The corporate culture at Trader Joe’s is one of accountability, loyalty, and success, with each employee being made accountable for his/her actions. Indeed, it is uncommon to see employees going out of their way to engage customers in friendly conversations that are aimed at informing them of new products and promote the existing ones.
The staff at Trader Joe’s engage in these conversations without being pushed by anyone, an observation that the author attributes to the rigorous recruitment and training methods employed by the firm, together with good remuneration packages, that result into employees becoming loyal to the firm (Chatman & Jehn, 1994). Consequently, they exhibit a level of loyalty that is non-existent in most retail firms.
The motivation techniques Trader Joe’s uses to gain a competitive advantage over other companies in the grocery or specialty industry include giving employees a wage and benefits package that is typically far more competitive than its competitors. This strategy has seen the firm attract a high-quality staff that strives to ensure a customer returns to the store.
Secondly, Trader Joe’s has created a culture of success that is non-existent among most competitors. The environment at Trader Joe’s is one in which jobs are assigned on a systematic basis and a place where employees’ opinions are respected and talents are nurtured.
Generally, the gap between the management, supervisors, and the rest of the employees at the firm is almost non-existent, unlike other firms in which junior employees are downtrodden and look for any means to get out. Trader Joe’s has also put in place stringent measures in the recruitment and training of its staff.
The company also takes good care of its staff through recognition of employees’ performance, treating them with respect and dignity, ensuring that they enjoy their work, and offering them flexibility to engage in other part-time activities, such as studies.
Corporate Culture
Changing the corporate culture at Trader Joe’s would be difficult because the culture has become so deeply rooted that it is almost associated with the company. As an example, the company has taken lead among competitors in aspects such as the way it treats its staff, from recruitment, training, remuneration, and other benefits, in addition to the way it treats its customers.
This culture has subsequently led to its success in the highly competitive supermarket industry even when other similar firms are registering losses and downsizing. In a way, the culture at Trader Joe’s has contributed to its success on a large margin and to change it would be difficult as it would affect its performance on a number of fronts (Huselid, 1995).
A reason why Trader Joe’s might choose to change in the future would be due to rising overhead costs, rising operational costs and increased competition in the supermarket industry. Having known the secret to Trader Joe’s’ success, competitors may emulate this culture, or even develop a culture that is far much better than that at Trader Joe’s (McShane & Glinow, 2009).
This strategy could lead to a steady decline in sales that could force a change of corporate culture. Besides, costs accrued by the firm may rise to an extent that it might scale down on aspects that have helped it to achieve its current status, such as staff training, staff wages and benefits package, and general appreciation of its staff’s hard work through various initiatives.
This could in turn reduce employee productivity thereby affecting sales, consequently, a corporate culture change would be required to ensure that the firm continues its current trend.
Culture Changes
The culture at Trader Joe’s continues to work for the organization despite the many changes in the company over the years because it has maintained certain practices over the years that are universally known to lead to success in any organization. For instance, one of the core characteristics of the culture at the firm is employee loyalty.
Employee loyalty is known to be a success formula in many service industries as it directly translates into increased sales and customer loyalty.
Therefore, by ensuring employee loyalty through practices such as meticulous recruitment and training processes, offering competitive wages and benefits, and giving staff some flexibility, the firm has ensured that its staff remains loyal and this has resulted into its success over the years. This culture has adapted to the company as it grew over the years.
The company culture seemed to adapt at the company as it grew over time because as the company expanded, new staff that was brought in adopted to the culture that was already existing at the company, hence the culture adapted at the company irrespective of the numerous changes.
Further expansions and changes resulted into the culture becoming so entrenched in the company that it became a force that could not be altered in a simple manner. The culture adapted suitably to the changes and has remained relevant over the years.
Employee Motivational Strategies
Some of the employee motivational strategies/theories that Trader Joe’s implements in its culture are: offering competitive wages and benefits package such as making contributions to the employees’ retirement fund, creating a harmonious and enjoyable working environment, recognizing employees for doing good work, ensuring that communication paths between supervisors and junior employees are clear, nurturing employees’ talents, and offering its staff opportunities for advancement of careers (Lewis, 2005).
None of these strategies can be said to be the most effective, however, they have all worked jointly towards enhancing employee loyalty, consequently leading to the success of the company.
These strategies would be effective and would support my needs as an employee because of the several benefits the employee derives, not necessarily in monetary value. Employees need a positive working environment so that they can have the motivation to undertake their duties (Ramlall, 2004). A stressing or repressive environment reduces work morale and this in turn affects the output of the workforce.
The environment and culture that exists at Trader Joe’s can be termed as positive and hence effective in supporting the needs of an employee in a number of ways. First, almost all of us take up jobs so that we can meet our expenditures and have extra money for other activities. This area is well catered for by Trader Joe’s due to their competitive pay packages.
The company also offers a path for career advancement, a process that would increase one’s wages.
However, money is not always everything: benefits such as provision of a harmonious working environment, appreciation/recognition of employee efforts, and establishing clear communication channels would serve to create a positive working environment and make an employee look forward to coming to work each day.
These motivations transform work into fun and this is evidenced by the warm and receptive manner in which staff engages customers at Trader Joe’s.
References
Chatman, J. A., and Jehn, K. A. (1994). Assessing the relationship between industry characteristics and organizational culture: How different can you be? Academy of Management Journal, 37(3), 522-553.
Huselid, M. A. (1995).The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity, and Corporate Financial Performance. The Academy of Management Journal, 38(3), 635-672.
Lewis, L. (2005). Trader Joe’s Adventure. Chicago, IL: Dearborn Trade Publishing.
McShane, S., and Glinow, M. (2009). Organizational Behavior (5th ed.). NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Ramlall, S. (2004).A Review of Employee Motivation Theories and their Implications for Employee Retention within Organizations. Journal of American Academy of Business, 5(1), 52-63.