Jul 31, 2018 by: Foodstuffs

AON Hewitt has named Four Square among the best employers in Australia and New Zealand.

AON Hewitt has given Four Square (North Island) the Best Employer Accreditation for organisations that achieve high engagement scores and outstanding people practices. Only 10 organisations win this accolade every year, out of more than 150 across Australia and New Zealand who use AON Hewitt for their engagement surveys.

Chris Quin, CEO Foodstuffs North Island says, “This is a huge achievement and everyone in the team can be really proud. It shows our Four Square Store Owners are creating meaningful and engaging employment opportunities in their communities; opportunities to learn and grow and to have the job you want, where you want to be. This is reflected in the ongoing success of this iconic part of our business.”

176 Four Square supermarkets in the North Island serve millions of customers each year in some of New Zealand’s most beautiful and even remote places. Stocking everything from boat bits to fresh panini, sushi and legs of lamb, the Four Square team keeps New Zealanders and visitors well-fed and watered, and on the go, day in, day out.

Quin says, “We’ll take this fantastic result and work on topping this in 2019. We say that our Four Square loyalty programme is “we’re nice to you, you come back”, and this extends to our team. Ensuring Four Square is a great place to work means we attract the best people to help meet our customers’ needs, every day, everywhere Kiwis are.”

How Four Square won:

• Four Square achieved an 84% engagement score, ahead of AON Hewitt’s benchmark of 81%. Four Square also hit 90% participation, up from 38% last year;
• AON Hewitt invited stores that beat the benchmark to do an extensive report of their people practices, where engagement sits in the strategy and what they’ve done to reach high levels of engagement;
• Chris Quin and Wendy Hammonds, GM People and Capability Foodstuffs North Island were interviewed by AON Hewitt to find out more about how Foodstuffs do engagement in stores and as a co-operative;
• The final step was to present all the information to an AON Hewitt panel who then decided who deserved the prestigious award.