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Computerworld - In January 2005, companies nominated for Computerworld's Best Places to Work for IT professionals received a 100-question survey asking about their organizations' average salary and bonus increases, percentage of IT staff promoted, IT staff turnover rates, training and development, and the percentages of women and minorities in IT staff and management positions. In addition, information was collected on each organization's method of rewarding outstanding performance, its retention programs and its benefits, ranging from child and elder care to flextime and reimbursement for college tuition and technology certifications. Here's a look at the aggregate data from those 100 winning companies:

The Top Best Places to Work

The Tops
The top 10 lists below show the very best of the best -- the companies that excel in five areas of employment: diversity, training, career development, retention and benefits. To determine the top 10 lists, we considered the following factors:
-		Diversity: Percentage of women and minorities in staff and managerial positions
-		Training: Average number of training days and average cost of training per IT worker per year
-		Career development: Mentoring programs and tuition reimbursement for college classes and technical certifications
-		Retention: Frequency of employee satisfaction surveys, turnover rate, promotions and corporate communications initiatives
-		Benefits: A range of benefits, including sabbaticals, health vision benefits (percentage paid for by company) and long-term care

Best Places for Diversity
1.		Hogan & Hartson LLP
2.		Miami-Dade County
3.		University of Miami
4.		Universal Health Services Inc.
5.		Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
6.		Assurant Solutions
7.		Hilton Hotels Corp.
8.		Southern California Edison Co.
9.		Northrop Grumman Corp.
10.		J.C. Penney Co.

Best Places For Training
1.		Infosys Technologies Ltd.
2.		University of Miami
3.		The Mitre Corp.
4.		Harrah's Entertainment Inc.
5.		USAA
6.		Cerner Corp.
7.		American Century Investments
8.		Network Appliance Inc.
9.		Quicken Loans Inc.
10.		Minnesota Life Insurance Co.

Best Places for Career Development
1.		Juniper Networks Inc.
2.		NASD
3.		American Fidelity Assurance Co.
4.		American Century Investments
5.		Philip Morris USA Inc.
6.		Health Care Service Corp.
7.		Aflac Inc.
8.		Principal Financial Group Inc.
9.		Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc.
10.		Discover Financial Services Inc.

Best Places for Retention
1.		Quicken Loans Inc.
2.		American Fidelity Assurance Co.
3.		American Century Investments
4.		National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
5.		University of Miami
6.		NASD
7.		J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc.
8.		Network Appliance Inc.
9.		Qualcomm Inc.
10.		Assurant Solutions

Best Places for Benefits
1.		NASD
2.		Quicken Loans Inc.
3.		Hogan & Hartson LLP
4.		Nemours
5.		American Century Investments
6.		Philip Morris USA Inc.
7.		Verizon Wireless
8.		Ford Motor Co.
9.		Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.
10.		National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

The Typical Best Place...

By the Numbers
$9.3		Billion in Revenue
73		Years in business
34,629		Total number of employees
1,045		Total number of IT employees
34%		Percentage of IT staff members that are women
34%		Percentage of IT managers that are women
25%		Percentage of IT staff members that are minorities
18%		Percentage of IT managers that are minorities
$291		Million IT Budget
$1,899		Spent per IT employee on training
7		Training days offered annually for IT staff
42		Hours is the average workweek

More Statistics of Note
39%		Have merged with or acquired companies, or divested business units since Jan. 1, 2004
92%		Have budgeted for salary increases for IT employees in 2005
87%		Have budgeted for bonuses for IT employees in 2005
7%		IT staff turnover for the latest fiscal year, on average
11%		IT staff promoted in the latest fiscal year, on average
49%		Said their training budgets per IT employee will increase in 2005 compared with 2004
88%		Were profitable in 2004
43%		Had layoffs in 2004

Hiring Forecast

Where Are They?

What They Do
1.		Finance industry: 12%
2.		Insurance/real estate industry: 12%
3.		Computer-related services/consulting industry: 8%
4.		Manufacturing (non-computer-related) industry: 7%
5.		Health services industry: 6%

Keeping Workers Happy, and Staying Put

Among the retention methods used by this year's Best Places to Work in IT, attention to work/life balance has edged up from the No. 6 retention method in 2004 to No. 4. Competitive salaries and benefits consistently top the list, as do flexible work hours. Grooming the next generation of IT staffers is important, too: 67% of companies have a formal mentoring program for U.S.-based IT staffers (up from 60% in 2004).

Top Five Benefits Offered
Highest percentages of companies that offer
1.		Paid vacation 100%
2.		Health insurance 99%
3.		Flexible hours 98%
4.		Employee assistance programs 96%
5.		Pretax programs for uncovered medical expenses 95%

Bottom Five Benefits Offered
Lowest percentages of companies that offer
1.		Paternity leave (beyond FLMA) 30%
2.		On-site child care 29%
3.		Backup child care 25%
4.		On-site concierge 23%
5.		Paid sabbaticals 14%

Top Retention Methods
1.		Competitive salaries 100%
2.		Competitive benefits 98%
3.		Flexible work hours 97%
4.		Work/life balance 97%
5.		Tuition reimbursement 95%
6.		Bonuses 94%
7.		Telecommuting options 88%
8.		Unpaid sabbaticals 41%
9.		Paid sabbaticals 12%

Top Company-Sponsored Activities
-		Meetings to present company's business overview, mission and philosophy 100%
-		Company gatherings (e.g., company picnics, holiday parties) 100%
-		Open forums with company management 99%
-		Support for community service 97%
-		Personal/wellness development opportunities (e.g., financial, stress or time management) 96%
-		Community/team building 91%
-		Staff retreats 87%
-		Company sports teams 86%

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