Thursday March 27, 2008 
Thursday March 27, 2008 I've been reading the comments on my recent post, Rejected! Great Places to Work, with a mixture of anticipation and nervousness. As a community, we have a lot to say on this subject, and whether you're a huge Sun supporter or just hugely disappointed with the company, great passion lay behind your words. I don't think you can have that passion unless you really do, at heart, care about this place. And want to see us do better.
Which is what I love about this company. There are 33,000 of us with opinions and we're not afraid to voice them. There's still an element of that theme song from Malcolm in the Middle that runs through the core of Sun: You're Not the Boss of Me. Gotta love that. (Although I realize that it makes us, uhm, a challenge to manage...)
I've never been interested in working for a sheep ranch or a lemming farm. I want to work with smart people who care passionately about their work, and who have the courage to stand up for their beliefs.
Making Sun a different and better place is messy, frustrating, hard work. Opinions clash and new ideas result. It's not always fun, but it's always interesting.
Did we deserve to win a spot on the U.S. Great Places to Work list this year? Objectively, no. Four hundred employees told us why. So Sun needs to listen - to the good and the bad - fix what can be fixed, and keep moving forward. But please, let's not become one of those cookie-cutter companies where everyone recites the company line. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Let's keep talking - and let the fur fly! Viva Sun!
Posted by terrymckenzie ( Mar 27 2008, 10:27:56 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [1]
Trackback URL: http://blogs.sun.com/tmac/entry/let_the_fur_fly
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For anyone interested in the process companies are required to go through -- to ensure that the employees who participate in the GPTW survey for FORTUNE's "100 Best Companies" list are randomly selected -- it is a very specific process, mandated by the GPTW Institute, who does the ranking work for FORTUNE. I've managed this process for 4 years, and trust me, it is NOT something you wanna mess with. Noncompliance may well get you disqualified from the entire process. The GPTW Institute sends companies line-by-line instructions for how to assemble a list of all US employees, and then what quotient must be used to obtain a randomly selected list of 400 names (400 is the total they require). The GPTW Institute then manages the entire survey process -- Sun doesn't get involved with that at all. I agree, 400 (or in Sun's case this past year, only 249 employees completed the survey) is a drop in the bucket, and hardly statistically significant. But the fact is, the FORTUNE list is THE list to be on. It carries a huge amount of cache for recruiting and marketing. It's recognized globally, and it's a big deal. In terms of what goes on worldwide, Sun has participated in and been named on lots of country-specific, survey-driven lists. So we must be doing some things right. I'm a new employee here, and I agree, this place is not perfect. To Terry's point, there is work to be done. Speaking for myself, I don't view being on the GPTW list as an end in itself. Hopefully if we ever do make that list, it's because we really are a great place to work. Being on the list just validates that.
Posted by Cece Waters on March 27, 2008 at 11:46 AM PDT #