FORTUNE's annual 100 best companies to work for survey, by Levering and Moskowitz (and, by the way, featuring Baldrigeplus case study company Granite Rock at number 19 in the year 2000 iteration) offers a snapshot of the hot issues in employment as the year rolls over and labor continues in short supply. Here's what Levering and Moskowitz had to say (FORTUNE, January 10 2000, pp68-79)

"So what's the state of the workplace at the turn of the century? Go to Orange County, Calif., where twentysomethings Jennifer Withers, an administrative assistant, and her husband, Dave, a programmer at electronics firm Odetics, cashed in stock options for a down payment on a townhouse. Or to Manhattan, where management consultant Susan Sweet just had her Christmas cards hand-addressed and a billing dispute with a dry cleaner resolved through a concierge service provided by her employer, Ernst & Young. Or to Houston, where marketing assistant Patty Fulenwider was able to take her boyfriend for a weeklong, all-expenses-paid trip to Maui last March, courtesy of her employer, developer David Weekley Homes.
"Welcome to the brave new workplace, as revealed by Fortune's third annual survey to determine the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America. In an ultratight labor market, companies primp to woo and retain talent. They offer perks and amenities like concierge services, unheard of until recently. They listen to employee input, adjust schedules to suit family obligations, provide training, and cut workers into stock-purchase, stock-option, and stock-award programs formerly reserved for the management elite.
"Sure, not every company follows this path. More than a few "Chainsaw" types still run companies, and many CEOs still can't manage to say thank you, let alone offer stock options. And our list is full of businesses from industries that rely on skilled workers already in short supply. But when you consider the range of companies that made this year's list, it's clear that on the whole, U.S. employees face the new century with better prospects than ever.
"Here's a snapshot of the 100 Best Companies to Work For: They come from 20 different fields and 30 states. While 42 are in information technology or financial services, we've also identified stars from retailing, pipe manufacturing, supermarkets, the jam business (J.M. Smucker ranks 22nd), and even law firms. Many (42) are private, but 58 are publicly traded. And companies that do right by employees seem to do right by stockholders. Shares of public companies on the list rose 37% annualized over the past three years, compared with 25% for the S&P 500. Qualcomm, the San Diego-based developer of wireless technology, led the way with a 1,500% increase in 1999.
"Is it a coincidence that the public companies on our list did so much better than the S&P index? Maybe. But the list does reflect a fundamental change in the economy. A century ago the most valuable U.S. corporation was U.S. Steel, whose primary assets were smokestack factories. Today's most valuable corporation is Microsoft, whose most valuable assets go home every night. Companies that want those assets to return every morning must pay attention to the workplace. The 100 Best do this better than most, keeping turnover down. (For a sense of how our top company, retail chain Container Store, keeps its turnover low, check out My Job at the Container Store, by Daniel Roth, who worked for a week at one of the company's Dallas stores.)
"Of course, the 100 Best also nurture the financial side of their relationships with employees. Some 36 of the 58 publicly held companies on this list offer options to all employees, which helps make up for the fact that real wages in the U.S. are up just 0.8% in the past 12 months. More than 1,000 Charles Schwab employees have over $1 million in their accounts from generous stock grants.
"But financial perks aren't the big story here. The big story is that these companies are trying to help employees balance their home and work lives. More and more offer perks such as flexible schedules and day care. In 1984, when the two of us first published the list as a bestselling book, only one company had on-site day care. Today 29 do.
"The 100 Best also do their utmost to address their employees' intellectual needs. Some 53 offer on-site university courses, and 91 have tuition reimbursement, with 24 reimbursing more than $4,000 a year. MBNA offers up to $15,600 a year.
"Yes, some of this is over the top. Will companies still walk their employees' dogs after an economic downturn? No. But it's unlikely that a slowdown would lead the 100 Best to revert to draconian workplace practices. In an increasingly tough global business world, what differentiates top companies from their competitors is often the quality of their highly skilled workers. So savvy CEOs like Jimmy Blanchard at Synovus Financial, Michael Krasny at CDW Computers, Gordon Bethune at Continental Airlines, and John Chambers at Cisco Systems understand that having a special relationship with employees is key to their success. Imagine Herb Kelleher at Southwest Airlines, which has been at or near the top of our list for three years, deciding to squeeze employees rather than nurture them. What would happen to his company? Who knows--but it certainly wouldn't be Southwest."

During his well-documented dismantling of the classic corporate model at General Electric, CEO Jack Welch also transformed himself from 'Neutron Jack', a hard-edged traditionally authoritarian manager whose sweeping changes left only buildings standing, to a people-sensitive manager who understood the importance of treating his employees as sources of initiative, energy and creativity rather than just as controllable costs.

"The talents of our people are greatly underestimated and their skills underutilized. Our biggest task is to fundamentally redefine our relationship with our employees. The objective is to build a place where people have the freedom to be creative, where they feel a real sense of accomplishment - a place that brings out the best in everyone”

“It is all about world class quality and performance excellence. It's what our customers and our communities and our stakeholders and shareholders demand and it's our people that really make it happen. That's why human resources is a vital part of the Malcolm Baldrige award criteria. And that's why I'm here to talk about the people behind 3M Dental.”

This category looks at three core aspects of your human resource:
1. How you design work and jobs to achieve your strategic intentions; how you encourage and motivate, compensate, recognise and reward your workforce, ensure good communication, cooperation and knowledge sharing, recruit and hire, and take account of diversity and ensure fair practices
2. How you educate, train and develop your workforce
3. And how you deal with employee well-being.

Examiners will look for evidence that HR strategies align with high-level corporate strategies, that the metrics used to track performance reflect the larger view as well as the organisation's workplace needs, and that performance review and continuous improvement are high priorities.

While there's no best approach to human resource management, organisations which make good use of new technologies, understand and apply contemporary thinking about, for example, teaming and knowledge management, and use education and training to keep a motivated workforce up to date with the skills needed to match or beat word-class competitors, will score well in this category.

For some examples of alignment best practices, see the exhibit Aligning HR and corporate goals.