Rackspace Placed 7th In Sunday Times Best Companies To Work For List

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rackspace® Hosting (NYSE: RAX), the open cloud company, has been ranked in seventh place at the Sunday Times Best Companies awards ceremony held last week in central London. Featuring in the newspaper’s best-of list for eight consecutive years, Rackspace was praised for its positive, dynamic work culture and outstanding employee benefits.

“It comes complete with Nerf guns (a toy with foam bullets), a games area, and a mock-up of 10 Downing Street that serves as the boardroom. When the teams are hungry, they can head to the Hard Rack Café – a.k.a. the canteen.”

“Placing seventh in the much-admired Sunday Times Best Companies list is one of my proudest moments as a ‘Racker’ and I will remember it forever,” says Taylor Rhodes, Senior Vice President, International, Rackspace. “It’s recognition of the massive work our team has done to ensure that we keep our Fanatical Support promise and culture at the heart of who we are.”

According to the Sunday Times Best Companies supplement, employees say they love working for Rackspace giving the company a score of 86% for this factor, a result bettered by just one other organisation. In addition, Rackers are excited about where the business is going (86%, placing Rackspace seventh). The company has also put more effort into its programme of reward and recognition where award winners are rewarded with a weekend away to destinations including Iceland, Rome and Nice. A monthly “fun budget” of £25 per employee also helps spread the love.

Fabio Torlini, Vice President of Marketing, Rackspace, is the firm’s longest serving UK employee. He enthuses that Rackers are able to relax and be themselves at work. “The design of our UK office supports an informal atmosphere, which fosters team spirit,” says Torlini. “It comes complete with Nerf guns (a toy with foam bullets), a games area, and a mock-up of 10 Downing Street that serves as the boardroom. When the teams are hungry, they can head to the Hard Rack Café – a.k.a. the canteen.”

One of the key factors behind the success of Rackspace’s business model is a progressive approach to training and development. In the past year, Rackspace has tripled its training budget, spending an average of £962 on each staff member. Rackers agree that their jobs are good for personal growth at 84%, a figure bettered by only three other companies in the Sunday Times list.

Rackspace encourages employees to make a positive contribution to society, outside of work. This is reflected in its impressive 80% score in the ‘Giving Something Back’ measure, a grade used by the Best Companies judges to gauge how much a company puts its words into action. Rackers were already allowed 100 hours a year to volunteer for a good cause of their choice, with the ‘Rack Gives Back’ scheme taking things a step further, allowing them to organise fundraising activities and support a charity of the year – in 2012 it was the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation. Rackers also take part in ‘Movember,’ and vote on who has grown the best moustache, and volunteer at a local hospice and collect supplies for the homeless at Christmas.

About Rackspace

Rackspace® Hosting (NYSE: RAX) is the open cloud company, delivering open technologies and powering more than 205,000 customers worldwide. Rackspace provides its renowned Fanatical Support® across a broad portfolio of IT products, including Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Hybrid Hosting and Dedicated Hosting. Rackspace has been recognized by Bloomberg BusinessWeek as a Top 100 Performing Technology Company, is featured on Fortune’s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For and is included on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Rackspace was positioned in the Leaders Quadrant by Gartner Inc. in the “2011 Magic Quadrant for Managed Hosting.” Rackspace is headquartered in San Antonio with offices and data centers around the world. For more information, visit www.rackspace.co.uk.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialise or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of Rackspace Hosting could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including any statements about historical results or third party data that may suggest trends for our business or industry; any statements of the plans, strategies, and objectives of Rackspace for future operations or growth; any statements of expectation or belief regarding future events, and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the items mentioned. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the possibility that expected growth or success may not materialize because of Rackspace's failure to sustain a culture that inspires employees to provide Fanatical Support, failure to execute on its operational plans, rapid technological changes that adversely affect the demand for Rackspace products and services, shifts in customer demand, customers' and potential customers' acceptance of Rackspace products and services, and other risks that are described in Rackspace Hosting's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, filed with the SEC on March 1, 2013. Except as required by law, Rackspace Hosting assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.