US tech firms lead list of best multinational workplaces

US technology companies, led by Microsoft, topped a league table of the world’s 25 best multinational workplaces released on Thursday by a New York-based human resources consultancy.
“Microsoft is at the top of the list because it believes that spreading a trust-based culture is the right way to do business, independent of size, national culture or industry,” said Jose Tolovi of Great Place to Work.
Software developer SAS, network storage provider NetApp and search engine Google held down second, third and fourth place, followed by courier FedEx, networking specialist Cisco, Mariott hotels and McDonald’s restaurants.
Top among European companies were British drinks group Diageo at 11, German building equipment manufacturer Hilti at 15, and Spanish telecoms operator Telefonica at 17.

However, no Asian companies made the list. “Asia is still a relatively new area for us,” Tolovi told AFP by email. “We expect that Asia-based multinationals will show up on future Great Place to Work world’s best lists.”
American Express, at 12, was the only financial institution to make the grade, at a time when big banks are coming under fire from the Occupy Wall Street movement and its global offshoots. “These companies are examples of profitable businesses built in conjunction with their employees,” said Tovoli, global chief executive of Great Place to Work.
Trust across borders
The 25 world’s best multinationals clearly demonstrate the main attributes of a great workplace — a place where you trust the people you work for, have pride in what you do, and enjoy the people you work with. These companies have the courage and confidence to build the kind of workplace where you achieve organisational objectives with employees who work together as a team.
There’s a much-needed emphasis today on global job creation, and these 25 companies also stand out as job creators. They attract great talent, receiving, on average, nine job applications for every existing filled position in their organisations in the past year. In total, the 25 companies created 151,855 jobs over the past year.

Shilla Shree,
partner and EVP, Executive Search, The HeadHunters, Bangalore:
In a global scenario, they usually take environment, work culture and other values into consideration while evaluating the workplaces. By their own admission, they have not touched upon Asia. In fact, India, China, Japan and many countries have many great global corporations to work with. This survey is mostly North America-based and party Europe.

Naresh Jingiani,
vice-president (HR), VenSat Tech
Visibility of the organisations is important. New organisations, which are doing extremely well, should also be looked at. Of course, they may not have the critical mass to reach the level accreditation by Great Place to Work and other such agencies.
India has great western partners, be it in IT, pharma or many other industries. I am surprised why they haven’t covered Asia in their survey.

Saumen Chakraborty,
president, Global HR, Dr Reddy’s Labs
They seem to have given great weightage to a random employee survey. In US and Europe, usually, they give five out of five to good companies. In Asia and India, even if they are fully satisfied, they give four out of five. This causes a huge gap. This is common in most Asia countries. Even if some one gives 4.2 out of 5, when it comes to percentile, these companies may get edged out. I attribute it to psychological reasons.
Top 10 India’s Best Companies to Work For in 2010
1. Google India Pvt Ltd
1259 Employees
2. MakeMyTrip (India) Pvt Ltd
674 Employees
3. Intel Technology India Pvt Ltd
2430 Employees
4. Marriott Hotels India Pvt Ltd
2433 Employees
5. NetApp India Pvt Ltd
1042 Employees
6. American Express, India
5200 Employees
7. NTPC Ltd.
24708 Employees
8. PayPal India Pvt Ltd
419 Employees
9. Ajuba Solutions India Pvt Ltd
1612 Employees
10. SAS Institute (India) Pvt Ltd
108 Employees
What makes them great?
Some 350 potential multinationals were eligible for the global best workplaces list. The 25 companies on the inaugural 2011 World’s Best Multinational Workplaces list succeeded the most in becoming great workplaces across both physical and cultural borders.

Category: City, City News