Motivated employees at Trader Joe's

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Motivated employees at Trader Joe’s

Not wanting other companies to know its secrets to success, Trader Joe's, a quirky speciality grocery chain in the US is tight-lipped about how it wins the souls of its employees. However, industry analysts, former employees and a professor who has studied the company opened up for Workforce Management magazine.

It seems that the glue that holds together Trader Joe's business model is generous pay and benefits, backed up by a carefully crafted system of hiring, training and performance reviews. "But how these elements play out at Trader Joe's is in many ways a distinct departure form the rest of the grocery business and in some ways a little wacky," writes Irwin Speizer.

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Title: "Shopper's special", by Irwin Speizer, Workforce Management, September 2004.

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