Employee Benefits

NI Health Center

Health care costs continue to increase rapidly in the United States, making it more challenging for employers to offer competitive benefits packages. With the NI Health Center at headquarters, NI takes a proactive approach in partnership with employees to help them achieve a healthier lifestyle through wellness and prevention. The center provides employees and their spouses on the NI benefits plan access to convenient, high-quality health care services.

Wellness Programs

NI builds a spirited culture of wellness by offering learning programs based on the aggregate data results of employee health risk assessments conducted at headquarters in 2009 and 2011. These health and wellness programs include the following:

• Healthy Eating Every Day (HEED) classes designed to change eating habits and behaviors
• Smoking cessation programs to assist employees who want to quit smoking
• Programs to encourage more walking as exercise, including NI walking clubs, 10k-a-Day step challenges, and on-campus walk/run events
• NI sports leagues such as basketball, volleyball, and golf

401(k) Retirement Plan

NI offers a voluntary 401(k) plan to help US employees prepare for their retirement. The plan allows employees to contribute up to 80 percent of their pretax income and/or Roth (after tax) contribution within legal limits. Employees may select the appropriate combination for their situation of pretax and Roth contributions. NI will match 50 percent of an employee’s pretax contribution up to 6 percent, which makes a total company contribution of 3 percent. For additional information about this program, refer to the Annual Report.

In 2011, 80 percent of NI employees in the United States participated in the 401(k) retirement plan, a decrease of 8.5 percent from 2010.

Safety

NI protects workers by providing a comprehensive health and safety program. The company’s safety performance in 2011 continued to be world-class with few recorded injuries. In 2011, the manufacturing group at headquarters set a new injury-free record by marking 664 consecutive days without an injury. The group received its third perfect record award in four years from the National Safety Council.

Recordable Injury/Illness Rate¹

Lost Workday Rate1¹

Employee Communication and Recognition

A key to the strong culture and high level of trust at NI is ensuring timely, honest, and accurate communication with employees worldwide. Dr. James Truchard, NI president, CEO, and cofounder, and other NI leaders drop in on meetings throughout all departments to communicate key business strategies and to stay updated on how things are running. These informal, often spontaneous meetings are part of NI “sneaker management,” a term coined by Dr. Truchard that places emphasis on walking around and talking to employees face-to-face. He believes that talking to people firsthand remains the best way to understand employee concerns and questions.

Other NI employee communication tools include the following:

• Business discussions with NI leadership after every quarterly earnings release covering financial updates, company successes, and employee calls to action
• Company meetings for all employees twice a year
• Periodic town-hall-style forums for employees to ask NI officers questions directly
• A crisis response team dedicated to preparing communication in the event of a crisis

Employee Events

NI offices worldwide celebrate the traits that make NI unique—innovation, generosity, playful spirit, teamwork, and pride—during internal events throughout the year that help employees share successes, mark significant milestones, and just have fun. For example, NI headquarters hosts an annual company picnic for NI employees, friends, and family. In 2011, the picnic was held at Six Flags Fiesta Texas amusement park in San Antonio, and NI reserved the entire park exclusively for the enjoyment of the NI community. Also in 2011, NI Hungary held its annual Family Days event at which nearly 1,000 employees and family members enjoyed a variety of games and entertainment.

NI Code of Ethics

The NI Code of Ethics is intended to comply with the applicable requirements of the SEC and NASDAQ. The company expects all employees and leadership members to read and understand the NI Code of Ethics, uphold the standards in day-to-day activities, and comply with the applicable policies. Employees read and sign the code upon entering into employment at NI, and NI leadership reviews and signs the code every year.