In the past week, I’ve talked with two unrelated people about their experiences at their prior employers. Both described a feeling of dread on Sunday nights and hating team meetings with company leaders. They went into detail about each company, but the bottom line is that both companies had leaders who didn’t value their employees. They viewed everyone as replaceable, which created a terrible culture. Both companies experience constant turnover, which impacts them negatively in a variety of ways.

Company culture is one of the most important competitive advantages. It’s available for all entrepreneurs to leverage, but most don’t. Hence, the companies that do take advantage of it enjoy massive advantages.

When you create a culture where people work hard but enjoy their work and genuinely like their coworkers, positive effects compound. The company attracts A players, and they usually know other A players, so recruiting is easier. People don’t leave companies they love, so companies with great cultures enjoy low turnover. This helps maintain institutional knowledge and keeps people costs low (it costs a ton to find and onboard a new employee) and productivity higher (new people usually aren’t productive for a few months).

Both of the people I talked with (A players) are now evaluating new opportunities, and they both said something that stuck with me. They’re considering only companies that have great cultures and will work only for leaders who live the values they’ve set for their teams. I’m excited for them, and I’m sure they’ll find exactly what they’re looking for.