Fortune: The best employers in the U.S. say their greatest tool is culture

http://fortune.com/2015/03/05/perfect-workplace/

Quotes:

The best employers are better because more business leaders are focused on workplace culture as a competitive tool.

...the 12 companies that have made this list every year since we published the first list in 1998. Over the past 17 years they have collectively created a net total of 341,567 jobs, for a whopping average increase of 172%.

Since 1998 the 100 Best Companies have outperformed the S&P 500 index by a ratio of nearly 2 to 1.

...the real reason Google offers all that fantastic free fare: to make sure workers will come to the cafeterias, where they’ll start and strengthen personal relationships. ...the food is just a tool for reaching a goal, and the goal is strong, numerous, rewarding personal relationships.

“We are surrounded by smart, driven people who provide the best environment for learning I’ve ever experienced.”

Here’s the simple secret of every great place to work: It’s personal—not perkonal. It’s relationship-based, not transaction-based.

Big, deep structural changes in the economy are likely to boost the advantages that great employers already enjoy in the marketplace and penalize even more the companies that fall behind.

Companies will continue to gain a competitive advantage by attracting and keeping the most valuable workers, which is reason enough to become a great workplace.

Knowledge remains hugely important, but it’s gradually becoming less of a competitive advantage.

...employees who excel at human relationships are emerging as the new “it” men and women.

...they need workers who are good at team building, collaboration, and cultural sensitivity…

It is not simply the brightest who have the best ideas; it is those who are best at harvesting them from others.

Consider SAS, the giant software firm that’s one of the few companies to appear on our 100 Best ranking every year since we started publishing it in 1998. The firm surveys employees annually on the state of their relationships: Are they getting open communication and respect from fellow employees? Are they being treated like human beings?

You’ve realized by now that we’re talking about culture, the way people behave from moment to moment without being told. More employers are seeing the connection from culture and relationships to workplace greatness to business success.

Four elements of culture that make the most difference:

Mission: These companies are pursuing a larger purpose, and company leaders make sure no one forgets it. When employees are all pursuing a mission they believe in, relationships get stronger.

Colleagues: the best people want to go where the best people are.

Trust: We all know this: Show people that you consider them trustworthy, and they’ll generally prove you right.

Caring: Every company says it values employees. The 100 Best don’t say it; they show it. A true culture of caring goes beyond perks and includes daily behavior.

...a portfolio of 100 Best Companies exceeded its expected risk-adjusted return by 3.5% a year.

...they simply don’t understand that great workplaces work better.

A corollary is that most employers don’t get it either. Why do they let the 100 Best clean their clocks year after year, when the secret is no secret at all?