The title says it all: don't believe the hype.
All these best places to work awards must be rigged, bought, or a be tremendous HR/PR effort.
The perks/benefits might have been astonishing in years past but in 2017 they are simply on par with other tech companies, and even well-behind in some categories. Most of the good benefits that older generations at SAS got are no longer available or have been greatly diminished.
One of the areas they are far behind in? Compensation. Low pay, and low to no raises has been normal for some time now. Bonuses are meager. For a company that does over 3B in revenue and has been profitable forever, that is astonnnnnnnnishing. Meanwhile the CEO (whose own wealth continues to grow like crazy) continues to build new buildings on campus (even though there's a hiring freeze going on) and building developments off-site for his own gain. That last part is completely fine and his prerogative, but it is a slap in the face to employees that don't get paid well or get merit increases, and his bank accounts continue to grow like crazy because he owns the company (not public, no investors, yada yada.) and can do whatever he wants with his money. Here's an idea: Maybe freeze some raises/benefits for the huge amount of people in MGMT and yourself so you can reward top performers in an attempt to gain back some respect from employees who are undervalued and not being rewarded for hard work?
No room for growth whatsoever unless you "stick it out" for 5-10 years when you MIGHT get bumped up one level. Maybe.
So who wants to work here? A couple types of people from what I can tell: 1) people over a certain age who have been here 10-30 years and don't have the drive to pick up and leave. They don't have to work hard and they've been here long enough when they actually got raises and benefits that were ahead of the competition so they are in a good place. 2) average workers. people who don't want stress, don't want to push themselves, and just be able to have a short work week to spend time at home or with family. Totally get it. That's a good bit of people.
The last couple of comments sum up why SAS is falling behind and will continue to do so. Any young and/or good talent soon realizes that it is not all it was cracked up to be and jumps ship to any one of the faster, smarter, and more generous tech companies in the area. There are plenty of other local tech companies that move fast, embrace change, reward solid work and not just tenure (remember, these are usually people who aren't the best that end up sticking around), and have comparable benefits.
If you are 21-30, I would highly encourage you to think twice about working here. The writing is on the wall.
