The war for talent has business transforming their corporate
Campuses into country clubs offering everything from five-star lunches to concierges willing to arrange employees' lawn mowing and haircuts. But long before the words "labor crunch" put employee perks in vogue, SAS Institute Inc. founder James Goodnight was lavishing money on programmers msteadofheadhunters.lr worked:
SAS turnover is 4 percent in an industry for which 20 percent
i~ typical. The Cary (North Carolina)-based company
may compete against PeopleSoft Inc. and Oracle
Corp., hut SAS employees aren't asked to mimic their SilIcon
Valley brethren's sleep-starved lifestyle. Goodnight, a
Shy billionaire who until recently drove a Buick Roadmaster
wagon, believes in leaving the office at 5 P.M. sharp.
Dinner, he says, should be spent with your family, not at
your desk.