FORTUNE Magazine: Mayo Clinic One of Best Companies to Work For

For the fifth consecutive year, FORTUNE Magazine named Mayo Clinic to its list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in America, the magazine's annual compilation of companies that "rate high with employees." The complete list and story appears in the Feb. 4 issue of FORTUNE, also available online at www.fortune.com.

FORTUNE cited criteria that helped Mayo Clinic earn its spot on the list, including Mayo's "hire for life" recruitment philosophy, and an annual turnover rate of 6.9 percent — less than half the national average for hospitals. A full 17 percent of clinic employees have worked at Mayo Clinic for 20 years or more.

Mayo Clinic ranked 59 on the overall list, and 19 among the 37 companies on the Best Large-Sized Company list (more than 10,000 employees). Last year, Mayo Clinic ranked 62 on the overall list.

"We are fortunate to have such strength in our staff," says Denis Cortese, M.D., president and CEO of Mayo Clinic. "I believe the clinic is on the list for three main reasons: great people, a strong legacy and commitment to a common mission. It is a privilege for me to be part of this patient-focused team. I congratulate all our employees for earning Mayo Clinic this honor and for making our workplace a meaningful and satisfying place."

According to FORTUNE, a driving factor for ranking this year's companies was that they excelled in creating jobs. The 100 companies on the 2008 list added 67,000 employees to their payrolls in the past year, increasing the total number of employees 16 percent from the number employed by companies on last year's list. Mayo Clinic expanded its workforce by 4 percent.

The "100 Best Companies to Work For" list is compiled for FORTUNE by Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz of the Great Place to Work Institute in San Francisco (www.greatplacetowork.com). It is based on opinions of the company's employees and an evaluation of the policies and culture of each company.

Most of a company's score (two-thirds) is based on the results of a 57-question employee survey, which is sent to a minimum of 400 randomly selected employees from each company. Mayo Clinic employees in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale, Ariz., were asked about such issues as attitudes about management's credibility, job satisfaction and workplace camaraderie. The remaining one-third of the score is based on the Institute's Culture audit of each company's pay and benefit programs, hiring practices, internal communications methods, training, recognition programs and diversity efforts.