“This company would be nothing without our people. They deserve all of the credit.”

No matter how long you’ve been in the workforce, you’ve probably heard this at least once. It’s a common phrase that managers and company owners consistently recite. But you know what they say… actions speak louder than words.

And that’s why it always makes the rounds in news cycles when those actions actually back up the saying, because it doesn’t happen very often. But last month it did, when Delta Airlines announced that it will be giving its employees an entire 2 months worth of extra pay in the form of profit-sharing bonuses. It’s a move that will cost the company $1.6 billion–but to CEO Ed Bastian, it’s entirely worth it.

From an outsider’s point of view, this is typically just seen as an extra paycheck for Delta’s employees. But let’s really analyze what is going on here.

What Delta is doing is strengthening its internal culture even more. It’s creating an army of dedicated employees that are actually awarded for their efforts, especially since this bonus is on top of company benefits. It’s giving its employees a reason to go the extra mile every single day, to truly put the company first when they’re on the clock.

So how has this worked out for Delta? Well, for starters, they were ranked the best airline in the United States the third straight year in 2019.

Now obviously profit-sharing initiatives aren’t the only reason that Delta is ranked highly among the country’s airlines, but there’s no doubting that it plays a big part in company culture—which in turn affects a variety of things related to how customers perceive your product and service. When you employ people that truly enjoy coming in to work, that’s going to be noticed by your customers.

Another award that Delta has earned? Fortune named the airline one of the top 100 companies in the country to work for, and it’s noted that Delta has an incredibly low 2% annual turnover rate. For a company that employs over 90,000 people, that’s pretty crazy to think about—and when you calculate that, it’s less than a 2,000-person turnover per year on those 90,000 employees.

The airline industry as a whole is one of the most complex in the whole world, and it’s one that is spoken of negatively by 90% of us. And because of all of that, it take some special people to work within it. 

So when a company like Delta can put together a strong internal culture, there’s really no excuse for you to suffer through and continuing to work at a company that is simply toxic on the inside. There are really great places to work at all over this country, and once you finally find the one that fits you perfectly, I can almost guarantee you’ll never be on the search for a job again.