Top 10 Places to Work in Cable
Cox Communications tops the new Cable World list of best employers in the industry:
When we solicited nominations for this survey, most companies sent the obligatory pitch from their corporate PR departments. But when it came to Atlanta-based Cox, we also received a flurry of e-mails from employees around the country telling us why Cox is such a darned great place to work. Were they prompted to contact us? Probably, but the sheer number of responses convinced us to dig deeper. Once we did, we knew Cox should be ranked No. 1.
The reasons cited for Cox's No. 1 designation include flextime, diversity commitment, work/life balance, assistance to employees following Hurricane Katrina, and an environment that encourages dialogue between management and employees. The descriptions of the top 10 address many perks you'd expect from top employers (including job flexibility, financial incentives, and gyms and other fitness perks), as well as some unexpected benefits (like the shoe subsidy for Discovery employees who hoof it to work). We also liked the magazine's rationale for attempting the thankless and highly subjective job of naming the top 10 to start with and its determination to go beyond just salary and benefits:
Why would CableWorld take on the impossible task of naming the top 10 places to work in cable? Well, aside from our masochistic love of no-win, Kobayashi Maru-like exercises (Star Trek fans will understand that reference), we actually thought it would be fun and, more important, stir debate. Some will proudly frame this issue above the watercooler. Others will burn it in effigy at the company picnic. Still others don't care what we think. That's fine. Best-of lists are inherently subjective, but we also did our homework. We received detailed nominations from operators, programmers and a few vendors, and we worked the phones, bouncing ideas off industry veterans.Since everyone claims to offer "competitive salary and benefits," we drilled down further, considering location, special perks (on-site day care, telecommuting flexibility, etc.), workplace diversity and opportunities for advancement, among other factors. We also used our decades of combined experience covering cable (and years of late-night drinking binges with industry sources) to help guide us. In the end, this list, the rankings and highlighted human resources executives (who deserve much of the credit) represent a mix of research, grapevine chatter and, of course, our own good judgment.
Posted on August 28, 2006 11:05 AM | Comments (0)
