RETRIBUTION OR REWARD
I recently was talking with a person who works for a large grocery store chain which is a competitor of Publix Supermarkets, one of my clients. As anyone in the Southeastern part of the country knows, Publix is famous for its customer service and also for its focus on its employees. In fact, the mantra of the founder, Mr. George, is “Publix will be a little better place or not quite as good because of you.” Each employee is encouraged to take ownership and pride in his or her work in the stores.
On the other hand, this person shared with me that when the competitive chain was recently holding town hall meetings to determine a change in brand, the employees suggested “service” could be their differentiator. The answer from corporate was, “Oh, no, we can’t do that. Publix already has that nailed!” Can you imagine – a grocery chain that does not care about service?
In our conversation I also found out that, at least according to this management employee, the chain does not care much about its people either. She said that if anyone is caught “grazing” or taking anything from stock, they are immediately fired or fined, so there are constant threats and surveillance and fear throughout the store.
Publix, on the other hand, gives a quarterly bonus to every employee based on shrinkage or inventory control. The lower the loss, the higher the bonus. Notice the difference: One organization watches for someone doing something wrong while the other rewards those who are doing something right! Which one do you believe motivates employees to do their best?
For more interesting observations and answers to your workplace questions, go to www.barbaraglanz.com/questions.
