Greater Toronto's Top Employers (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 98
98
( 2025 )
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Loblaw’s care for its people supports its business
W
hat struck Melanie
Singh in the head
office of Loblaw
Companies Ltd.
15 years ago was the feel of the
Brampton Ont. building. “I had
come for the first time for an
interview, and I hadn’t yet spoken
to one person,” says Singh, now
Loblaw’s president, hard discount
division. “But even as I walked in, I
felt an energy here, and I thought,
heck, this is a place I’d like to
work.”
That first impression only
solidified when Singh met the
people at Loblaw and encountered
a welcoming workplace culture
– marked by numerous career
opportunities and training programs – that she decided made it
as much a people business within
its ranks as it was without in its
2,500 retail locations.
“There is energy and
opportunity all right, but what
is critical for me is I get to be
myself every day,” says Singh, who
emigrated from Guyana as a child.
“I don’t look like everybody else,
and I don’t behave like everybody
else, but I get to be who I am, and
so does everybody in this building,
which I think is a tremendous
testament to the culture that we’ve
built.”
Singh’s story resonates with that
of Loblaws store manager Adrian
Dziewiecki, a 20-year Loblaw
veteran, who came to Richmond
Hill, Ont. from Poland when
he was six. By 16 he was, in his
own words, “pushing carts” for
the local Loblaw store, work he
continued while attending college
with an eye on becoming a police
officer.
“Then Loblaws asked me to
become a general merchandise
manager – housewares and
kitchenware – when I was 20,”
Dziewiecki says. “By 25, I was a
store manager. I had a very good
mentor, my district manager at the
time, and I guess he saw potential,
and sent me on a 10-week training
course.”
For both Dziewiecki and Singh,
care for their colleagues is the key
element in maintaining Loblaw
customer satisfaction among
the 60,000 people who come to
the downtown Toronto Loblaws
store Dziewiecki manages and
the six million who visit the 500
discount stores in Singh’s division
every week. “The most important
part of having a successful store
where the customer has a great
experience is the colleagues,” says
Dziewiecki.
“The investment in time
and training we put into
our colleagues determines
the customer experience,
because customers have a
far better experience with
workers who are valued.”
— Adrian Dziewiecki
Loblaws Store Manager
Adrian Dziewiecki, store manager, at Loblaw Companies.
For Singh, whose leadership
team is located across Canada,
getting together on a daily basis
is significant. “We do it through
regular phone and video calls,
conferences and face-to-meetings
that we have throughout the year,
all part of attending to our core
cultural values of integrity, respect
and openness,” Singh says.
At the store level, says
Dziewiecki, the focus is on
engagement, retention and the
overall culture. “Loblaw has
been working for years to build
a workplace of diversity, equity,
inclusion, and investing time and
training from the very start of
