Culture at SAS Institute - The World’s Largest Private Software Company

Abstract

Founded in 1976, SAS Institute (SAS), based in North Carolina, was acclaimed globally for its work culture. The privately held company considered its employees as assets and had designed the office environment and policies keeping in mind the needs and aspirations of the employees. The company had unusual perks and benefits which were provided based on employees’ needs and these were identified through regular surveys and the feedback. The perks and benefits ensured that that the employees were kept away from stressors that could affect their performance. SAS had childcare centers, qualified doctors and nurses at the health center, elderly care, private offices, gaming facilities, gyms and tracks, etc.

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Employees were entitled to an unlimited number of days as sick leave and had to work only for 35-hours a week with the flexi-hours option. There was no differentiation made between executives and workers and all had access to the same benefits. For instance, there were no reserved parking spaces and no special dining halls for the executives.

With the culture of trust and employee centric management, the company gained loyal employees who helped in satisfying the customers and in building long-term relationships with them. The employee turnover rate was much lower than the industry average though the employees at SAS received lower pay compared to other software companies.

In the last few years several top companies like IBM, Oracle and SAP entered into statistical software market, experts said those companies could be looking for people with expertise in the field and employees of SAS could be the first target. Some of the employees too were dissatisfied with the company citing difficulty in getting promotions, and lower salary than the market average
 

Issues

The case is structured to achieve the following teaching objectives:

• To discuss the role and importance of culture in organizations.
• To highlight the requisites for building a strong and sustaining culture.
• To understand the impact of organizational culture on organizational performance.
• To discuss the various factors that keep the employees satisfied and motivated.

Keywords

Organizational Culture, Corporate Culture, Employee Engagement, People Centric Culture, SAS; Retention, HR practices, work life benefits, employee benefits, perks; workplace environment

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