Unless you live in the American south, as I do, you probably haven’t heard of Publix. Though operating in only 5 states thus far, the supermarket chain is one of the biggest and fastest-growing companies in the country. Like most profitable firms, you might expect them to be engaging in the same sort of exploitative and shady practices that have seemingly become the norm nowadays (indeed, most of the nation’s low-wage workers are employed in large, profitable corporations).
Rather, not only does Publix pretty much do the opposite of competing firms such as Walmart, but it’s reaping dividends from it. As AddictingInfo.org reports:
Publix is an employee owned corporation…if the company does well, then the employees do well. This gives your average employee of Publix a stake in improving the companies bottom line, thanks to regular dividends. They do this by retaining customers, through excellent customer service. Even Forbes magazine has come to recognize that the Publix business model is a ‘Walmart Slayer.’ And to add to the fears of the Beast of Bentonville, Publix is expanding into new markets, just as other companies are copying the Publix model.
Publix, through its focus on its staff and customer service, is able to beat Walmart’s shareholder returns, with a compound growth of 18% per year, as opposed to Walmart’s 10.5%. Of course, Walmart is a publicly traded company, while Publix is owned by its employees, so if someone wishes to invest in Publix, they would first need to begin working for Publix, and their rate of ownership is based on their wages. This encourages the hardest workers, those who dedicate themselves to the company, giving them a real stake in the company as they labor.”
Furthermore, Publix isn’t just scraping buy — it’s pretty much been flourishing on this model.
One may think that Walmart may operate a higher profit margin, but then they would be wrong. Forbes covers how Publix has a net profit margin of 5.6%, far higher than Walmart’s 3.8%.
So not only is investing in your workers obviously more human, but it makes good business sense too. This is something I’ve been saying for years, especially given my own experiences working in the retail section. Far too often, I saw talented workers quit or underperform due to a lack of morale stemming from low pay and poor treatment. With workers having few alternatives in post-recession America, many firms and their low-wage workers are stuck with each other, creating long-term problems in terms of customer service and efficiency. In any case, it should be intuitive that happy and healthy people make for more productivity. The fact that firms don’t seem to realize this — or simply care — says a lot about corporate culture in America.
Needless to say, this is one reason I’ve always liked shopping at Publix. It helps that each store always seems well-staffed and not soul-crushingly demoralized. I’m sure the company has it’s problems, but as far as corporations go nowadays, it’s got most things right. It’s also yet more evidence for the merit of employee-owned and operated companies, such as cooperatives and Workers’ Self-Directed Enterprises. Though Publix doesn’t go anywhere near as far as these ideas, the fact that it succeeds at a halfway point suggests that the model is promising.
As always, share your own thoughts and considerations.
Sarvodaya 
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