I have my own company and our policy is that the employees are very important to us, as without them we would not exist!! Of course there is free beverage, snacks, fruits etc. all day long, and if we have to work overtime we order food etc.
This is not about being a wealthy company or not. It is simply about caring about the people works in the company and makes it to what it is. I see the head turnover is very low with us, in fact rare people leaves (here we save a lot of money) and people really care about what we do. People work with the newest and best tools. (If they want a Mac they get a Mac and if they want a PC they get a PC, we adapt to peoples prefences, as well as whatever phone they want and we change every every 2-3 years so we are current) People chose their tools, with in a framework, and they deliver in their work.
I'm sure low turnover saves you a lot of money, we should say that turnover is a cost for a company.
The only companies with high turnover that don't really have problems with it are the one who "sell" most of their employees as consultants to other big companies, the younger your employee is, the more you can squeeze, since he has a lower salary. When he goes away you lost pretty nothing, you're customer is going to train a new one.
I've worked for such companies and I'm glad I'm back to a smaller company were I'm more valuable as an individual, not just a number on a spreadsheet with my name on a column and billed hours on the next one.
To me the most important thing now would be the ability to work from home once or twice a week, and being paid by my achievements, not on an hourly basis. Perks like free beverage and snacks means little to me, some companies offer free dinners with the team or even allow the team to move to another location for summer (near to the beach etc.).
That can be good for team building and for young people, but I think as time goes by you have many more developers in their 40's, with a family not willing to relocate or to spend their free time with colleagues.
The happier employee is the one with a short commute and more time to spend with his family or for his hobbies. That's why I think the most important thing is flexibility, and some sort of remote working.
Since you own a company what are your thoughts about that?