Insomniac Games, an independent console videogames developer with 155 employees, retained its unique distinction of being the first and only videogames company named to the "50 Best Small & Medium Sized Companies to Work for in America" list. The rankings were announced before an estimated audience of 12,000 at the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM) 58th Annual Conference & Exposition in Washington, DC.
Insomniac Games is one of two Southern California companies named to the list. Despite a 33-percent increase in applicants since last year, Insomniac ranked fourth in the small companies category. Last year, Insomniac ranked third.
The SHRM rankings recognize the top 25 small and top 25 medium companies in America that have used smart people management strategies to develop successful organizations with highly productive and satisfied workforces. The winning organizations, which range in size from 50 to 999 employees, were announced by SHRM -- the world's largest association devoted to human resource management -- and selected and ranked by the Great Place to Work Institute (GPTW). The results were primarily based on a randomly distributed employee opinion survey that measures several categories such as workplace environment, management's responsiveness to employee feedback, and adherence to company philosophy. Each company evaluated was given a score based on employees' responses to this detailed questionnaire. In addition, further assessments of company programs, practices and workplace culture were factored into judging.
"It's a real honor to be included once again among the five best small companies to work for in America because the ranking is based on our own employees' attitudes about Insomniac Games," said Ted Price, company founder and president. "Our back-to-back, top-five ranking demonstrates that concepts like 'collaboration,' 'quality-over-quantity' and 'innovation' have real meaning here and are in practice every day."
In addition to being the first and only videogames company listed on the "50 Best Small & Medium Sized Companies to Work for in America" list, Insomniac Games is also the first North American videogames developer to be honored in any ranking compiled by GPTW. The organization is perhaps best known for producing Fortune magazine's annual "100 Best Companies to Work for" list, which ranks companies with more than 1,000 employees. Two videogames publishers have made GPTW's "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" list since it was first published in 1984.
Insomniac Games is best known for creating the multi-million unit selling Ratchet & Clank and Spyro the Dragon franchises for the PlayStation game console and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system. The company is currently developing Resistance: Fall of Manexclusively for Playstation 3 this holiday season, and continues to seek new employees in a variety of production-related positions.