Apparently, work gets a bad rap.

From friends and relatives and even co-workers, it's more common to hear complaints than kudos about the workplace.

But lurking behind the walls of Pittsburgh businesses, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of employees feeling supremely appreciated, completely fulfilled and appropriately compensated.

In response to an online Post-Gazette survey about the best places to work, they e-mailed their tales of a bank president taking a returning war veteran to a Pirates game, a boss who matches funds collected for hardship-stricken employees, and companies willing to promote motivated workers even if they only have high school degrees.

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There are companies that offer nearly unlimited flexibility, provide everything from day care to pet insurance, and generally extend themselves far beyond what would be expected to help their employees.

So why do they do it?

Turns out it's not just out of the goodness of their hearts.

Based on the assumption that "employee engagement" affects a company's bottom line, Collier-based Development Dimensions International has made hundreds of millions of dollars helping businesses around the world retool their workplaces cultures. Not coincidentally, DDI finished first among large Pittsburgh businesses whose employees voted for their workplaces in the Post-Gazette survey.

The company defines employee engagement as "the extent to which people enjoy and believe in what they do and feel valued for doing it."

A study by the Gallup Organization have found that companies with employee engagement levels above the median had a 70 percent higher likelihood of success than those with engagement levels below the median.

DDI estimates that in an organization with 10,000 employees, moving the employee engagement level from low to high would have a positive impact on the bottom of more than $42 million, through such benefits as lower absenteeism, decreased turnover and fewer quality errors.

A number of factors go into what makes employees happy and engaged at their workplaces, said Rich Wellins, a senior vice president at DDI. "People want clear accountability -- they want to know what is expected," he said. "That ties in to what we call empowerment, that they're not micro-managed."

The ideal workplace culture varies by company and employee, said Dan Pink, author of best-selling business books "A Whole New Mind" and "Free Agent Nation."

"You have to take two steps back and ask a question about the organization and a question about the individuals," he said. "What is the organization's purpose, and what are you trying to accomplish? You would ask the individual, what do they really want out of work?"

One common driver of workplace satisfaction, said Mr. Pink, is whether individuals feel like they're contributing to society. "They want something more than the paycheck, more than the money," he said. "It's about a sense of purpose, a cause greater than themselves."

Although the winners of the Post-Gazette survey are in industries as different as accounting, education and consulting, employees at all three businesses mentioned the fact that they feel like they are making a difference in their jobs.

"I get a sense that we're doing something bigger and better than just being a business," said Terry Farrell, senior vice president for finance and information technology at the Pittsburgh Technical Institute, which topped the voting for mid-size businesses. "We're giving young people a chance to get a good education that leads to a good job. It's much more of a sense of accomplishment than working in public accounting and saving someone a couple thousand dollars on their tax returns."

At Maher Duessel, the Downtown accounting firm that won first place among small businesses in the Post-Gazette survey, founding partner David Duessel knows that the firm is able to compete for talent with some of the city's largest accounting firms because of its family-friendly policies and pleasant work environment. The firm offers a relatively predictable work schedule, and allows part-time work and job sharing.

These days, it is in the competition for talent that a positive workplace culture can make the most difference, because the change to a knowledge-based economy has given workers leverage that they didn't have decades ago.

"Today, talented people need organizations a lot less than organizations need talented people," said Mr. Pink. "This concern about culture and treating people right is a reaction to that."

As a DDI report puts it, "People have become the primary source of competitive advantage."

Perks such as free food, parking and child care can be one of the most visible signs of a workplace focused on employee happiness. But while workers appreciate the extras, much of their core satisfaction with their job is more about whether they feel valued and respected, and whether they see possibilities for growth and advancement.

Some of the most successful companies, said Mr. Pink, are able to combine both.

As a model employer, Mr. Pink referenced Google, which does provide its employees with free food but also offers many of them "20 percent" time, which allots one-fifth of their workweek to pursue projects of their own choosing.

At another technology company, Downtown-based Summa Technologies, Sriram Bala e-mailed the Post-Gazette citing both "great food, games and beer" and a flexible work culture that "encourages work life balance."

The ultimate prize for companies might be lifetime loyalty, cited by several survey respondents who -- even after relatively short tenures -- hoped to retire at their current jobs.

"The people, the atmosphere, the work itself, the clients, the opportunities to learn and grow ? there is nothing about [health care consulting company] Cowden Associates I don't like," said employee Judy Weidenhof. "I have been here three years, and they will have to pry my 'cold dead fingers' off of my desk."