The Benefits of
Your Benefits Plan
GETTING DIRECT FEEDBACK FROM THE DIVERSE ELEMENTS OF YOUR
WORKFORCE WILL HELP YOU CREATE AN OPTIMUM BENEFITS PLAN
By Joel Kranc
With 15,000 employees spread throughout the
country, Best Buy has its human resources work
cut out for it. To make things even more compli-cated,
HR is tasked with addressing the needs of
four talent pools – employees of Best Buy, employees of Future
Shop, distribution warehouse workers and corporate head
office employees. Drilling that even further, Future Shop em-ployees
are commission-based whereas Best Buy employees are
paid hourly rates.
benefits
When it comes to providing benefits to manage a workforce
that dynamic, Best Buy has much to think about. And because
retail can be fast moving, the company has asked itself some im-portant
questions about benefits.
“With our very decentralized structure, how do we help em-ployees
cope with some of the everyday things they face?” said
Kelly Cardwell, director of HR at Best Buy.
In 2008, the company went through total rewards focus groups
in each of its four categories and began overhauling its benefits
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HRPATODAY.CA ❚ JULY/AUGUST 2014 ❚ 39