Company Shoots Up to No. 21 in America & Grabs No. 1 Spot in Texas
SAN ANTONIO, January 21, 2010 – NuStar Energy L.P. (NYSE: NS) announced today that it shot up to No. 21 on the 13th annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, which will appear in the February 8 issue of FORTUNE, and it once again grabbed the No. 1 spot among large companies on the “Best Companies to Work for in Texas” list, which will be published in the February issue of Texas Monthly magazine.
“NuStar had another great year in 2009 as we continued to grow and establish our company as a leader in our industry and our communities, and we owe all of our success to our employees,” said Curt Anastasio, President and CEO of NuStar Energy L.P. “So we can’t think of a better way to start 2010 than by receiving recognition as one of the best employers in the nation and the best in our home state. We are especially proud of this ranking because both honors are based primarily on confidential employee surveys.”
NuStar Chairman Bill Greehey added, “We couldn’t be any prouder of our employees. They are bright, hard working and dedicated, and they take pride in the company, their jobs, and the communities where they live and work. They are the reason ‘the best is yet to come’ for NuStar, and they deserve the outstanding compensation, benefits and rewards programs that NuStar provides.”
Some of the considerations in NuStar’s selection for these honors include the company’s employee benefits plan, which has been ranked the best in its industry by Hewitt Associates; its reward and recognition programs; commitment to volunteerism and charitable giving; and special corporate culture. NuStar, which has a voluntary turnover rate of only 3 percent, offers all-employee bonuses; a pension plan; a 401(k) match of 100 percent up to 6 percent of pay; company-paid health and welfare benefits; a health and wellness program; and much more. The company also has never had a layoff in its history, and instills in employees the philosophy that if they do a good job, they will always have a good job.
NuStar’s top priority is the safety of its employees and neighbors, and the company also achieved record safety performance in 2009. NuStar employees finished the year with zero lost-time injuries, which is an accomplishment that is rarely achieved by any company in its industry. And while the company’s total recordable injury rate was already among the best in the industry and several times better than the industry average, employees recorded a 59% improvement in that category.
FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” List
To pick the 100 Best Companies, FORTUNE partners with the Great Place to Work Institute to conduct the most extensive employee survey in corporate America. Two-thirds of a company's score is based on the results of the Institute's Trust Index survey, which is sent to a random sample of employees from each company. The survey asks questions related to their attitudes about the management's credibility, job satisfaction, and camaraderie. The other third of the scoring is based on 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, communication, and diversity. Any company that is at least seven years old with more than 1,000 U.S. employees is eligible.
FORTUNE Deputy Managing Editor Hank Gilman said, “The most important considerations for this year’s list were hiring and the ways in which companies are helping their employees weather the recession. All 100 companies on our list are currently hiring, many of them aggressively, leading to more than 96,000 open job positions expected in the next year.”
Texas Monthly’s “Best Companies to Work for in Texas” List
The “Best Companies to Work for in Texas” program, which is sponsored by the Texas Association of Business and the Texas State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management, is determined by a thorough analysis of each nominee conducted by the Best Companies Group. This organization evaluates each company’s responses to a detailed employer questionnaire that covers policies, practices and demographics, as well as the answers from randomly selected employees to a confidential employee survey.
The honorees are broken down into three categories: 20 small-sized companies, 35 medium-sized companies and 30 large-sized companies. All of the winners will be recognized at a special awards luncheon, which will include a keynote address by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, on January 28 at the AT&T Conference Center in Austin.
About NuStar Energy L.P.
NuStar Energy L.P. is a publicly traded, limited partnership based in San Antonio, with 8,417 miles of crude oil and refined product pipelines; 82 terminal facilities that store and distribute crude oil, refined products and specialty liquids; four crude oil storage tank facilities; and two asphalt refineries with a combined throughput capacity of 104,000 barrels per day. The partnership's combined system has over 91 million barrels of storage capacity. One of the largest asphalt refiners and marketers in the U.S. and the second largest independent liquids terminal operator in the nation, NuStar has operations in the United States, the Netherlands Antilles, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit NuStar Energy L.P.'s Web site at www.nustarenergy.com.