Each summer, the Great Place to Work® Institute, conducts a random survey of employees at hundreds of companies to support the development of FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Places to Work" list.

In 2006, 400 REI employees randomly received the "100 Best" survey that measured workplace pride, respect, credibility, fairness and camaraderie. These categories are defined by the Great Places to Work Institute "Trust Wheel." The anonymous results are heavily weighted as two-thirds of the final score that determines placement on FORTUNE's list. The list also takes account corporate information submitted by companies regarding individual organization's culture, policies and benefits.

In the 2007 list, we placed 27th in FORTUNE magazine's rankings -- our third-highest overall ranking to date. Additionally, we were:

• #1 among companies that encourage employees to balance their work and personal lives
• #11 among companies in the mid-size category
• one of six companies based in Washington state
• one of 22 companies to offer fully paid sabbaticals

REI is one of 18 employers included in FORTUNE's list every year since the magazine began compiling the list in 1998, and one of six companies included in two earlier book versions (1985 and 1993).

On the heels of being named to FORTUNE's "100 Best" list, the Great Places to Work® Institute recognized REI as the 2007 winner in its " Workplace Pride" category, thanks to the strong employee responses for our support of employee-initiated philanthropic efforts focused on environmental stewardship and community outreach efforts.