WASHINGTON, DC — October 7, 2004 — In recognition of superior training and human resource initiatives, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) presented the 2004 Maximizing People Potential Award to Raley’s for the company’s comprehensive “Store Director Readiness Program.” The award is presented annually to a retailer or wholesaler that develops an initiative that improves the performance of employees or leads to achievement of a key business goal.
     

“This year’s initiatives demonstrated creativity, innovation and impressive value,” said Kimberly Roberts, senior manager, education programs, FMI. “FMI is thrilled to acknowledge Raley’s commitment to quality training programs and continued development of its employees, and to share the program with other FMI members.”
     

Award submissions were judged on three categories: 1) impact on workplace learning and performance, 2) return on investment, and 3) minimal use of outside products. Submissions were narrowed down to three finalists and presented to attendees of the recent FMI Human Resources/Training & Development Conference in New Orleans, LA. Attendees voted for the most outstanding program and the winner was announced at an awards dinner.
     

Raley’s winning program was designed to identify and train exceptional assistant store directors so that they would be fully equipped to assume store director positions in the future. The program encompassed a variety of learning opportunities, including:

• Term Project — A term project titled “Sell-A-Grand/Save-A-Grand” was assigned to all participants at the beginning of the program. Each participant was asked to develop both a selling initiative and a cost reduction initiative that would that would result in a thousand dollars of incremental sales and a thousand dollars saved on an expenses item. The initiative was a huge success and exceeded expectations, bringing in $115,000 in incremental sales and expense reductions.




• Leadership Development — Two program days were devoted completely to leadership development. The first of these days included classroom instruction on the management model “Situational Leadership II.” On the second day, each participant was given the DISC Profile Assessment and instruction on building an Individual Development Plan.




• Workshops — Raley’s own experts — department managers, directors and vice presidents — led workshops on a variety of topics, including sales planning, perishable marketing, advertising, energy management, employee relations and legal issues in retail. One major workshop highlight was the program’s kickoff session, where the president/CEO and COO of the company discussed the importance of lifelong learning and leadership.




• On-the-Job Training — A training manual filled with learning objectives and training assignments covering all the functional areas of the store was given to each program participant for completion. This training was initiative-based and it was the participant’s responsibility to determine how to complete the training.




• Facility Tours — Field trips to Raley’s support facilities — including a large distribution center, a production bakery, a cabinet shop, a product recovery center and a state-of-the-art central-fill pharmacy — were coordinated in order to teach participants about the various operations. Participants took guided tours of the facilities, with each tour ending in a question-and-answer session.

     

“Raley's is honored that FMI recognized our training initiative for assistant store directors,” said Doug Shorey, senior training manager, Raley's. “This is an area we identified as a priority, and we put a lot of effort into making the program a top-notch vehicle for meeting our company's leadership needs and for recognizing individuals who we believe will be our next generation of store directors.”

The runners-up for the award were:

• BI-LO, LLC, Mauldin, SC — The “Diversity at BI-LO” initiative was constructed to create, maintain and lead the company’s strategic process for managing diversity. The program focused on six areas in order to meet the company’s diversity mission statement: an individual development program, a diversity roundtable and affinity groups, youth education programs, workforce retention initiatives, supplier diversity and ethnic community relations.




• SUPERVALU — Shop ‘n Save (Pittsburgh Division) — The company’s “Winning in Perishables” program was designed to transform associates into produce experts. It was divided into two eight-hour sessions that focused on produce science, product care and handling, produce identification and customer service, as well as the management functions that affect sales, gross profit and expenses.

     

Raley’s, based in Sacramento, CA, will receive a trophy, use of the “Maxx” award logo and recognition on the FMI Web site.
     

For more information on FMI’s Maximizing People Potential Award, please contact Kimberly Roberts (202-220-0720, kroberts@fmi.org).