Culture
Values
The Varian culture is based on professionalism, pride, and teamwork. The company is committed to supporting employees to do their best work. Senior managers see themselves as being here to provide support to the company and its employees — not the other way around. Managers listen to employees, who have great latitude to make a difference—in work processes, in organizational structure, in impacting the company’s productivity and effectiveness. Varian management is well respected in the industry, and the company is frequently named in lists of well-managed companies such as those published by BusinessWeek, Forbes, and third-party researchers like IMV, an independent market research and consulting firm that tracks Varian’s major industry.
Environment
The environment at Varian is collegial, and has been going back to the company’s roots as a collection of scientists who initially called themselves "Varian Associates." There is a real appreciation for good work, and a valuing of opinions and advice. Throughout the company, managers are empowered to give "ECAP awards," including monetary bonuses, in acknowledgment of extraordinary efforts, achievements, or actions on the part of employees at every level. In addition, all eligible employees participate in an Employee Incentive Program, whereby they realize an end-of-year bonus commensurate with the degree to which pre-determined company performance targets have been met or exceeded.
Community
The company demonstrates its commitment to community through a variety of programs that employees appreciate. For example, in the U.S., Varian supports the United Way through a "Give Your Way" program that enables employees to funnel their donations directly to any nonprofit organizations whether or not they are United Way members, and the company matches employees' contributions to these organizations. Varian also matches, dollar for dollar, all employees gifts to educational institutions, as a demonstration of the company's commitment to education at all levels.
Also at the company's Palo Alto headquarters, each year Varian contributes a team to participate in the United Way's annual "Day of Caring" event; employees spend a day cleaning up a food bank or repairing a homeless shelter. Last year the Varian group worked on maintenance and repair of Palo Alto’s Caravan House for teenage girls. In addition, Varian participates every year in the annual Bay Area "Second Harvest" food drive, as well as in the annual Family Giving Tree project, whereby employees fulfill holiday gift requests from needy children. Varian is also an annual sponsor of the American Cancer Society's "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" 5K walk in Golden Gate Park, sending a large contingent of walkers in support of this event. Many of the larger Varian sites outside Palo Alto organize and execute community-oriented projects of their own.
