A Great Place to Do Great Work: Celebrating Our First Year on the FORTUNE List of the 100 Best Companies to Work For

Innovation starts with our people.

For over 25 years, Cadence has been a leader in the electronics revolution and continues to propel it forward. In an industry that requires constant creativity, collaboration, and deep technical knowledge, we consider our people to be our greatest asset.

It is an incredible honor to be recognized on the FORTUNE list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2015. This is a testament to the amazing culture that our employees have created. We hire and retain very talented people who care about working well together to achieve incredible results. The Cadence culture sets us apart, is a competitive advantage, and enables us to create success for our customers and our business.

When Lip-Bu Tan joined Cadence as CEO in 2009, strengthening our culture was one of his top priorities. He embedded teamwork, innovation, and agility as core to our culture and knew they would be keys to our success. He focused on increasing trust with employees and customers, and he made open communication and crisp decision-making central to our ability to move quickly as one team.

“Lip-Bu has made a huge difference in our company. We compete hard, work hard, and care about each other and our customers.” – Anonymous employee comment from the Great Place to Work Survey

During both flourishing and challenging times, our executive team speaks candidly with employees about our strengths, weaknesses, and areas for growth. We listen to employees, actively soliciting feedback and encouraging people to ask questions. Last year our executive team made 45 site visits around the world, meeting with over 1000 employees for small group discussions and Q&A sessions. Our global Be Heard employee survey and the Great Place to Work surveys conducted around the world allow our leaders to hear what is important to employees and to take employee feedback into account when deciding what to prioritize and where to invest. We use this data to create programs that are meaningful to employees, such as our Volunteer Time Off program that allows employees to take five days of paid time off to volunteer.

Working as an aligned team is critical to both employees’ and customers’ experiences with Cadence. Our motto is “One Cadence – One Team,” and this spirit can be felt when you walk into any Cadence office around the globe. Customers tell us that they want us to win, and they value their partnership with Cadence. Our culture and values guide the way that we pursue solutions, take risks, strive for excellence, and deliver results for our customers. Our one-team approach, commitment to innovation, and relentless pursuit of customer success have also enabled us to achieve many of our business goals: in 2013, we were named one of Bloomberg’s Top 20 Tech Turnarounds, and we have achieved consistent growth and strong returns for our shareholders. These are exciting results and an inspiring reflection of the impact the Cadence culture has on our business success.

Employees at Cadence feel that they have an opportunity to make a difference for our business and positively impact customer success. According to the Great Place to Work survey, 94% of employees say they have great challenges and exciting opportunities to innovate. Indeed, you hear a consistent story from employees at Cadence – that they came to the company to work on the leading-edge technology, and have stayed to have a robust and vibrant career, working with people they respect and care about, in an environment that feels like a family. It is this sentiment that has led over 40% of U.S. employees to stay at Cadence for over a decade.  

“Cadence is a company of very capable people with a passion for technology. They are some of the friendliest people I have ever had the pleasure to work with. From the moment I joined the company, I’ve been welcomed with open arms and made to feel like a part of the family. It is very typical to see people come to Cadence, enjoy the work environment here, and stay a very long time.” – Anonymous employee comment from the Great Place to Work Survey

Congratulations to all of the companies that made the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies list! We are humbled to be among such a prestigious group of companies.

And a big thank you to the entire Cadence team around the word – you make Cadence a great place to do great work.

If you would like to learn more about the Cadence culture and what our employees say about being a great place to work, check out our profile on Great Rated!

 Tina Jones