Wegman’s secret: Employees come first
Wegmans Food Markets recently clinched the #1 spot on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, after making the list eight times in the past.
It turns out that Robert Wegman’s success comes from a renegade philosophy, applied consistently for more than five decades:
“Employees come first, customers come second.”
Wegman’s idea: If you make employees feel really, really valued, they will become highly loyal and their positive attitude will make your business magnetic to customers.
Here are some highlights of how Wegman has translated that philosophy into success:
It turns out that Robert Wegman’s success comes from a renegade philosophy, applied consistently for more than five decades:
“Employees come first, customers come second.”
Wegman’s idea: If you make employees feel really, really valued, they will become highly loyal and their positive attitude will make your business magnetic to customers.
Here are some highlights of how Wegman has translated that philosophy into success:
- Back in the 1950s, he began to pay health care benefits, a radical concept in retailing at the time. Then, he added defined-contribution and 401(k) plans.
- In 1984, he introduced an employee scholarship program. Since then, Wegmans has distributed $54 million in tuition dollars to 17,000 employees.
