The Best Places You’ll Probably Never Work

Perhaps, you pause before you bite into a plum to think of the work that went into your possessing that piece of fruit.  But what about the workers who provide you with the software and tools that you use in the office? How is their work life?

If they work at NetApp, the answer is “pretty darn good.” Fortune is coming out with their annual best places to work reviews, and NetApp came up number five this year.

What makes employees happy to work at a place like NetApp?  I like to imagine pool tables and spa treatments, but really the distinctions are less material.  NetApp reports that it is commited to “building a model company is a unique corporate environment that values creativity, teamwork, open communication, leadership, adaptability, and innovation.” It seems like the corporate attitude and values is what really dictates employee satisfaction.

FORTUNE’s survey asks questions to an extensive, though random, group of employess, related to their attitudes about management’s credibility, job satisfaction, and camaraderie. Based off of this data and the company’s responses to the Institute’s Culture Audit, which includes detailed questions about pay and benefit programs and a series of open-ended questions about hiring practices, internal communications, training, recognition programs and diversity efforts, FORTUNEmagazine determines the corporate champions of best places to work.

If you are sitting at a small cubicle reviewing your skyrocketing insurance premium during your fifteen minute lunch-break, be sure to check out all the great companies where you’ll probably never work. And for the companies who made it on the list, congratulations. This special issue of Fortune hits the stands on January 24th, 2011.