"Employee First and Customer's Second" is the way to go!

This week blog post’s is about my critical response to the Wegman’s Supermarket case study. I will be responding to the questions asked in detail and thoroughly. Wegman’s has provided not only great customer services through their products and groceries, but also giving the employees the best benefits. They were treated through the family leadership and it shows why they make the Fortune’s 2016 list of “Best Place to Work”. Please, continue below to see my responses.

1. Summarize Wegmans’ case based on the following statement “Employees First, Customers Second”. Provide your critical opinion about the case.

· Reading the article on Wegman’s values based off empathy and family values makes it a different place to work at. When we read the statement, “Employees First, Customers Second”, it confuses you. But, when we really think about it, employees are the key to success, productivity, and innovation. They are the foundation that describes the culture of the company. “And when employees say management genuinely seeks and responds to suggestions and ideas, they are 14 times more likely to think their workplace is innovative (and four times more likely to think it’s a great place to work)”. (Bush and Tkaczyk, 2019) For example, if the employee is not treated well or the ideas are ignored, they become less productive and uninterested in their work. That will affect the company negatively. In addition, if the employee is unhappy and the customer can see that they will not shop or use the company resources especially built for them. Wegman’s approach that employees be first shows that their management and employees are a tight knit group of individuals who not only care for their customers but for each other. Empathy needs to be instilled in every company because then we are all viewed and treated as human beings. And, adding the family values makes it even harder for every customer and employee to not appreciate or respect that. Therefore, the idea of employees first tells us that Wegman’s considers them humans first and family second because after all, blood doesn’t make you a relative, you have to build the family yourself.

2. How much influence does the Wegman family’s leadership have over the company’s culture?

. The leadership in the company shows how well everyone is taken care of. The employees are offered best health and dental coverage, 401K retirement plans and scholarships programs to support their young employees through their education. This culture of going up and helping the employees by supporting them through financial and health troubles shows that they are and will be well taken care of. This also directly focuses on how their culture is positive because their needs are taken care of. There is no strain to their mental, emotional health therefore, both the management and employees are happy. Furthermore, Wegman’s family leadership promotes the importance that management considers them as family. When you are considered as a family member first and employee second, you want to work for the company. You enjoy and appreciate the aspect of well trained and considerate leadership. The company culture becomes diverse and innovation is promoted.

3. Do you think this approach could work in other grocery chains? How about other industries?

· Yes, I do believe that Wegman’s approach can work and excel in other groceries since Wegman’s itself is a supermarket. We always hear about poor or bad customer service in Walmart because some employees are not trained enough to handle the agitated or frustrated customer. Also, the employees are not appreciated enough or cared for by their employers or management. Using the “employees first, and customer second approach” can make a great difference because employees would love to come and work there. Other industries like healthcare cannot facilitate that into their companies because healthcare is about the patients. However, changing the management dynamics and culture to promote better advantages for the employees like the medical staff could help in lowering stress and suicides among the peers. Furthermore, factories cannot use that approach since it’s an assembly line approach. Workers only work in an assembly line and report to their superiors.

4. Indeed.com is a job site search engine that allows employees to rate their current and past employees. Go to Wegmans reviews’ page on Indeed and read the last 20 reviews. Copy/paste each review in a word cloud. Then, save or do a screenshot of the word cloud and copy this in a word with your answers. Provide a critical opinion about this mini-research, for example, discuss, what kind of keywords are most relevant? What employees value most about Wegmans? Are there any bad reviews? If so, what they are about?

· The most frequent words used in the reviews were “great place to work” and “flexible hours”. When we think about Wegman’s, the quality of the work environment should be consistent with their belief of “employee’s first”. The last 20 reviews on the page had the variations or both a great place to work and some posts that painted the supermarket in a bad way. Moreover, the employees that loved working at the store were happy is providing the best customer service because they were happy to work there. They were offered great benefits like retirement plans, flexibility in schedules and management was both understanding and appreciative. On the other hand, some of the negative reviews highlighted one of the issues with the store that they didn’t have enough full-time positions available. That in turn made it harder for some to get raving benefits most employees talk about. There were a few who didn’t like the management and complained about how they do not follow the core values of the company. In additions, they were also upset with customers response and behavior towards them that played a role on quitting the workforce. As result, this mini research showed that there are employees who have concerns and complains about the organization but, many of the shining reviews makes the company still a “Best Place to Work” according to Fortune’ 2016 list.

Finally, the answers above provided, will help with the overview why many employees should to work in Wegman's. The supermarket not only helps with flexibility in schedules, pay and health care insurance, but also provides the customers with services that keeps them both loyal and eager to shop. Wegman's is the new approach in future organizations' because they have found the key to success and stability that drives their innovation.

Resources:

Bush, M., & Tkaczyk, C. (2019, March 13). How Every Company Can Inspire All Employees to Drive Innovation. Retrieved October 11, 2019, from https://fortune.com/2019/02/14/100-best-companies-2019-innovation/.