Washington, Jan 20 (IANS): Internet giant Google has been by Fortune magazine as the best place to work in the US.

The Mountain View, California-based company hired about 7,000 people in 2011, the most intense hiring spree in its 13-year history, which moved Google up from fourth to first on Fortune's annual list of the 100 best companies to work for, Xinhua reported.

"Employees rave about their mission, the culture, and the famous perks of the Plex: bocce courts, a bowling alley, eyebrow shaping (for a fee) in the New York office," Fortune wrote.

"What people often focus on are the flashy, showy things, like the massages and the food, which are important to us. But they are not the real story about what makes our culture work," Laszlo Bock, Google's senior vice president for people operations, told San Jose Mercury News, a daily newspaper in Silicon Valley.

Larry Page, Google co-founder and chief executive officer, said in an interview with Fortune: "We've always been good at making sure we're treating employees flexibly. You treat people with respect. They tend to return the favor to the company. And that goes for families."