Video Transcript:

>> Hello. Welcome to the Container Store.

>> What is it about some stores that creates raving fans that swear by them? At the container store, there are now 49 of them across the country. Co-founder and CEO Kip Tindell believes his success is due primarily to one thing.

>> We focus on the employee of the most. Not even the customer. The employee.

>> Wait a minute. Did he say the employee, not the customer?

>> If you take better care of the employee than anybody else, they'll take better care of the customer than anybody else, and then wonderfully and ironically enough, the shareholder will be very happy too.

>> Tindell believes that by paying higher wages, $46,000 on average for sales people, and offering health plans, even to part-time employees. He can create a work environment that generates excitement.

>> You walk in the store and you can feel it. Everybody that's in the store loves to be there. The customers love to be there. The employees love to be there.

>> Awesome. Thanks.

>> Veteran employee, Allison Copeland [phonetic], remembers when she first heard about the company's distinct culture.

>> And I'm thinking, really? Is this for real? And 15 years later, it's absolutely real, still true, and still so alive.

>> Thanks a lot. Have a great day.

>> Newbie Greg Heft [phonetic] has only been with the company six months.

>> Container Store's nothing like any other retailer that I've ever worked for.

>> One big difference is the company's approach in worker hiring and training. Applicants are subjected to up to nine interviews, and only 3% of them are hired. Once on board, they get about 260 hours of training. That's over 30 times the industry average. Tindell says the investment is worth it.

>> When you're selling empty boxes, you better have great people.

>> Of course, the great recession hit retailing especially hard. And the Container Store was not immune.

>> You can't go around calling yourself an employee-first culture then lay people off. So we didn't do that.

>> But benefits were cut.

>> Everybody was very happy to not get 401(k) for a couple years to freeze their salaries, because they knew they were literally saving their fellow workers' jobs. You know team is a really beautiful human experience if it's done right.

>> And now, profits are up and the 401(k) match is back. But Tindell is critical of how other businesses have handled the recession and its aftermath.

>> On average, if you look at the top 50 companies in the United States, how are we doing?

>> C minus, you know.

>> C minus.

>> Tindell's peers have given him an A. This year he was awarded the National Retail Federation's gold medal.

>> I think everybody's becoming a little bit more conscious in the way they do business. I think customers demand it. They vote with their pocketbooks.

>> Tindell calls what he's doing conscious capitalism.

>> We're not just being nice, it's a successful profit strategy, as well.

>> And if it's profitable, maybe the employee focused culture won't be contained to the Container Store.

Answer these questions:

1)Only 3% of those who apply get jobs at the Container Store. Of which of the following selection tools does the company make heavy use according to the video?

Employment tests

Interviews

Employment applications

References

Assessment centers

2)The Container Store provides 260 hours of training for its employees, thirty times the national average. Which of the following best describes training?

It is the evaluation of employees’ current and potential levels of performance to allow managers to make unbiased human resources decisions.

It is the process of gathering information about employees for a position and using that information to choose the most appropriate applicant for that position.

It is the process of preparing managers and others to assume increased responsibility in both present and future positions.

It is the process of teaching operations and technical employees how to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently.

It is the process of acquainting new employees with the organization.

3)After the Container Store forecasts human resources demand and supply, the firm is likely to engage in a systematic procedure for studying positions to determine their various elements and requirements. This is known as

job description.

job specification.

job posting.

job analysis.

Job evaluation

4)During the Great Recession, the Container Store did not resort to eliminating positions or personnel, although many other retailers did. This human resources tool of dealing with the problem of having too many employees is known as

attrition.

a buyout.

a layoff.

firing.

early retirement.