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Best workplace in the U.S.
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December 28, 2000: 1:06 p.m. ET
The Container Store tops Fortune Magazine's list for second year
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - When Kip Tindell and Garrett Boone opened their first retail store in 1978, the pair of entrepreneurs wanted to sell great stuff, while creating a different kind of corporate culture – one that respects and values its employees.
In both respects, the Container Store is a bona fide success story. With $35,000 from friends and family, Tindell and Boone opened the first of their shops devoted to storage products in Dallas. Since then the chain has grown steadily to 22 big box stores and a national mail-order business in 22 years. The company expects about $237 million in sales for the year 2000.
More interesting, perhaps, is that Tindell and Boone have managed to  maintain a fiercely loyal workforce in the intensely fickle retail sector. Turnover among the company's 2,000 employees historically runs between 15 and 25 percent, compared to 100 percent in the retail industry generally.
Enthusiastic employees, many of whom are career employees of the Container Store, are the reason the company has been named, for the second year in a row, the best company to work for in the United States by Fortune magazine.
Why do they love it so much? Simply put, 97 percent of the employees surveyed by Fortune had this to say about the Container Store: "People care about each other here."
Happy employees make a successful company
Fortune's annual ranking of the best companies to work for is largely employee-driven, with two-thirds of the scoring based on the answers employees give on the Great Place to Work Trust Index, an anonymous survey that evaluates trust in management, pride in work and camaraderie.
Both Tindell and Boone had long careers in retail before launching their own  unique concept. They met in 1969 when Tindell, then in high school, took a job as a salesperson in Montgomery Ward's paint department. The two later worked together at Storehouse, a chain of furniture stores in Austin, Texas, where Boone was a regional manager and Tindell worked while in college at the University of Texas.
For nearly a decade, the two kicked around ideas for their own business and finally landed on the Container Store concept, selling items that would help their customers organize their lives and, consequently, save time. At the time they were developing a business plan, they were also busy creating a set of principles -- what they have now dubbed a "do unto others" business philosophy -- that would make their employees feel committed both to superior customer service and to the company.
Early on, they recognized that they had to do much more than pay lip service to valuing their employees. The Container Store's employees would be paid better, 50 to 100 percent better, than employees at other retail outfits. They would also have benefits far beyond those available to other retail employees. (258KB WAV) (258KB AIF)
The overall success of The Container Store is intricately linked to the quality of the company's workforce, Tindell said Thursday on CNNfn's "Market Call" program.
"If you believe, as we do, that one great person in terms of business productivity is worth three good people, well then, it makes good sense to go ahead and pay somebody twice what somebody else would," Tindell said. "The company wins because its getting three times the productivity at two times the cost, the employee wins and, most importantly, the customer wins."
A never-ending journey
Creating a happy and productive workplace is a never-ending journey, according to Tindell and Boone, who continually work toward making the benefits of being an employee at the Container Store better with each successful year.
This year, for example, the Container Store was able to offer employees two additional days off, added two weeks to the available maternity leave, bringing the total to eight weeks of paid leave.
The company also upgraded the vacation policy so that employees now get to take off three weeks a year after three years with the company. The old policy was they had to serve five years with the company before taking off three weeks. It also reduced the time employees had to wait to participate in the company's 401k plan from one year to six months.
Industry observers also credit several intangible benefits with the retailer's success. Employees are trusted to create solutions on their own for customers' problems rather than forcing them to refer to a log of written rules about customer service.
The company also has created an atmosphere of inclusion because it shares all corporate information including expansion plans and financial documents with all employees. The company also sponsors its own form of continuing education that trains employees who have been with the company at least a year and want to advance their career. 
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The Container Store
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