A stock market at record highs and unemployment levels at record lows is a wonderful combination; however, every leader knows this also create some significant challenges.

Leaders in many industries are finding it incredibly difficult to attract and retain high-quality team members. As most leaders in the construction industry are probably aware, the industry is among the most impacted of all due to the ever-shrinking numbers of people entering into and completing skilled trades training.

An analysis across all industries of the companies that tend to do the best at attracting and retaining top talent reveals a surprising common denominator: Their top priorities are in a different order than most companies.

Most companies see their top priorities in the following order: first profit, then customers, then employees. These priorities are so commonplace, it probably sounds like “Business 101” to most people.

However, making profit—or any other financial metric—the top priority is a surefire way to eventually undermine the true engine for long-term growth and profitability. Happy, loyal team members who helped the organization maintain a high percentage of happy loyal customers who gladly refer new business to the company.

When leaders make profit the top priority, they will either consciously or unconsciously neglect employees in a systematic way. When employees feel consistently neglected, they become increasingly disengaged over time. This results in poor performance, reduced customer satisfaction and, ultimately, a reduced ability to grow in a profitable way.

A Priority Shift

The best leaders and organizations see their top priorities in a completely different order. They realize their primary job is to serve and take good care of employees. Love is their top priority.

When employees feel loved by their leaders, they take very good care of the customers, and the goals of the company are much more easily achieved.

Leaders who see their top priority as loving employees are very focused on helping employees grow professionally and personally—and to be happy both at work and at home. When organizations are effective at creating cultures where this is the leadership norm, turnover is exceedingly low, and the ability to attract top talent is extraordinary.

One of the best case studies for this is Southwest Airlines. Throughout its entire history, Southwest has been very vocal about the fact that their top priority is loving employees.

This has resulted in many extraordinary business outcomes, including the fact that they have been profitable for 46 years straight, as of this article. That is extremely impressive in any industry. In the cutthroat airline industry, it is essentially unimaginable.

Had Southwest not actually done this, any business expert would probably say it would be impossible for an airline to have been profitable for 46 years straight, especially during the first few years after the 9/11 tragedy.

The leaders at Southwest routinely state that the secret to their success is loving employees well. Because they've created a culture where this is the leadership norm, Southwest is able to attract the best people in their industry.

They receive a job application roughly every two seconds. Despite incredible growth, they only hire about 2% of the people that apply for a job.

Although it's certainly not easy to create a culture in which leaders make it their top priority to serve and take care of employees, the obvious good news is that it's very inexpensive.

Many companies complain that they can't attract and retain top talent because they can't offer high enough pay. However, this is simply not true.

To be competitive in the marketplace, a company simply needs to offer wages that are 10% to 15% above the average for their geographic location. As long as the company is doing that, it is the culture that will attract and retain the best people.

Having a culture like this also reduces recruiting expenses. Instead of having to spend large amounts on external advertising, the best organizations recruit a large number of their most talented employees as a result of referrals from current employees who tell their friends how amazing their workplace culture is.

Again, this costs the company nothing.

In this modern economy, the only true long-term differentiator is the workplace culture of a company. The best companies know that culture equals cash, so they invest time and energy in cultivating a culture in which great people want to work.