Celebrating Diversity and Supporting Inclusivity within Our Stores

We have a diverse set of associates and communities. To celebrate that, we recently launched the following name badge options supporting inclusivity and communication between our associates and customers.

Associates have the option to…

• Include their pronouns
• Display another language spoken (besides English) and ways to communicate on a badge attachment, including American Sign Language and various hearing abilities (through the ADA process)

Since launch….

• More than 400 language (or form of communication) badge attachments have been ordered
• Over 100 associates have chosen to include their pronouns on their badge!

“We have shared both options with our associates,” said Qua‘Letta, Human Resources Assistant Store Manager, Metro Market Brookfield, who chose to include her pronouns on her badge: she/her.

“We support Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at store level by managing unconscious bias, we support a diverse workplace, and it creates open communication between me and my associates. We let everyone be who they are. We have a lot of different people, different cultures; anybody can provide their input.”

“Having pronouns on my name badge as the store leader indicates that I support a safe work environment for the trans, gender diverse, and non-binary associates and customers,” stated Jason, Store Director, who leads the team at Metro Market Brookfield and added his pronouns: he/him. “It is important to me that we normalize this conversation and what better way to start the process than to put pronouns on our name badges.”

Wency, Drug-GM Department Leader, Pick ‘n Save Deforest has his language displayed: Tagalog!

Since having Tagalog displayed on his badge, Wency has been approached by several Filipino customers who he can provide service to and partake in conversation! He likes that shoppers feel comfortable approaching him for assistance and that fellow associates can direct customers to him as needed.

Another associate Stacy, Customer Service Manager, Pick ‘n Save Columbus, added pronouns in support of her child.

“I chose to use the pronouns she/her because I have a transgender child,” shared Stacy. “About three years ago, our then daughter told us that she was feeling her internal self as being male. It was difficult at first but now that we understand, we are proud to say we have a boy.”

“He has a graphic design degree from MATC and is attending UW Whitewater where he is getting his BA in video game/media arts. Our son has support from everyone in our family and we are excited to see what amazing things he will do!”

This is a snapshot of the many reasons why these options are important to our associates who’ve chosen to include either (or both) on their badge, and we appreciate these four for sharing!

Next time you shop in-store, keep a lookout on associate name badges as these options just might be a resource for you (or someone you know) when interacting with our associates!