Human Resource Management at SAS

Human Resource Management at SAS

When a professor and students at North Carolina State University were asked to develop statistical analysis tools for the state's agricultural industry 35 years ago, SAS was born. Over the last 35 years, SAS has experienced both revenue and profit growth each year. Today, SAS has 400 offices with operations in 50 countries and over 12,000 employees. Over 90% of the Fortune 500 companies use SAS in their operations. Recently, SAS has been rated by Fortune magazine as the number one company to work for.

Strong relationships among employees, management, and the company are key to developing the culture of innovation and creativity that characterizes SAS. The company's core values include both trust and respect for employees. The hiring process, employee promotions, and employee development opportunities reinforce this culture. Leadership opportunities come primarily from within the company, or as SAS puts it, leaders are grown organically in the company because they know and understand the culture. Over 90% of all open positions are filled by internal candidates.

Human resource management, a strategic function at SAS, is responsible for recruiting, hiring, motivating, evaluating, and rewarding employees. The video points out how the legal and regulatory environment in the U.S. impacts the HR function through the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Affirmative Action, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

SAS values diversity especially in hiring women and minorities. In fact, 50% of the workforce and the management team at SAS are women. SAS has well-developed HR policies and sees this function as the keeper of the culture. SAS is also well known for retaining employees long term. The company is viewed as having a strong employment brand and offers competitive salaries and a very progressive set of benefits, including child daycare, fitness facilities, dry cleaning services, and a summer camp for employees' children.

Hiring at SAS is overseen by the human resources department but involves a team of individuals in the interview process to ensure that prospective employees have both the technical skills required and are a good "fit" for the company's culture. The company has performance management in place that focuses on shared understanding between employees and managers with ongoing feedback. This approach reduces the amount of formal structure required in the organization. The company operates on a reward system based on a total award philosophy with profit sharing representing a significant portion of overall compensation.