My favorite issue of FORTUNE is the annual survey and article devoted to “The 100 Best Companies to Work For.” Here are some of the nuggets I mined—look for the melody line and how it can challenge you and your team.
Google is this year’s #1:
“You’ve got to ask yourself why these people are coming here,” says 24-year-old engineer Neha Narula. I think they come here to be energized by the people at Google.”
“Is Google’s culture the cause of its success or merely the result? Put another way: Is Google a great place to work because its stock is at $483, or is its stock at $483 because it’s a great place to work?”
“All Google engineers are famously required to devote 20% of their time to pursuing projects they dream up that will help the company. The projects actually have a realistic change of being adopted too.”
“What draws people to [Google] is the environment, one where they have an ability to pursue things largely on their own terms.”
From co-founder Sergey Brin:
“What types of people fail at Google? I think you have to be flexible. For example, we don’t usually tell people what they’re working on until they show up, because our priorities might change. So somebody who’s really obsessed and needs to know, ‘I’m going to be working on X’ probably wouldn’t enjoy it.”
“What happens to the culture when Google no longer has the wind at its back? I think we’re going to have our cycles. There’s no getting around it. But if you really believe in your mission and your values, as we do, then you ride through the tough times.”
Other quotes:
“People’s reasons for leaving [their companies] are changing. In the 2004 survey, more money was the main motivator. This time around, most of the employees polled said they were after more responsibility or the chance to gain new skills.”
“Indeed, at a time when many companies are trying to scale back what they offer their workers, First Horizon’s compensation chief keeps looking for ways to add new perks and improve old standbys. One employee says, “This company has been so generous to me. There’s no way I could even think of leaving.”
“Whole Foods (#5 on the list) has long had a salary cap limiting pay of tops execs, currently at 19 times average full-time pay. But founder and CEO John Mackey went further, reducing his salary to $1 and forgoing all future stock options.”
Granite Construction (#56): “The construction firm’s employees applaud CEO Bill Dorey, who “isn’t afraid to admit he doesn’t know something.” There’s no salary cap, but Dorey’s salary is only ten times that of many heavy-construction-equipment operators.
National Instruments (#86): The laid-back culture is a huge plus, say staffers at the virtual instruments company. “Our CEO drives his pickup truck to work, sits in a cubicle smaller than mine, and has lunch with random employees, says one.”
BUILT TO LEAD 