Tech companies swarm best workplace list

BRW's 50 best places to work list includes 20 technology companies, with four of the top five being prominent Aussie technology companies including Google Australia and Atlassian.

Google Australia topped this year's list for keeping its 570 employees happy, with E-Web Marketing, NetApp Australia, Juniper Networks Australia and Atlassian rounding out the top five.

Google took out the top spot for the generous benefits it extends to staff, including 10 per cent of work time dedicated to personal projects and ideas.

"Google has successfully proven to be an excellent workplace and a company people want to work for. Innovations such as the percentage of time allocated for staff to work on separate projects resulted in the creation of Google Maps; it goes to show these sorts of workplace innovations can really pay-off," said BRW editor Kate Mills.

In the 50-strong list, 20 technology companies were featured. Mills attributed the tech sector's success to the industry's infancy in Australia.

"A lot of these IT companies are in a young sector, are relatively new and have been able to create work cultures from scratch, without the cultural legacies that some of our largest and oldest brands have to battle with internally."

The best places to work survey, conducted by BRW and the Great Place to Work Institute, measured how much employees trust their employers and how much pride they take in their work and those they work with.

This is the second time Google has topped the best places to work list, also taking out line honours in 2009.