100 Best Companies to Work For: US beats UK for tech

The separate 100 Best Companies to Work For surveys show that the US technology industry is a much more vibrant and happier place than the UK, discovers a glum faced John Hillman

The 100 Best Companies to Work for tables in the UK and the US show a remarkable gulf between the differing technology industries on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the US you will find 11 technology companies in the top 100 list, with five of them in the top 10. One of them, SAS, has even stormed into the coveted number one spot. Here they are:

• Intel ( No.98)
• Intuit (No.94)
• Adobe (No.42)
• Shared Technologies (No.33)
• Cisco (No.16)
• Zappos (No.15)
• Qualcomm (No.9)
• NetApp (No.7)
• Dreamworks (No.6)
• Google (No.4)
• SAS (No.1)

Over in poor old Blighty we have just one leading light in the top 10, Data Connection (No. 9) and only two more in the top 100: Rackspace Hosting (15) and Microsoft (21).

Considering the amount of political rhetoric expended by the likes of Gordon Brown, whose Digital Britain speech last April put forward the strategic vision that is supposed to place us at the leading edge of the global digital economy, I would say that this proves we have a long way to go before we even begin to get there.

In the US technology companies are defined by their almost mythically creative working environments. From the in house medical team at SAS (No. 1) to the completely off-the-wall office culture at Zappos (No. 15) you find teams of hugely motivated and talented individuals.

In contrast our UK technology industry seems to be under constant threat from foreign businesses being able to lure away our best talent to work in low-tax high-sunshine environments.

We have a lot of natural talent here. The problem just seems to be creating the right environment where they can be happy and flourish.

—————————–

Image Credit: glyphjockey