Glassdoor's Employee Choice Awards: 20 Tech Companies Make The Cut As Best Places To Work
Dishing the Dirt
Glassdoor's recent Employee Choice Awards 2014 dished out the gossip on which companies employees say are the best to work for, with 20 tech companies making the list of the 50 Best Places to Work 2014. Through their anonymous reviews, employees tell the real story of how much they make, what sort of work/life balance they are able to maintain, what sort of free snacks are available and more. Here's what many employees really believe is the best tech company to work for. (Spoiler alert: It's not Google anymore.)
Salesforce.com
CEO: Marc Benioff
Ranking: 50
Ratings by employees of Salesforce.com both praised and criticized the company's work/life balance, with some touting being allowed them to work from home and others saying the fast growth of the company put a lot of pressure on employees. They heralded the product and the talented engineers, but some said there could be better rewards for those who exceed expectations and fewer for those who simply fill seats.
"Salesforce.com is a hidden gem from an employment perspective. ... It's a company on a mission. With 10,000s of employees you cannot avoid the usual bureaucracy, but the company is strongly driven by mission and I think that is huge," one reviewer wrote.
eBay
CEO: John Donahoe
Ranking: 49
Employees said the company culture at eBay is very friendly and inviting, especially for new employees, and praised the senior management team. On the downside, reviewers said that eBay was slow to adapt to new technologies, with one reviewer writing, "Innovation encouraged but not appreciated." However, others said that Donahoe was working at pushing senior management for more technology advancement.
Texas Instruments
CEO: Richard Templeton
Ranking: 45
Employees praised Texas Instruments' understanding culture, especially for emergency personal events and needs for flexible schedules. They said that the culture was extremely team-oriented, with one reviewer saying that the company only hired collaborative employees. That being said, many employees said there were a lot of politics and bureaucracy within the company that they wished would be addressed. While there were some gripes about a six-month rotational program that requires travel, many employees praised the program and some said it should be longer.
NetApp
CEO: Tom Georgens
Ranking: 41
Structurally, many employees complained that the company was too vertically organized and that it could be difficult to advance within the company, with upper management often chosen from outside. Many, however, said that it was interesting work with a great group of people. Employees said that benefits and pay were good, and they appreciated perkssuch as free snacks and volunteer time.
Citrix
CEO: Mark Templeton
Ranking: 38
Employees said Citrix pays well, gives a lot of vacation time and there is an overall positive working environment. They said it is very family-friendly and even dog-friendly in the office. However, many employees complained about politics within the company, high turnover and limited opportunities for career growth. They also said there appears to be a disconnect between different offices of the company.
"Make sure you take the right steps to keep the many good people you have, Citrix -- I noticed while working there that the better, more talented individuals tended to leave since they were not necessarily getting the growth opportunities they needed to entice them to stay," one review writer advised.
Apple
CEO: Tim Cook
Ranking: 35
A lot of employee reviewers said it was rewarding to work for a company and with talented co-workers looking to innovate in consumer electronics and software. However, some said that with so many talented employees, it can be difficult to set yourself apart. Benefits-wise, employees were very positive, saying that Apple offered good compensation and bonuses. With that comes a very demanding job, many reviewers said. A job at Apple is ideal for younger employees without families, many said.
Intel
CEO: Brian Krzanich
Ranking: 33
Employees said that compensation and benefit perks were good, but many said that comes with a lot of long hours (even for interns, one reviewer wrote). Data-driven decision-making means that a lot of the politics are cut out, a common complaint at a lot of the larger companies that made the Top 50, one reviewer wrote. Many reviewers commented that the company was very segmented, and it could be difficult to switch departments or communicate with other areas of the company.
"Continue leading the design efforts for advanced technology through innovation and hiring competent engineers to contribute to the success of the company," one reviewer advised senior management.
Rackspace
CEO: Lanham Napier
Ranking: 30
Rackspace is a fun place to work with a great work/life balance, employees said in their reviews. However, while most reviewers wrote positively of the company culture, some reviewers said the fun had gone too far, with bare feet, helicopters, yelling and banging on desks.
"This is such a fun workplace. Everyone is really nice and everyone gets along quite well with each other. If you work for Rackspace, you will learn tons of stuff about the industry. For the most part, Rackers treat Rackers like friends," one reviewer wrote.
Red Hat
CEO: James Whitehurst
Ranking: 23
Red Hat boasts an open culture with hard-working employees, reviewers said.
"Even though we're pushing 6,000 employees, we haven't quite lost the feel of a startup. It's not quite as loose and crazy as it was in 2000 but it's not shirt-and-tie corporate America either," one reviewer wrote.
However, with that, many employees recommended that management be careful as the company grows to not lose touch with employees. Compensation is not as high as other comparable tech companies, employees said, unless you are a top performer.
MathWorks
CEO: John Little
Ranking: 22
Employees said they liked working for a financially stable company with great products and a generally good and friendly work atmosphere. Many reviewers in particular were big fans of "Friday cookies" and "Wednesday breakfasts."
