The companies on the list were something of a surprise, based on business prospects and layoffs. The Top 25 companies for Work-Life Balance as measured by Glassdoor was just released. Among them are two portals. One is AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) — amazing give the disaster when CEO TIm Armstong fired an employee at hyperlocal Web division Patch and immediately laid off almost 500 people (of course, the survey is based on research done before all of that. Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) was also on the list.
Another surprise was Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK). The company fell from the top spot in the handset business five years ago, and now is an also-ran.
Less surprising were huge oil companies Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE: RDS-A) and Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), which can afford to almost anything for their employees.
The balance of the list was a mix of cats and dogs determined this way:
As part of Glassdoor’s online company review survey, employees voluntarily and anonymously share what their job and company is like when it comes to work-life balance. The following 25 companies stand out for both high work-life balance ratings and insightful reviews.
A bit of a black box.
Top 25 Companies for Work-Life Balance
As part of Glassdoor’s online company review survey, employees voluntarily and anonymously share what their job and company is like when it comes to work-life balance. The following 25 companies stand out for both high work-life balance ratings and insightful reviews.
Top 25 Winners
Year 2011 Year 2012 Year 2013
1
SAS Institute
4.5
“Customer-focused, employee-focused and innovativeAmazing workplace culture, flexible work environment, challenging/stimulating work, customer-focused.”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
2
“A pretty good place to workI make my own hours, don’t put in much over 40 hours a week, and while it’s not company policy I…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
3
“Great company, but monoculturalLocal model guarantees evenings at home with family.”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
4
MITRE
4.1
“A very easy place to work, as hard or as little, as you want.Outstanding quality of work/life balance. Supportive and easy going…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
5
Orbitz Worldwide
4.1
“Youthful spiritFlexible working hours, cutting edge technologies, challenging assignments, constant learning.”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
6
Scottrade
4.1
“Great company, low stress, team environmentBranch locations offer small teams of good people, clean break between work and social life…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
7
Mentor Graphics
4.1
“Great Company – Old School ApproachFor a person with a family, the work life balance and onsite childcare are absolutely stellar.”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
8
FactSet
4.1
“Engineer-driven culture with a strong emphasis on work-life balance…Working 8-hour days is the norm and your career will not…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
9
“A laid back culture and great people makes for a nice work…Agilent offers great options to balance your work and home life…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
10
Nokia
4.1
“Work Culture is GoodFlexible working hours and work from home options. Good work culture overall.”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
11
MathWorks
4.1
“Nice place to workLots of culture, good work life balance, flexible hours, good senior management. Good company if…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
12
Autodesk
4.0
“Great place to workThey have a very flexible schedule, with ability to work remotely, required vacation time, a fair…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
13
AOL
4.0
“A great place to work.Company sincerely cares about employee welfare as well as helping out in the community wherever…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
14
Citrix Systems
4.0
“Great Company…Fantastic Work/ Life BalanceIncredible amount of time-off. Great Culture. Best products in market.”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
15
GlobalLogic
4.0
“Good company to work with for good peopleFlexible work timing. Work from home policy. Lots of emphasis on training and mentoring people…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
16
Yahoo
4.0
“Great for Work/Life Balance, flexible working hours and great people…Great for Work/Life Balance, flexible working hours and…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
17
Tieto
4.0
“Tieto offers challenging jobs and great atmosphere.Flexibility. Work-life balance. Every place is a workplace = office is only one…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
18
MasterCard
3.9
“A good place to workIt is family oriented (but not too a fault!), good benefits, most people are nice”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
19
Morningstar
3.9
“Great place to build a career,Work with incredibly smart people. Great work/life balance – opportunities to work remotely, no…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
20
Shell Oil
3.9
“Great employerRespect to people, lots of opportunities to develop, decent pay, good work/life balance, great…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
21
Robert Bosch
3.9
“Good work life balanceNo pressure or strict deadlines to employees. Enough time provided to work. Quality is ultimate…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
22
Chevron
3.9
“Satisfied.Flexible work hours, promoting work-life balance, challenging worldwide opportunities.”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
23
REI
3.9
“Would recommend!Flexible schedule, employee discounts, incredible co-workers, company values.”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
24
“STM is employee friendly, not too aggressive in either work pressure…Provides an opportunity to balance work and life – usually a…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
25
NetApp
3.9
“Great people, great technologyCompany gives a lot of flexibility. The work is very very good and the people are extremely good…”
Reviews | Salaries | Interviews | Jobs
Work-Life Ratings Scale: 4.01–5.0 = “Very Satisfied” 3.51–4.0 = “Satisfied”
Note: Based on ratings between 7/2/12 – 7/1/13
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