Looking for a job? These companies promise no layoffs
With the current financial crisis, unemployment is expected to surpass 10%, job security is one of the top desires of employees today.
Check out this list from Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2009. According to them, none have ever undergone layoffs – ever.
1. Nugget Market
This company has avoided layoffs because of careful job placement and shrewd labor management. Instead of laying off workers, the 81-year-old grocery store refrains from replacing employees who leave. Its stores are 15 miles from each other, making it easier to fill positions, and employees are trained to fit various roles. The Woodland, Calif.-based supermarket chain filled 173 jobs, for a 22% job growth in the year before the list was released in February.
Sandwiched between Goldman Sachs and Adobe Systems, the store ranked number 10 on the overall list. Store directors make an average of $116,440 in annual salary, and checkers, the most common hourly workers, earn $34,490. The store also offers 100% health care coverage.
2. Devon Energy
An oil and gas producer headquartered in Oklahoma City, this company takes a conservative approach to its finances, yet still treats its employees well. Ranked 13 on the overall list, it started a 401(k) retirement plan featuring company contributions of 11-22%.
Flexible and prudent management helps avoid layoffs. The company, which cut its operating budget before the recession, withholds raises in bad years but gives midyear pay increases in good times.
3. Aflac
Known for its quacking duck ads, this company sells supplement insurance. The company, based in Columbus, Ga., keeps its eyes on its budget and ears open to employees. Employee suggestions like telecommuting and flex schedules have saved it millions of dollars. Other company benefits include an onsite fitness center, subsidized gym membership and the largest onsite corporate child care center in Georgia.
4. QuickTrip
Because this 24-hour convenience store is privately held, it can send profits back to its stores and workers instead of shareholders. Smart financial management has helped it thrive in the downturn. It offered over new 1,400 jobs last year. Wages and benefits are so good that over 200 employees have stayed with the company more than 20 years.
5. The Container Store
The storage retailer, based in Coppell, Texas, froze salaries and watched spending to avoid layoffs. Still, it kept expanding last year, opening four stores and adding 70 employees. Extensive employee training makes the company stand out.
6. NuStar Energy
Considering layoffs harmful to company productivity, NuStar management avoids them like the plague. The San Antonio-based pipeline and refinery operator also offers bonuses that can exceed $10,000 and 100% 401(k) matches for up to 6% of pay.
7. Stew Leonard’s
Known for flashy store displays, this privately-held grocery chain focuses on customer service and long-term sales rather than short-term earnings. CEO Stew Leonard Jr. says selling groceries is a stable business, which helps avoid layoffs. No matter how the economy is faring, people still have to eat.
8. Scottrade
This privately-held online discount brokerage has cut bonuses instead of cutting employees. A conservative growth strategy has also helped it avoid layoffs.
9. Publix Super Markets
A strong balance sheet with no debt helped this grocery chain acquire 49 stores and hire over 1,250 people last year. In its 79 years, it has never had layoffs. No wonder – it’s entirely owned by employees.
Besides never laying off employees, at least as of early this year, companies on the list are also some of the best to work for. Treating employees well means good pay and benefits – two factors that are attracting all the right workers.
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#1 by Josh on November 4, 2009 - 12:48 pm
Wow! I didn’t know Nugget Market was that careful with job placement. All of these places seem like fantastic places to work at!
#2 by becker on November 4, 2009 - 1:06 pm
I’ve heard some pretty good comments about them too
#3 by BNP on November 4, 2009 - 7:49 pm
It’s funny every time i see these articles. I work for The Container Store and have watched the benefits be taken away slowly over the last 2 and half years. We no longer get 100’s of hours of training a year…what a joke. Our 401k matching was taken away. But the biggest issue i have is when the company release information that we have never had layoffs, EVER! We have had layoffs, they out and out lie in these PR releases. Every year we hire seasonal employees and lay them off. I understand that this is the nature of “seasonal” work but what they don’t reveal is that they use this time to re-evaluate everyone’s position and very often get rid of employees that have been there a while during this time period so that they can lump them in with the accepted “seasonal” layoffs. Notice how specific the details are in the articles or press releases about layoffs. I have read sometimes that they say they’ve never laid off a “full-time” employee. Every store only has a handful of “full time” employees. The majority of the store staff is made up of part time employees. I know first hand that the Atlanta market laid off 2 full-time employees last year, yet this fact never saw the light of day. I still work for The Container Store and i find it so disappointing that this company which has prided itself on an employee first attitude for so many years is afraid to tell the truth. A few lay-offs aren’t bad….and in this economy is even expected but to lie and risk their integrity so that they can look better in the media is sad. I have been such a loyal believer in the culture of this company but i can not stand by and not comment on the truth.
#4 by becker on November 5, 2009 - 8:37 am
wow, thanks for sharing!!! Maybe we should scrap them from the list :@