Wegmans Food Markets Inc

One of the largest privately owned grocery chains in the United States, Wegmans Food Markets Inc. is headquartered in Gates, New York. It was established by Rochester in 1916, and it has been named one of Fortune's "100 Best Firms"' top ten best companies. The corporation employs 47,000 people and competes in the industry market. The business earned $8.3 B in total sales during the 2016 fiscal year. Additionally, the business has 92 outlets in a variety of regions, including Virginia, the mid-Atlantic, and New England (Ezzedeen, Hyde & Laurin, 2006). Wholes Food Market in the other hand is a United States supermarket chain dealing with foods without artificial flavors, colors, preservatives as well as any hydrogenated fats. The company was founded by Craig Weller, Ronee Hardy Lawson's Safeway Store and John Mackey (Fung et al., 2016). The above companies merged on 20th September 1980 to form the first Whole Food Market Store located Austin which is also the company's headquarters. Whole Food maintains several natural and organic food supermarkets in America, United Kingdom as well as Canada. Some of its products include snacks, beverages, pantry staples as well as eco-scaling cleaning products among others. By 2017, the company had 87,000 employees and total revenue of $15.82 B. Just like Wegmans Food Market the company operates within the food industry.
Hiring and Recruitment
The two companies share a common belief that where food comes from and the way it's grown matters a lot. This means ensuring quality standards as well as hiring qualified employees. For instance, Whole Food hires only the trusted people who have entrepreneurial and self-aware skills (Townsend, 2007).Additionally, the company hires employees with effective communication skills mainly when it comes to the department dealing with customer service, cashiers as well as concierge services. Wholes Food recruits candidates through different means and channels like social media platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook as well as Google Plus. The only unusual process during Wholes Food's hiring process is that unlike in other companies it is not mandatory to have a degree for one to qualify for any level of work.
Wegmans Food Market hires employees who understand their strengths and weaknesses. The company partners with great universities like the Stanford University which provides fresh graduates to be recruited. Different job titles have different qualifications in Wegmans Company. For instance, a cashier needs to have minimum physical requirements, should be able to handle different transactions at all times and should have a positive attitude (Ezzedeen, Hyde & Laurin, 2006). They should also be able to offer undivided attention to every customer. When it comes to management jobs, the applicants should have at least two years of experience related to the work requirements. The major unusual step during the hiring process is that managers need to have a certified purchaser license which is not the case in most of the food markets in America.
Diversity within the Companies
The competitiveness and success of a company depend on its unique ability to embrace diversity and to realize its numerous benefits. On the one hand, the diversity mission of Whole Food Market is to develop a working environment where motivated employees can succeed and flourish to their highest potential (Fung et al., 2016).Women within the company represent 44 percent of the workforce, and the minorities represent the same percent. The protected classes are also well represented as the company offers domestic-partners benefits to same-sex couples.
On the other hand, Wegmans maintains the belief that diversity inspires innovations as well as new ways of thinking. The starting point for the company's diversity is listening and respecting other people's perspectives and ideas. The company has employees from over 50 different cultures and age spanning from 15 to 96. Additionally, every employee is given equal opportunities for success which enables them to grow attains their goals and objectives (Hinkin & Tracey, 2010). The company highly considers the protected group as it extends its diversity to the active guards' veterans as well as reserves in the national military branches. The company assists the military members as well as their family transitions to the civilian life.
Training, Development, and Retention
When it comes to training, Whole Food Markets has a regional trainer in each of its different chains charged with the role of overseeing the orientation as well as training of new and existing team members (Fung et al., 2016). Additionally, some in-store educators and trainers also train the recruits. After the hiring process, the company provides the employees with the necessary tools and information with aims of boosting their skills. The employees and the recruits are also given leadership classes which provide them the required practical knowledge in different fundamental skills and insights into personal and work challenges as well as ways of dealing with them. The company retains employees as it offers fair and equal chances to promotions and in-job training. Additionally, the employees are given a chance to develop their skills to the fullest with the help of existing leaders and mentors. Whole Food Market maintains a low employee turnover rate of about 20 % which amounts to around one worker per store per week. In case of any separation, the company clears the employee's salary arrears, so the separation is done peacefully.
