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Breaking Down the Best Companies to Work For

Shouldn't it be "The Best Companies For Whom to Work?"

Whatever. Let's take a look at the companies making this highly-publicized list for 2008:

• Number of publishers: Zero.  That's unfortunate now, isn't it?
• Number of retailers: 11.  Wegman's, Starbucks, Whole Foods, Nugget Markets, eBay, The Container Store, Stew Leonard's, Recreational Equipment, Nordstrom, CarMax and Publix.  (Six grocery store chains?  Well OK then.)  Wegman's stayed at #3, and Starbucks, Nugget Markets, Whole Foods, Stew Leonard's, and CarMax moved up from their previous spots.  Recreational Equipment, Nordstrom, and Publix dropped.
• (BTW, I do NOT believe it's a big deal that Starbucks is closing 100 locations. You don't think they had the capital and flexibility to try some things to see if they would work?  I'll bet they find at least 2 success stories for every failure.)
• Google, eBay, Microsoft, and Yahoo all made it.  Heck, Microsoft and Yahoo were only one spot apart on the list.  Oft-scrutinized, still great places to work.
• Apple didn't make it.  Hmmm.....
• Fourteen companies have been on the list every year since its 1998 conception.
• The only "Indiana company" to make the list is FedEx. One of their 3 biggest offices is in Indy.
• California and Texas each have 13; New York has 9.
• 23 states have zero.

Most interesting tidbits (aka, "Try these if you want to make your employees happy."):

• Google gives stock options to 99% of employees.
• Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers' blog (On My Mind) driven by employee ideas. (I cannot find this blog. I found several others here though.)
• Umpqua Bank has its own coffee blend and employees get 40 hours of paid time each year to volunteer in the community.
• W.L. Gore hires those driven by opportunity "rather than by the title or status that goes along with it." Vague, but impressive.
• Shared Technologies CEO Tony Parella visited all 41 company locations to talk with workers last year.
• Robert W. Baird "touts the no-a$$hole rule...candidates are interviewed extensively, even by the assistants who will work with them."
• Adobe promotes a culture of openness, which certainly was a theme throughout this year's Top 100. The CEO answers e-mails within 24 hours. (Holy smokes I wish more people could follow this rule.)
• Ernst & Young: "Over three months in 2007, E&Y built the fastest-growing recruitment group on Facebook, and it now has more than 12,200 members."
• Chesapeake Energy "Co-founder Aubrey McClendon meets every new employee. He okayed an employee-proposed child-care center, but doubled its size and cut the fee in half."
• Oh yeah.  There's also this: