What retailer pays their employees 50-100% more than average? What company figured out that it only takes one great employee to do the work of 3 good employees? What business holds between 5-8 interviews with the same candidate before offering a job? What retailer trains new store clerks for 262 hours, in the first year, while the rest of the industry spends an average of 12? What retailer is highly proactive when it comes to employee retention ideas?
You would be correct if you answered The Container Store. The business was started with one store in TX in 1978. Today, they have more than fifty stores. Early on the partner/principles figured out that if you want outstanding customer experiences, the path of least resistance is outstanding, loyal, dedicated people who love coming to work every day.
So, what has the creation of this culture/business proven after thirty three years of using this mode? CEO Kip Tindell will be the first to tell you that the model is very dynamic, never static and always changing. The chain of stores has made Fortune Magazine’s list of ‘Best Places to Work” year after year for the past eleven years. Perhaps that’s why they lead the industry in low employee turnover.
CEO Kendall reminds us not to create a culture like this for altruistic reasons. However, the evidence suggests that with an average growth in value of more than 26%, year after year, The Container Store 1) is a place that values employee retention ideas; & 2) I can’t wait to experience that store as a shopper. With their plan to open their 50th store in Charlotte, NC, I won’t have to wait much longer.
Buy the way, cultures this refined and successful are not limited to B2C.
If you’d like to know what it takes to move a business from being good to being great, let me know, I’d be happy to explain how it can be done. Additionally, there are more than 200 examples of this kind of thinking in my books UpStream & Getting the Fish to Swim to YOU & Keeping Them In YOUR Boat. These are books for business professionals (like YOU) interested in ideas to grow your business. CLICK HERE.
