Four Wisconsin companies are among “Best Places to Work in IT”

MADISON, Wis. – Four Wisconsin-based companies have be listed in Computerworld’s top 100 “Best Places to Work in IT 2004,” three of which landed within the top 25. Schneider National, Inc. took 15th nationally, the highest ranking for a Wisconsin company this year. American Family Insurance and Alliant Energy Corp. trailed closely at 16th and 18th, respectively, and Lands’ End, Inc. came in at 82nd.

Harley-Davidson, Inc., which placed second nationally last year, is absent from the list.

According to the magazine’s report, IT employees are not demanding anything fancy from employers this year. In fact, the basics like health care coverage, paid vacation, technology, training and flexible schedules continue to be important to workers in the field.

Although the story reported that layoffs at the top 2004 companies are up 18 percent as compared to 2003, companies on this year’s list pledged to increase IT salaries. Investing in employees through training programs, reasonable workloads and worker empowerment were all named as characteristics of the top 100 employers.

The top 100 IT employers were determined by analyzing the results of a survey sent out to 17,000 employees at qualified companies. The survey gauged satisfaction in various areas of the IT workplace including training and development programs, base salary, benefits and morale. This is the 11th annual “Best Places to Work in IT” report.

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Kristin V. Johnson is the Associate Editor of WTN. She can be reached at kristin@wistechnology.com.