However, they said that there were very strict policies against working from home, with company policy limited to working from home to up to three days a year, according to one reviewer. Reviewers also said that the employee review process was "horrible" and took months to complete with many meetings and reports needed in comparison to the amount of helpful feedback received.
Intuit
CEO: Brad Smith
Ranking: 19
Employees said that working on a product such as TurboTax that millions of people rely on every year is very rewarding. Compensation and benefits are competitive, they said, with a good work/life balance, though work can get busy, particularly around tax season.
However, employees said in their reviews that "constant" reorganizations within Intuit have meant a lack of stability from the management side.
Riverbed Technology
CEO: Jerry Kennelly
Ranking: 17
Many employees referenced the "evolving" nature of Riverbed, while some of them called it "growing pains," especially when it comes to acquisitions. Employees said they wished there was more transparency and involvement of employees in decision-making for the company's future. "Increasingly large size brings with it a sometimes uneasy mix of the 'new' with the 'old' that is resistant to change," one reviewer said of the company.
That being said, many employees praised the open and collaborative working environment, extensive employee training and compelling products.
Slalom Consulting
CEO: Brad Jackson
Ranking: 15
Employees praised Slalom Consulting for its great work/life balance, with one reviewer saying that it was unusual to work more than 40 to 45 hours a week. They said the culture was fun with a mix of management and technical talent, and leadership was usually approachable. On the downside, employees said benefits were expensive, but that it was improving over time. Some said the flat structure, while making it easier to approach management, limited opportunities to advance within the company.
Qualcomm
CEO: Paul Jacobs
Ranking: 13
Employees said that it is very rewarding to work among the top-notch talent that Qualcomm attracts and that compensation packages were very generous. They said collaboration, guidance and training were very good. While they appreciated the innovation in the company, employees said that their workloads were demanding to keep up with the pace of innovation, and you have to "make a conscious effort for work/life balance," especially among the engineers.
CEO: Larry Page
Ranking: 8
Although it usually hits the top of most company culture lists, Google came in eighth on the Glassdoor Employee Choice Awards 2014. Employees said free snacks were everywhere, with more than 15 cafeterias on the main campus alone. Other perks on campus include free laundry, a bowling alley, and an outdoor sports park. Employees said they appreciated the casual culture, where wearing shorts to work is completely acceptable. However, employees said there was very little work/life balance, and often found themselves working weekends and late into the night.
"What balance? All those perks and benefits are an illusion. They keep you at work and they help you to be more productive. I've never met anybody at Google who actually had time off on weekends or on vacations," wrote one reviewer who has worked at Google for more than eight years.
Interactive Intelligence
CEO: Donald Brown
Ranking: 7
Interactive Intelligence, a global provider of call center and software solutions, was praised by employees for its casual and developer-centric culture. They said it was a great environment for a self-starter, especially those interested in cloud technologies. However, some employees complained that as the company continues to grow, now with more than 6,000 customers, there is a rising bureaucratic culture. They also said that they wished the company better utilized technology internally to improve efficiency.
Guidewire Software
CEO: Marcus Ryu
Ranking: 6
Employees of Guidewire, a back-end software company for insurance carriers, said they appreciated the stable development process at the company, where employees always know what to work on and development is carried out at a sustainable pace. The company culture is fun, open and approachable, they said, but some criticized the lack of privacy in the open-seating model of the office.
"We don't have as many 'perks' as some Silicon Valley companies, but overall you have to decide how important that is to you. For me, working at a place where I like and respect my colleagues is much more important. I really do like my job, and that's worth a lot," one reviewer wrote.
CEO: Mark Zuckerberg
Ranking: 5
Fun on-site benefits at Facebook include an on-site chiropractor, acupuncture, free food, gourmet lunches and more. Employees said they appreciated the innovative culture at the company and knowing that their work touched billions of people every day over the social network. However, they said it can be incredibly tricky to maintain a work/life balance at the company.
"The work/life balance can be difficult. You're judged by the amount of work you put out, which is fair, but to keep up you may need to regularly work 10 hours per day. I'd often see people put in even more hours each day. But then again, if you're incredibly skilled, you could probably get away with less than eight hours per day," one reviewer wrote.
CEO: Jeff Weiner
Ranking: 3
LinkedIn employees said they appreciated how well company values were intertwined in the culture and how upper management worked alongside those values. Office perks include ping pong, scooters, three free organic and health-conscious meals a day, cube-decorating competitions and charity work. Monthly "hackdays" help keep things interesting and united, they said, even as the company continues to grow rapidly. On the downside, employees said that the company was "title poor," which sometimes left them feeling underappreciated when comparing themselves to employees at other companies with higher titles but comparable job descriptions.
CEO: Dick Costolo
Ranking: 2
The top tech company on the list came in second place on the overall list, falling behind consulting company Bain & Company. A startup-like culture helped propel it to the top spot, with employees praising intelligent co-workers, lots of free food, competitive benefits and stock awards and a mission-driven organization. However, employees expressed concerns that management would not be able to retain the same feel as the company continues to grow, especially after the recent IPO.