At the recent New York State SHRM Conference in Vernon, New York, Chris Beato, Wegmans Manager of HR Practices and Compliance, talked about the HR practices that brought Wegmans­--a Rochester-based grocery chain with 71 stores and 35,000 employees in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland­--to its position of honor.

One item on Wegmans' grocery list for success is its refusal to go into "policy overdrive." "A policy is only as good as the paper it's printed on," says Beato. "We don't want to have stringent policies that try to address every possible situation because we recognize that employees are individuals and their situations are unique." The company's absence policy, for example, comprises three bullet points. Period. "Other absence policies go on for five pages," Beato says.

Doesn't such a loose policy make for disparate treatment? Beato says it doesn't ? and the reason is that Wegmans has at least one HR staffer in each of its 71 stores. Most grocery chains, he says, have HR folks in the regional offices, responsible for as many as 10 to 12 stores, but not in the field, where the rubber hits the road. The role of the employee rep in each store is to be able to look at employees as individuals, but also to ensure consistent treatment. "They work for consistency in their stores and their regional divisions, and I make sure there's consistency across all regions."

Viewing employees as individuals is another part of Wegmans' corporate culture. "Our people philosophy has five components: caring, high standards, making a difference, respect, and empowerment," says Beato. And it's not just a nice statement tucked away in a computer file. "We weave it into the employee culture. We talk about it at meetings. All our communications refer to it, and our quarterly newsletter regularly features stories exemplifying at least one aspect of the philosophy." One fairly recent example of making a difference in the community is the fact that in the wakes of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year, the company sent employees for Red Cross training and paid their salary when they were deployed for hurricane relief in hard-hit regions.

That people-centered attitude takes its place alongside hard cash. "We're constantly revisiting our compensation and benefits," Beato says. "We have comprehensive health coverage for full and part-timers, a generous retirement plan, and an employee scholarship competition, among others.

"We put employees first, customers second," says Beato.