1/25/2010 8:38:27 PM

#69 MITRE called me out of the blue six months ago for a consulting gig. Unfortunately I wasn't around when they wanted me but I was pretty intrigued by the work they did.

1/25/2010 10:58:23 PM

Wow, I didn't expect any law firms on there Good things ahead then?

1/26/2010 2:29:12 AM

Google is the only company with "N.A." in both columns lol.

Maybe we should Google it ourselves...

Oh wait! HERE IT IS!

http://investor.google.com/faq.html

Quote :

"How many employees does Google have? As of September 30, 2008, we had 20,123 employees located around the world. "

I can't find how many were fired or job growth though



[Edited on January 26, 2010 at 9:21 AM. Reason : .]

1/26/2010 9:20:31 AM

Quote :

"WTF no free sodas.... I used to love filling my bookbag every Friday in order to have mixers for that weekend. This past a co-op i used to work with said he finally used his last pack of AA batteries from when we co-op together fall 06 "

Gee, I wonder why they took them away?

1/26/2010 10:00:20 AM

heh, globally, the cost savings was calculated to be $17m per year-- an unfathomable amount of money for you and me, but sofa change for a company that had $36 billion in revenue last year, and $20 billion sitting in cash.

My completely unscientific belief is that the amount of productivity derived from the caffeine alone would surpass $17m per year. Conversely, my similarly unscientific belief is that the morale hit from taking it away will far exceed $17m per year in lost productivity.

However, such things are intangible, and thus the bean counters that run the company are completely oblivious to anything that can't be put in a box on an excel spreadsheet.

1/26/2010 10:20:51 AM

They probably saved a few $s on healthcare when they took free sodas away from the fatties.

1/26/2010 11:08:24 AM

^^ I'm just kidding man. I think there is a certain value to these types of things that is difficult to measure. Unfortunately, the bean counters aren't always so good at recognizing these things.

It does promote waste though. You've got to admit there are plenty of people who would grab bottle after bottle of water throughout the day when it's free; but as soon as they start having to buy it they're heading to the water fountain to refill them.

[Edited on January 26, 2010 at 11:50 AM. Reason : s]

1/26/2010 11:48:39 AM

oh, no question about it, there were lots of people who abused it.

1/26/2010 11:51:18 AM

Gah! Because you can't trust ANYONE in big business these days

1/26/2010 11:56:38 AM