I absolutely agree that what makes a great employer is a culture of actual valuing the humans in their org and their growth and retention. I agree that this is quite rare.
That said, we need to be honest about something: from a strictly business perspective developers ARE disposable tools. Virtually all employees of all orgs are. Great employers are willing to treat their employees with dignity and respect because that's how we should treat everyone. Not because it's smart from a business perspective to do so, but because it's the right thing to do.
So yeah I think the most important thing you can look for in an org is ethical leaders, and that that tends to cascade down into ethical employees who treat each other with respect and dignity.
That said, we need to be honest about something: from a strictly business perspective developers ARE disposable tools. Virtually all employees of all orgs are. Great employers are willing to treat their employees with dignity and respect because that's how we should treat everyone. Not because it's smart from a business perspective to do so, but because it's the right thing to do.
So yeah I think the most important thing you can look for in an org is ethical leaders, and that that tends to cascade down into ethical employees who treat each other with respect and dignity.