Well, I wouldn't say that companies pay to win, per se, but I can't imagine a company (other than in the micro category) without some sort of relationship with ABJ would really end up on the list. First, you need management to care about being on the list. It's obviously a PR thing, and it's something they can wave at their employees and prospective hires and say, "See guys? We're fun!" They've got to get their employees in a good mood and then drop the survey on them and prod a lot of them to fill it out.

They're really clear about not "coercing" employees into giving favorable reviews. And the survey itself, especially this year, went totally over the top with confounding questions aimed at tripping up someone who might just be gliding through the thing, giving all top marks. Honestly, it could totally throw off the average person who's just not paying close attention to some unimportant Internet survey, and it definitely is useless to those who aren't strong English speakers. I remember questions to the effect of, "To what degree would you disagree with this statement: 'I do not agree with the direction management is heading."

Then there's the scoring system. I don't know what it is, but I don't know how there's not a good deal of subjectivity. It's not totally quantifiable.

But speaking as someone whose company has been ranked for several years and who has attended the award ceremony as a company representative (and received a sweet ABJ subscription for participating!), I can't help but say the whole thing is a bit hokey and...dubious. Like, people love working at these big hotel chains? Really? More than all the tech companies with their wild parties and perks that only a tech startup can get away with? You actually gave this survey to everyone in the company, and not just the marketing staff? Oh, and these are the same hotels that host ABJ events and conventions for all the other competitors? Interesting.

And then with the aforementioned tech companies that make the list, I feel like they'll be overrepresented in this for a number of reasons. Younger employees who actually care about social ranking and taking surveys. Management trying to get as much publicity as they can both personally and for their early stage companies. Employees who sit in front of a computer handling email and using the Internet all day everyday (i.e., better access to the survey itself). The incestuous network of local VCs, entrepreneurs, PR folks, and ABJ staff. Come on.

I guess that's all a long way of saying, "Well, it's definitely a list of places to work in Austin. Probably places that are hiring, incidentally. And probably places that are competing for talent. Who have any number of direct or indirect relationships with ABJ that ensure their annual consideration for the list."

Which is a long way of saying, "Well, not really, but in a lot of cases, kind of."