A sense of democracy, treating worker with respect by compensating them fairly rather than using airy slogans about being a team player and sacrificing for the good of the collective, valuing the quality of employee's ideas more than the employee's place in the corporate hierarchy, and thinking outside of the traditional box of how an organization operates are all characteristic of Google. Google is a high-performing workplace because it makes employees want to perform to a high standard, rather than tries to compel them to obey.

A high-performance workplace is defined as a company with 'a flatter and less hierarchical organization structure; a willingness to adopt new working practices; an emphasis on empowerment and teamwork; and high levels of employee participation and learning" (High performance workplace, 2010, Business dictionary). Google embraces all of these strategies and approaches, but it is perhaps its emphasis on organizational learning, from its generous tuition reimbursement, to its allowance for employees to explore their own ideas that shines forth. As a technologically-driven company that is based upon the spread of knowledge, Google has an additional incentive in...

A high-performance approach can be as simple as a traditional retail enterprise improving its sales figures by talking to salespeople in the 'trenches' who deal with actual customers. Continuing to educate and invest in one's employees through supporting employees' efforts in higher education, conducting training seminars on-site, and offering the opportunity for employees to share their knowledge with one another shows that the company cares about its workers. It also enables it to reap the benefits of a more highly-skilled workforce. One of the beauties of a high-performance workplace is that everyone benefits -- the company, the employees, and the company's customers.
References

High performance workplace. (2010). Business dictionary. Retrieved February 24, 2010 at http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/high-performance+work+organization.html

Top ten reasons to work at Google. (2010). Google. Retrieved February 24, 2010 at http://www.google.com/international/en/jobs/lifeatgoogle/toptenreasons/