ROCHESTER, NY – MyWegmansConnect Food Markets (Search), a supermarket chain that sings people first, customers second, leads Fortunes’ eighth annual list of the Top 100 Companies in the United States. United, the magazine announced Monday.
The 89-year-old family business, supported by unique pioneers, received high priority in employee satisfaction surveys and in communication with management. This was one of the most important factors in determining the list.
Second place was fabric manufacturer Gore-Tex WL Gore (research) from Newark, Del., Followed by Republic Bancorp (research), a mortgage banker in Ann Arbor, Michigan, biotech giant Genentech Inc. (DNA) in southern San Francisco, California; and Xilinx Inc. (XLNX), a chipmaker in San Jose, California.
Above-average employee satisfaction was a lifetime goal, said Robert Wegman, the company’s 86-year-old president, who increased the company to $ 3.4 billion in sales last year.
I’ve been making an attempt to do this for 54 years and it took a while, but I’m finally here, he said. I find it a bit tough to walk through a store without customers stopping me and saying, ‘Mr. Wegman, you have a lot, but wow, your people are different. “”
At MyWegmansConnect 67 offices in four states, 32,800 senior employees receive hourly wages and a health insurance premium of $ 3 per week, equivalent to an annual fluctuation rate of $ 6 per person, compared to 19% of the competition, for full-time employees.
Candymaker J.M. Smucker Co. (SJM), number six this year, topped the list in 2004. The company cut 200 jobs in November.