SEAN BUSHER
Software Proves the Benefits of Analytics
By Jessica Flint
In 2010 the world’s largest privately held software company, SAS, had an employee turnover rate of 2.6 percent—pretty impressive, given that the infotech industry average was 22 percent. It doesn’t take a data-mining program to figure out why: It’s the perks. The Cary (N.C.) campus, home to about 4,700 of the analytics company’s 11,000 workers, is benefit-crazed. SAS has everything from a health center, which 75 percent of employees use for their primary care, to a campus hotel—with its own art collection. Even nearby Prestonwood Country Club, owned by SAS Chief Executive Officer Jim Goodnight, gives employees a discount. Yet there’s no perk like job security. Since it was founded in 1976, the company has never had a single layoff.
