Comments

Tom your point is well made - "Yes! Retail took 3 of the top 5 slots! Which means to me that “we the people” (not only “cool” Googlers and Genentechers, #2 this year), can find seriously Cool Places to Work in surprising places". This has been your point for the past 25 years so you must be "delighted" by these results. Googlers ( by and large) get to choose where they work but other people do not always get a choice. Keep up the good fight Tom it seems you are winning on this one!

Richard

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at February 18, 2007 3:56 PM

1. Happy President's Day - plan to start with a 5 mile run - sure dogs will be talking to me & mocking my cool run shoes & style - so be it - they'll get theirs some day ...

2. Google is such a model for career AND lifestyle - I really see Free Enterprise leading the way & replacing government in quality management of career & citizen services & products

Posted by sean_google at February 18, 2007 6:04 PM

'Which means to me that “we the people” (not only “cool” Googlers and Genentechers, #2 this year), can find seriously Cool Places to Work in surprising places.'

Can I suggest those 'Cool Places to Work' are a response to the demands of frustrated front liners and innovative managers who are fed up with old style controlled/robotic/institutional/boring workplace settings. Just a thought on a wonderful peaceful Sunday evening in England.

Sean - my daily 3 mile run beckons tomorrow (Monday) morning - have you tried dog repellant spray???!! :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at February 18, 2007 6:51 PM

"...Whole Foods bagged the #5 spot."

Was that paper or plastic?

I believe the rankings show that any company can be a great place to work. No industry should feel like they can't be on that list.

Regards,

Glenn

Posted by Glenn (Customer Service Experience) Ross at February 18, 2007 7:32 PM

Whole Foods does so many things right. Where else does it happen (100% of the time) that if you ask for the location of an item, they will WALK you to it?

Posted by John O'Leary at February 19, 2007 8:26 AM

The surprising thing is that you're surprised. Surveys like this nearly always throw up "surprising" results which really just highlight received wisdom and/or our own assumptions and prejudices. As we in the West move away from being manufacturing economies, wouldn't you expect the retailers and leisure industries to come to the fore?

I also wonder if there's a danger that we're all becoming grumpy old men who moan that the world isn't as good as it used to be and nowhere near as good as it should be. Shouldn't we be celebrating the fact that the message we're so passionate about is getting through? Sure, we can all find incidents like the recent Jet Blue one. But by and large, don't you think that the average employer is a lot more open-minded and employee-friendly than 25 years ago? Does this have any implications for the message we're trying to get across?

Posted by Mark JF at February 19, 2007 8:26 AM

I note that Pfizer is no longer in the Top 100. There are a number of components required for the Top 100, and I bet having a sound business strategy that enables your company and its employees to thrive and to grow is up there. If pride and patent losses go before a fall, then Pfizer is right where it should be now. The company knew 6 years ago that today would come, but it made no attempt to adapt its business model, preferring to cut heads and sell divisions while praying for a hail mary from its labs. Guess Darwin was right about adaptability (not being the smartest or toughest) is the key to survival.

Posted by Marc Rovner at February 19, 2007 9:34 AM

"But by and large, don't you think that the average employer is a lot more open-minded and employee-friendly than 25 years ago?" Mark JF, I do mostly agree with this--but we also see again and again decent, huge surveys that say that perhaps 25% al most of folks say they're "engaged/' in their work--and perhaps another 25% are actively pissed off.

As to myy surprise (delight), try and understand that when I talk about "this stuff", I am routinely challenged with "but we're in retail," or some such.

Posted by tom peters at February 19, 2007 11:20 AM

I've lived near Disneyland and I've lived (still do in fact) near Weggies. Weggies is the happier place.

Full disclosure: I have no financial interest in Wegmans except insofar as they occupy more slots on my monthly statement (by far) than any other of the fine extablishments where I swipe my card(s).

viagra price australia If you live in the northeast, get plowed out and go to Weggies. You'll have a great time...guaranteed.

Posted by Richard Dubin at February 19, 2007 11:21 AM

Whole Foods Market and Nordstroms always get high marks for customer service and as good places to work. Notice their customer base is high income. (The closest WFM to me is three hours away in a ritzy Detroit suburb.) Wal Mart gets killed in these pages and everywhere else for poor service, quality, etc. Wal Mart's core customers are the rest of us.

There's something going on here and I don't like it.

Posted by red island rhodes at February 19, 2007 3:23 PM

Retail can be a demanding and frustrating business. Customers aren't always nice and many take out their frustrations on the "clerk", feeling that he or she must "take it" or fear job loss. Night and weekend hours interfere with personal life, and as you mentioned, the pay scale isn't likely to impress anyone.

For three retailers to make the top five they must REALLY be doing something right. Good for them.

Posted by Mike at February 19, 2007 5:57 PM

red island rhodes...I think you are on to something. Living in a small town in Michigan myself, WalMart is the only big box choice. (side note...the town I was raised in just got a court ruling to keep Walmart out...but they are only 10 miles from a major city with options) And to be honest, I had to replace a VCR yesterday and just needed a plain one to dub some old tapes. Not wanting to drive 50 miles to the closest big small town, I went to Wally's world. $80 for a combination VCR/DVD Recorder! Not great customer service, nobody to ask any questions of, but damned inexpensive. I am not a raving fan of Walmart, but they do serve a customer base that WFM and Nordstroms really don't want. I think I will try to remember that and be a lot nicer to the Walmart folks next visit.

Posted by Mike Neiss at February 21, 2007 4:22 PM