washington business
“If you can help them grow as a person when
they’re with you, that’s important to me.”
— Human Resources Manager Gina Lopez
workers to 36 hours per week, instead of 40, but they didn’t lay off a single
employee. They also were able to keep benefit levels stable.
Lopez and Sanow understand that many of their store employees won’t
stay at Ag Supply Co. forever, so they want to help prepare them for their
next job — perhaps at an Ace store in the town where they go on to college.
Where some employers might see this as a problem, Ag Supply views it as
vital word-of-mouth advertising: They hope former employees will spread
the word that Ag Supply is a good place to work.
“Let’s help them grow while they’re with us,” Lopez said.
As Ag Supply enters its ninth decade, the cooperative is thriving thanks to
a simple focus on the customers who are also its owners. That’s the philosophy that gave birth to the company during the depths of the Great Depression
and the motivating spirit as it looks ahead at serving its community for many
decades to come.
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