Google named best company to work for (it’s not just the great food)

Perhaps it’s the 40,000 square-foot park that keeps Google’s employees happy, or maybe it’s the one day a week to work on anything they want, or perhaps even the onsite dry cleaning. Whatever the combination of perks, Fortune magazine has named Google the number one company to work for in America.

“I want Google to be an amazing place to work, so really excited to see us ranked as the best place to work by Fortune for the third time (more than any company),” Google Chief Executive Larry Page said in a Google+ post about the ranking. “Google is the sum of our people and their hard work and dedication.”

The Mountain View-based company hired nearly 7,000 people last year — the biggest number the company has seen in its 13-year history. Although Page and Laszio Bock, Google’s senior vice president for people operations, agree that employee perks are the reason aspiring-employees flock to the company, ultimately it’s about focusing on the human relations.

“My job as a leader is to make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, and that they feel they’re having a meaningful impact and are contributing to the good of society. As a world, we’re doing a better job of that. My goal is for Google to lead, not follow that,” Page said in an interview with Fortune.

Other companies that made the list include Zappos, which ranks this year at number 11; Adobe at 41; and Microsoft, which is positioned at 76, falling from its spot at 72 last year.

Google currently has over 18,500 U.S. employees with 32,000 people reported to be working for the company globally at the end of 2011.

Photo via Aray Chen/Flickr