Trader Joe's2015 TORONTO STAR
If ever there were an ideal time to be a job seeker, this past year was surely it. Record-setting job gains and consistently low unemployment rates gave rise to a labor landscape not seen by Americans in decades, one where companies found themselves competing hard to attract and retain their workforces. In doing so, some emerged from the talent war as employers of choice.
Forbes teamed up with market research company Statista m to pinpoint the companies liked best by employees in our annual ranking of America’s best employers. The ranking is divided into two lists: one for the top large companies with more than 5,000 U.S. employees, and another for the top midsize companieswith 1,000 to 5,000. This article focuses on the former.
Over the past few years, a Monrovia, California-based grocery chain has been steadily scaling the ranks, rising 18 spots in two years to hit No. 2 in 2018. This year there was just one place left to climb, and the retailer proved it was up to the challenge, securing the No. 1 spot ahead of competitors Costco Wholesale (No. 4) and Wegmans Food Markets (No. 19). Since founding as convenience store Pronto Markets in 1958, America’s best employer has come a long way, even changing its name over the years. You may have heard of it: Trader Joe’s.
Aside from its name and number of locations—more than 400 and counting across 41 states and the District of Columbia—not much has changed at Trader Joe’s since founder (and original trader) Joe Coulombe opened shop. Its consistent attention to the basics may be the secret to its success. “We’ve been around for over 50 years, and we’ve never had layoffs. We stay true to what we know works for Trader Joe’s and our crew members,” says Jon Basalone, president of stores at Trader Joe’s. “You combine that with the pay, benefits and supportive, fun environment, and people tend to want to stick around.”
While many retailers cling to the notion that the minimum wage prescribed by the law must be the minimum wage paid to front-line employees, Trader Joe’s takes a different approach, establishing unique base wages in each of the markets in which it sets up shop. Each minimum wage is based on what it will take to attract the best in any given area, and over time, even part-time crew members can earn up to $24.75 an hour—nearly twice as much as the nation’s highest minimum wage, enjoyed by workers in Washington, D.C. Just as competitive pay isn’t considered a perk, neither is access to benefits, with health insurance, paid time off and a company-funded retirement plan offered to those who work part-time on the store floor and full-time in the C-suite alike. And because Trader Joe’s is open 18 hours a day, seven days a week, there’s a lot of flexibility. “No matter what people have going on in their lives, whether they’re students, whether this is their second job, whether they’re pursuing other interests and just need a job, we can help them,” Basalone says. “We hire individuals, we embrace their individuality and we get the work done through teamwork.”
Trader Joe’s culture of comradeship is strong—so strong it can be sensed by anyone who walks into a store. The crew’s distinctive uniform, donned by all since the 1960s, helps set the tone. “We all wear Hawaiian shirts and nametags—and the nametags all say ‘crew member’—especially here in the office,” Basalone says. “If a store calls and says, ‘We need someone to help us come bag,’ we’re ready.” So, on any given day, a student working part-time might find himself ringing up a customer’s Mandarin Orange Chicken alongside a long-time executive. And a few hours later, that same student might be called from behind the register and into the backroom to try whatever variation on Speculoos Cookie Butter the store has dared to dream up next during a tasting panel: a twice-weekly practice at Trader Joe’s, during which crew members sample and weigh in on products before they hit the shelves. Of the many tasks on a crew member’s to-do list, tasting panels are surely a favorite, so much so that 28 years later, Basalone can still recall the spread at his first: 10 dips, a frozen food and a baked good. “My first day at Trader Joe’s, I was being shown how to cut open a box and stock some frozen food, and someone came up and said, ‘Let’s go in the back—we’re having a tasting,’” he says. “The whole time, I was thinking, ‘Am I supposed to be doing this? I feel like I should be at work,’ and the person training me said, ‘No, this is a part of it. We’ve got to learn about what we sell.’”
Trader Joe's2015 TORONTO STAR
Trader Joe’s efforts to support its workforce surely haven’t hurt its ability to attract and retain talent, but the key to its status as a sought-after employer can’t be found in any compensation plan or inverted organizational chart, Basalone says: “It almost doesn’t feel like work—it feels more like we’re hosting a party and the customers are the honored guests. You get to meet and work with some amazing people, whether your fellow crew members or customers, and the interaction and energy that comes from that just makes it a really great place to work.”
Source: Fortune
