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Using register data and large-scale surveys from Denmark, we show that firms led by neighbourhood CEOs – defined in terms of physical proximity to the company and personal values – exhibit a better working environment, as measured by both a regulatory authority and firm employees’ perceptions. To derive causality, we exploit: (1) within-firm variations in CEOs’ proximity to plants in a sample of multi-plant companies; and (2) within-firm variations in CEO-firm distance arising from CEO turnover events. The positive effect of neighbourhood CEOs on working environments is stronger when CEO’s and employees’ children attend the same school, pointing to social interactions as a driver of the result. Finally, firms led by neighbourhood CEOs have higher profitability, which suggests that these CEOs do not trade-off shareholder returns against employees’ welfare.