Wegmans Food Market on the other hand recruits employees with unique perspectives. A video clip is mainly attached to the company's training and recruitment websites offering information related to training, employee empowerment as well as development. The company's commitment to training is demonstrated by the investment in a sizable training staff. Every region has a trainer and overseer who train the recruits. The regional trainers always screen the applicants for skills match and later referred to departmental leaders for interviews (Hinkin & Tracey, 2010).The new employees are supposed to work for one to three months on a team which later approves or rejects the candidate. The new staff is assigned to different mentors who help them to adapt to the new working environment. The company can retain employees as it provides competitive benefits packages the meets the needs of each one of them. The packages include health insurances, retirement-savings plans as well as life insurances. Additionally, the company uses incentives and contests which help in keeping workers motivated, focused and excited about their jobs. The rate of employee turnover is relatively low in the company as most of the employees are satisfied with the working conditions as well as the remuneration offered. Separation is done effectively as employees are free to resign or leave their jobs following the company's procedures.
Compensation and Benefits
Whole Food Market provides employees with different compensation and benefits packages. For instance, the company offers health saving accounts that cover the expenses of deductibles as well as any other out-of-pocket medical costs (Sahota, 2009).Additionally, the company provides competitive starting wages that are based on the position of an employee. Every team member is also eligible for gain-sharing where the members receive financial rewards based on program parameters. Moreover, it is the company's culture to hold company-wide benefit vote where team members weigh in on the type of benefits essential to them. Discretionary benefits are available which include the 401K as well as numerous health insurances. The company also offers flexible benefits like flexible spending accounts used by employees to pay medical and dependent care costs.
Wegmans Food Market also provides its employees with different compensation and benefits. For instance, the company offers paid health insurances, retirement benefit plans, paid time off, as well as dependent care reimbursement accounts. The employees are also provided with discretionary benefits including 401K saving plan helping employees to defer a certain percentage of annual compensations on a pretax basis into different investments funds (Sahota, 2009).Additionally, the company provides short-term disability plans, where employees are paid up to $300.00 weekly for 13 weeks following a disability due to illnesses, childbirth or accidents. The employees also enjoy seven paid holidays every year. Other compensation packages include comprehensive medical, vision as well as dental coverage that involve prescription drug benefits. The flexible benefits offered by the company allow employees to choose their physicians from a wide panel of health care providers.
The compensation and benefit plans employed by the two companies compare to the industry norms in many ways. To start with the programs are in line with the compensation and benefit principle that states that the total employee compensation should be more than the sum of benefits and wages. Additionally, both programs comprise of the three major parts:
Benefits
Base wage and various monetary compensations
Non-monetary and recognition compensation
Employee and Labor Relations
Both companies have labor unions, but the relationships between the union and the non-union workers are not always good. Each side has been charged with allegations of some dirty tactics. The animosity arises when either side believes that the companies' favor one side while forgetting and mistreating the other side on different grounds (Townsend, 2007).However, the unions help in campaigning for higher salaries as well as efficient working hours and conditions. In most cases, the concessions increase the prices which create a bad feeling between the labor union campaigns and the management.
Global HR Management
The two companies have a global presence. For instance, Whole Food Market has entered the global market opening branches in countries like Brazil, Canada, United Kingdom as well as Italy. The company also has different global programs aimed at giving back to the community. The programs include the Whole Plane Foundation that aims at poverty alleviation in third world countries where the company sources its products.
Wegmans food Market in 1993 opened its first store outside of New York State which is located in Erie, Pennsylvania. Later on, the chain extended eastwards opening five more stores with the last one located in Allentown (Sahota, 2009).The company has now moved to New Jersey where it has opened stores in West Windsor Township.
The companies have different policies addressing international employees such as ensuring equal opportunities for men and women as well as maintaining a safe and conducive working environment. Other policies include the recognition of fundamental rights like freedom of associations and discrimination. When it comes to hiring and recruitment process, the companies maintain policies that allow a fair competition for all positions through an open application of equitable evaluation criteria. The policies are not different from those guiding employees in America.

References
Ezzedeen, S. R., Hyde, C. M., & Laurin, K. R. (2006). Is Strategic Human Resource Management Socially Responsible? The Case of Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 18(4), 295-307.
Fung, H., Geng, C., Kim, E., Zhou, W., Zou, M., & Sheppard, J. (2016). Whole Foods Market.
Hinkin, T. R., & Tracey, J. B. (2010). What makes it so great? An analysis of human resources practices among Fortune's best companies to work for. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 51(2), 158-170.
Sahota, A. (2009). The global market for organic food and drink. The world of organic agriculture. Statistics and emerging trends, 2009, 59-64.
Townsend, K. (2007). Recruitment, training and turnover: another call centre paradox. Personnel Review, 36(3), 476-490.