Pros
A legendary devotion to employees makes SAS Institute a model for others. Google sent representatives to SAS' Cary, NC campus early in the search company's history to learn about what attracted the smartest employees and kept them there. And the similarities show. SAS has a gym for employees on site that houses two pools, soccer fields, a baseball field, a track, basketball courts, racquetball courts, tennis courts, and exercise equipment. Further, SAS encourages employee health with incentives for gym activities each month. SAS has an on-site massage and physical therapy center, on-site healthcare, on-site daycare, on-site hair salon, on-site car detailing, on-site dry cleaning pickup, and many more on-site amenities which are all for SAS employees and their families only. Top this off with weekly breakroom goodies like M&M's, a comprehensive benefits package, and a laid-back work environment and it's easy to see why SAS has had over 30 years of revenue growth and profitability; it retains the best talent because it's a great place to work.
Cons
One sacrifices a bit of cold, hard cash in exchange for the employee benefits at SAS. Jobs at other software companies with comparable size and talent tend to pay about 14% more for the same position as SAS. Internal communication at SAS is mediocre (but probably no worse than most other 10000+ employee companies) so direction and message can be a little hard to extract from the noise. Being a privately-held company means that SAS answers to no one but the CEO. This is both a blessing and a curse. The blessings certainly outweigh the curses, but there are times when it seems senior-level employees should be held more accountable and that long-term strategy should be fleshed out and more visible.