FYI: best places to work.

Each year, the Great Place to Work Institute publishes, with much fanfare, a list of the 100 best businesses to work for. The buzz comes from the publication of the list in Fortune Magazine.

To see the 2007 list, click here.

Understandably, most of the attention goes to the list--which companies are on it and which aren't. High on the list are recognizable names such as Google (number one in 2007), Genentech, Container Store, and Whole Foods Market.

The names of lesser known companies are also interesting: Wegmans Food Markets, S. C. Johnson & Son, Methodist Hospital System, and David Weekley Homes.

The trends in the list usually make news. In 2007 there are "fewer manufacturers, many more professional service firms ..., healthcare providers, and retailers." The appearance of more retailers in the top 100 surprises me. With a few exceptions, retailers have been notable more for their sky-high turnover rates than satisfied employees.

If you've paid any attention to the list, have you ever wondered what criteria are used to select companies? Here's what the institute has to say:

    At the heart of our definition of a great place to work--a place
    where employees "trust the people they work for, have pride in what
    they do, and enjoy the people they work with"--is the idea that a
    great workplace is measured by the quality of the three,
    interconnected relationships that exist there:
  * The relationship between employees and management.
  * The relationship between employees and their jobs/company.
  * The relationship between employees and other employees.

Notice what comes first: trust. Besides management, anyone in workplace learning should take note. Some new learning priorities might result and, possibly, a new message to management about what they should be trying to cultivate in the organization.

You might also want to take a look (or a second look) at media content on trust, for example, Leadership: What's Trust Got to Do with It? and TrustTalk.