SAS among the Best Workplaces in Ireland for fifth year in a row

SAS has been recognised as one of Ireland's top employers in the Great Place to Work® Institute's prestigious "Best Workplaces Ireland 2019" ranking. The analytics leader has improved on its result from last year, claiming 16th place in the 'medium-sized business' category having finishing 19th in 2018.

This is the fifth consecutive year that SAS has been recognised as one of Ireland's best places to work. The rankings are based on the findings of a robust employee survey and a thorough assessment of policies and practices by the Great Place to Work Institute.

Great Place to Work (GPTW) was founded in the US in 1981 and has grown into the world's largest annual workplace culture survey, encompassing 45 countries. Great Place to Work Ireland was established in 2003; since then, it has surveyed close to three million Irish employees. The Institute's methodologies have been adopted by numerous organisations including Fortune magazine, which uses them for its famous 100 Best Companies to Work For index.

SAS appears regularly on GPTW annual lists in the countries where it operates - a reflection of a company culture that puts a premium on employee happiness, encourages creativity, and focuses on providing the best balance between professional development and a healthy lifestyle.

"Everybody knows that motivated and engaged employees bring more value to a business," said Charles Senabulya, Vice President, SAS UK & Ireland. "Our approach to employee engagement is to give our people inspiring and challenging work, combined with a collaborative atmosphere. We trust our employees to work independently and creatively, and we believe that this freedom is key to workplace happiness. We're delighted that our employees agree, and we look forward to working with them so that we can continue our climb up the rankings next year."

Brendan O'Dwyer, Head of EMEA Inside Sales at SAS, added: "This is the fifth year in a row that we've made the GPTW list. It's great that our hard work is recognised, but there is no time to rest on our laurels. The workplace is undergoing a time of unprecedented transformation, and this is leading to rapid changes in employee expectations.

"That's why it's so important that we continue to engage with employees to ensure that we are always supporting and inspiring them. At SAS, our Employee Engagement Team brings together teams from across the business to ensure that we're always listening, always learning, and always improving the workplace experience for everyone."

About Great Place to Work® and the Assessment Process
Great Place to Work Ireland is part of a global network of culture consultants, with offices in 48 countries using an established methodology to publish lists at country, regional, and global levels. The best known of these is the Fortune 100 list of Best Companies to Work For in the United States. Our media partner in Ireland is The Irish Times, who develop the annual Best Workplaces Special Report.

The key defining feature of a great workplace is the level of trust that exists within it. From an employee’s viewpoint, the definition of a great workplace is one where you trust the people you work with, you have great pride in what you do, and you enjoy the people you work with. The Great Place to Work Institute assesses the policies and practices in place in organisations under nine key areas: Inspiring, Speaking, Listening, Caring, Developing, Thanking, Hiring, Celebrating, and Sharing. They then benchmark these practices against other organisations in that country. The second key component of the assessment is an anonymous Trust Index survey that gathers the perceptions of employees under five dimensions: Credibility, Respect, Fairness, Pride, and Camaraderie. Finally, there is an in-depth qualitative analysis of open ended comments from employees.

The 2019 full list of organisations and award winners, as well as rankings from previous years, are available here.