NI Citizenship

Hire and Retain the Best and Brightest

Staying true to the people advantage, National Instruments hires top talent from leading universities and retains employees through meaningful work, a fun environment, and a variety of developmental programs. NI hires not only for aptitude and potential but also for the ability to take initiative and work collaboratively – fundamental components of the NI culture.

NI encourages employees to challenge each other by providing an open work environment that supports idea generation and innovation. New engineering employees can immediately contribute to developing products and technologies that empower NI customers to improve the world.

2008 Highlights

NI increased global sales engineering staff by 29 percent to ensure excellent, timely customer service
Turnover rate for U.S. employees was 8.9 percent, which is 46 percent lower than the U.S. industry average
NI hired more than 50 percent of its co-ops and interns at corporate headquarters for permanent positions

2008 Challenges

NI recruiting efforts increasingly are challenged by the declining number of U.S. students graduating with technical degrees

2009 Commitments

Maintain employee turnover at 30 percent lower than the U.S. industry average using developmental programs
Continue to hire the best and brightest engineering and technical students from the highest-rated universities
Provide corporate housing to all engineering intern and co-op hires

Recruiting Employees

NI recruiting efforts revolve around an efficient, sophisticated program called the "recruiting machine." By leveraging tools and best practices across recruiting teams, employees can focus on obtaining the information they need to make a successful hiring decision and on providing candidates with all the details they need to make a knowledgeable employment decision. Candidates have access to all levels of NI employees during their interview process, giving them firsthand experience with the open working environment at NI.

A robust co-op and intern program is at the core of the NI hiring strategy. Co-ops and interns work on actual projects solving real problems, which requires tremendous talent and initiative. Some co-ops and interns have even filed patents for their work at NI. In this challenging environment, co-ops and interns have the opportunity to hone technical skills as they work with leading-edge technologies. These employees gain valuable experiences that help determine if they and NI are a good fit for each other. NI measures the success of this program by the percentage of co-ops and interns hired for permanent positions. In 2008, NI exceeded its goal of hiring 50 percent of co-ops and interns at corporate headquarters for permanent positions.

Employee Profile

Jonah Paul, an NI applications engineer, transitioned from intern to full-time employee in 2008.

"NI culture is what initially attracted me to Austin from the University of Wisconsin and it is the culture that keeps me here. I had the opportunity to see the inner workings of the company firsthand during my internship, and when I was asked to work for NI full-time, I was ready to hit the ground running. I took the opportunity while training as a full-time hire to help my fellow new hires and was able to renew my communication with the employees that I got to know over the previous summer.

"Hands down, my intern experience accelerated my ability to start giving back as a full-time employee and to impact the applications engineering group and NI."

Challenges

NI recruiting efforts increasingly are challenged by the declining number of U.S. students graduating with technical degrees. As a leading technology provider, NI works to enhance science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education through classroom mentorship, student events, and collaborations with the goal of inspiring students to pursue careers in the science and technology fields.

By the Numbers

Interns Hired for Permanent Positions
Data is from NI corporate headquarters and Berkeley, California, only.

Retaining Employees

Given all that NI invests in finding and hiring the best and brightest employees who fit into the company culture, retaining them is essential to NI success.

NI prides itself on a low employee turnover rate. In 2008, the turnover rate for all employees worldwide was 10.8 percent. The turnover rate for U.S. employees was 8.9 percent, which is 46 percent lower than the U.S. industry average. The company's low turnover rate is a key indication of its great work environment and superior employee development to grow talents and skills.

By the Numbers

Employees by Region
Note: Totals are for the number of employees as of December 31st in the given year.

Type of Employee	Designation	Category	U.S.	Outside U.S.¹	Total
Regular	Full-Time	All	2,533	2,578	5,111
		Exempt	2,088	1,873	3,961
		Nonexempt	445	705	1,150
	Part-Time	All	36	57	93
		Exempt	30	22	52
		Nonexempt	6	35	41
	Total Regular Employees by Region		2,569	2,635	5,204
Intern/Co-Op²		All	219	167	386
		Exempt	N/A	N/A	N/A
		Nonexempt	219	167	386
	Total Intern/Co-Op Employees by Region		219	167	386
Total by Region 2008³			2,551	2,606	5,157
Total by Region 2007³			2,420	2,227	4,647

¹In the Outside U.S. column, totals in the Exempt row are for professional employees, and totals in the Nonexempt row are for administrative employees.

²The total for U.S. intern/co-op employees includes all employees of that type hired in 2008.

³In this total, two part-time employees are counted as one full-time employee.

Employee Turnover Rate by Region

Type of Employee	U.S. (%)	Outside U.S. (%)
Exempt	8.1	N/A
Nonexempt	8.9	N/A
Professional	N/A	12
Administrative	N/A	15.1
Total 2008	8.9	12.9
Total 2007	8.6	12.9