We've all dealt with stereotypical retail employee, the cranky working stiff who tolerates customers just enough to collect that meager paycheck. Not so at Costco, where nearly 500 employees have given CEO Craig Jelinek a 92 percent approval rating on Glassdoor.com.
Employee pay has a lot to do with that. Costco pays hourly workers an average of $20.89 an hour, Businessweek reports. That compares to $12.67 an hour for Walmart. And about 88 percent of Costco employees have health insurance from the company.
"I just think people need to make a living wage with health benefits," Jelinek told the magazine. "It also puts more money back into the economy and creates a healthier country. It's really that simple."
About 15 percent of employees are unionized, but you don't see the same type of battles that other companies have with unions. "They are philosophically much better than anyone else I have worked with," a Teamsters executive tells Businessweek.