Volume 26, Number 36
www.RBJDAILY.com december 3, 2010
Nazareth IIPE participants learn of Wegmans’ culture
O
n Nov. 16, the Nazareth College Interdisciplinary Institute for Professional
Ethics hosted another in its series of
community dialogues between business
and academic leaders to prepare students
for lives of ethical service and leadership
and supporting area professionals in meeting the ethical challenges of their work.
The event featured remarks by Gerry
Pierce, Wegmans’ senior vice president
of human relations, which were followed
by a question and answer session.
As you may know, in addition to being a
place where Rochester residents have purchased their groceries for many decades,
Wegmans is an employer recognized nationally for the quality of its service and
for the workplace it has created for its employees. Besides ranking as one of the best
companies to work for in America since
1998, Wegmans has received many awards
for excellence as an employer and a retailer, as well as for community service.
These distinctions include the Dale Carnegie Leadership Award for exceptional customer service, development of people and
demonstrated dedication to the philosophy
and core values the company was founded
on, the 2009 Corporate Stewardship Award
and being listed in 2007 and 2010 as one
of the most ethical companies in the world
by Ethisphere Magazine.
Wegmans’ consistent top performance
in taking care of its employees, its customers and the communities in which it
operates has translated into sustained financial success. Our objective during the
November IIPE session was to learn how
Wegmans does it.
Pierce began by stating that the first responsibility of Wegmans leaders is creating a “culture of trust” between their
company and its employees, suppliers
and customers. In a highly competitive
retail business where maximizing profits
is accepted dogma, making a “culture of
trust” a top priority seems a bit Pollyannaish. But Pierce explained that this business
strategy is a key to Wegmans’ success. By
making a culture of trust the top priority
for a sustained period of time, the company has succeeded in creating a family
atmosphere—not just for its employees
business
ethics
Jim Nortz
but also for its customers.
“Customers are part of the family,”
Pierce said. “We are focused on creating
long-term relationships that will endure
for a lifetime.”
Pierce then outlined five things Wegmans does to put this overarching philosophy into practice: Write it down; have
a clear vision and expectations; live and
deeply root the values; communicate,
communicate; hold yourself accountable.
One of the ways Wegmans does these
five things is to distribute to employees a
simple document detailing “what we believe,” “what we measure,” “who we are”
and “what we do.” It is important, Pierce
said, to give employees clarity and focus
on what is important, to inspire in them
a shared commitment to excellence in all
they do and to help them focus not just on
what they do but on how they do it.
The words in the Wegmans values document mirror those you might find in many
other corporate communications to employees about company values. However, there appear to be two key differences
between the Wegmans approach and that
taken by companies that try but fail to embed strong ethical values in the corporate
culture.
First, Wegmans expends significant time
and resources in communicating key values
messages to employees through extensive
training, its intranet, focus groups, newsletters, videos, signs, direct mail, surveys
and a management communication tool
called “meeting in a box.” The meeting in
a box, which is periodically distributed to
all company locations, gives managers all
the tools they need to present a clear and
consistent message to employees in stores
across the country.
Second, Wegmans’ management has
Reprinted with permission of the Rochester Business Journal.
consistently demonstrated the courage to
act upon its values by making employee relations and development the top metric by
which managers are measured. A manager
who does not meet high standards in this
critical area is replaced by someone who
does. This approach may seem a bit tough
on managers, but what’s worse is the far
more common practice at many companies,
where employees’ morale and performance
are allowed to suffer for years at the hands
of managers who should be offered an opportunity to “excel” elsewhere.
The results of this approach have been
and continue to be extraordinary. One data
point Pierce shared was an observation
that the company’s strong ethical culture
and family atmosphere have resulted in
a very low annual rate of employee turnover for the industry. The money Wegmans
saves each year because of lower turnover
is enough to build a store.
Also, the company website reports that
Wegmans received more than 3,100 requests in 2009 from people asking the
company to open a store in their community. In addition, 6,000 customers wrote to
say how much they liked shopping at Wegmans because of the products and services
offered or the way Wegmans employees
treat them. This is the kind of success and
customer loyalty that most businesses can
only dream of.
Perhaps you can make such dreams a
reality at your firm by following the Wegmans model, making a culture of trust your
company’s top priority.
If you are interested in participating in
IIPE sessions or providing support to the
institute, please contact Thomas DonlinSmith at (585) 389-2729 or tdonlin1@naz.
edu. To learn more about the IIPE or its
programs, visit www.naz.edu/dept/iipe.
Jim Nortz is compliance director at
Bausch & Lomb Inc. and a member of the
Rochester Area Business Ethics Foundation. The opinions expressed in this article are Nortz’s alone and may not reflect
those of Bausch & Lomb or the RABEF.
For more information about the RABEF,
visit www.rochesterbusinessethics.com.
Nortz can be reached at (585) 260-8960
or james.a.nortz@bausch.com.