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Whole Foods Best Practices

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Whole Foods Best Practices
Whole Foods Market’s Human Resources Best Practices

Abstract
This paper looks into the Human Resources Best Practices at Whole Foods Market. Specifically, this paper is divided into three different sections which each identify the best practices as they pertain to different focuses. First, employee morale is examined, featuring how Whole Foods Market engages employees through a corporate culture of empowerment, ensuring pay and benefits exceed competitors, interacting with local communities, and through training and development.
Next, corporate wellness programs are examined. Whole Foods’ is focused upon healthy living for its customers and its employees as is evidenced by its programs. These programs focus on wellness and flexible spending accounts, discounts on health insurance premiums for employees who demonstrate high health factors, and in the United Kingdom, a tax-free bicycle leasing program.
Finally, executive compensation is explored. While executive compensation is scrutinized today for executives prospering while nearly 10% of the U.S. workforce is unemployed, Whole Foods’ CEO has taken steps to create a pay environment that is focused on success for all stakeholders. This has been accomplished through executive salary caps, minimizing the salary gap between employees and executives, and even reducing his pay to $1 per year.

Whole Foods Market’s Human Resources Best Practices
Whole Foods Market has taken its place in Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, earning a spot at number 24 for 2011 (CNN, 2011). Some of the reasons cited are a company focus on living a healthy life and discounts for items sold in their stores. However, these seemingly ordinary perks do not add up to being continuously highly ranked as being a great company with which to be employed.
Instead, Whole Foods Market has adopted an entire corporate culture that focuses on shareholders; customers, employees, and communities all prosper from Whole Foods



References: BusinessKnowledgeSource.com. (2010). Illness costs you but good health is free. Retrieved from http://www.businessknowledgesource.com/health/illness_costs_you_but_good_health_is_free_029772.html CNNMoney Environmental Protection Agency. (2010). Cost of illness handbook. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/oppt/coi/pubs/toc.html Gilbert, S Mackey, J. (November, 2 2006). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www2.wholefoodsmarket.com/blogs/jmackey/category/compensation/ Mackey, J McGinn, D. (2005). The green machine. Newsweek. Retrieved from http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2005/03/20/the-green-machine.html Milkovich, G.T., Newman, J.M., Gerhart, B Moskowitz, M. R. (1994). Whole Foods. Business & Society Review (00453609), (89), 68. Neeley, C. R., & Boyd, N. G. (2010). The influence of executive compensation on employee behaviors through precipitating events. Journal of Managerial Issues, 22(4), 546-559. Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P.M. (2010). Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage (7th ed.). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies. O 'Toole, J., & Vogel, D. (2011). Two and a half cheers for conscious capitalism. California Management Review, 53(3), 60-76. The Health Herald. (2010). 25 amazing infographics and studies showing the cost of sickness. Retrieved from http://nursesassistant.org/2010/25-amazing-infographics-and-studies-showing-the-cost-of-sickness/ Wade, J Whole Foods Market. (2011). Career paths. Retrieved from http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/careers/paths.php Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market. (2011). Training and development. Retrieved from http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/careers/training.php Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market. (2011). Whole foods market benefits. Retrieved from http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/careers/benefits_us.php Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market. (2011). Values overview. Retrieved from http://www2.wholefoodsmarket.com/values/corevalues.php#supporting

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