News

Great Harvest Bread Company wins democratic workplace award

April 25, 2011

Great Harvest Franchising Inc. has been named a winner of the WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces global award sponsored by WorldBlu, a company specializing in democracy in the workplace. It's the fifth time the company has been recognized with this award.

The announcement came as part of the fifth annual Democracy in the Workplace Day earlier this month. For-profit and non-profit organizations from across the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Haiti, Mexico, the United Kingdom, India, the Netherlands and Malaysia made the list. Industries such as aerospace, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, technology, telecommunications, media and retail were recognized for representing more than $15 billion in combined annual sales.

Mike Ferretti, CEO of Great Harvest Bread Company, said he believes a democratic business model gives a company a competitive advantage.

“Democratic workplaces have more flexibility in addressing all kinds of issues,” Ferretti said. “At Great Harvest we own issues together by sharing a tremendous amount of information. This allows us to view and evaluate all the little pieces that make up big issues.”

To be considered for the Worldblu recognition, businesses are evaluated using 10 democratic principles, including transparency, dialogue, listening, integrity, accountability and leadership.