Goals and progress
Employees | Overview
When asked where they work, more than 134,000 people around the world can say, “Gap Inc.” We want them to say it with pride. It’s our intent to create a workplace culture that encourages every individual to: “ Wear your passion.”
Every week, 100,000 Gap Inc. employees interact with more than 14 million customers in our stores. And behind the scenes, thousands of employees are committed to making those customer interactions the best possible. We see each of these touch points as an opportunity to strengthen our relationships with our customers and each other.
As we entered 2007, we were at a crossroads. Business results were down. We knew we needed to reconnect with our customers. As we sought to turn our business around, restructuring the organization — with a focus on empowering our brands and divisions to make the best decisions to support their business — became a leading priority. We also tried to simplify our work across the company and manage costs.
Throughout this time, we attempted to reach out to our employees with frequent and candid communications. Managers were encouraged to keep employees updated on our progress as we clarified roles and responsibilities.
Good communication is a two-way street. Gap Inc. employees have an important voice; they’re the source of most of the company’s best ideas. To that end, in 2008, we reached out to 100,000 of our employees worldwide with a survey, asking them to share their thoughts on their work environment.
The survey had a respectable 68 percent response rate, which helped us get a pulse on what our employees think about working here. Overall, 77 percent of respondents considered Gap Inc. to be “a great place to work,” compared to the retail norm of 61 percent — and a 9 percent increase over a similar survey done in 2007. In addition, nearly 70 percent said that, overall, they were satisfied with their jobs, 7 percent above the retail norm — and a 5 percent increase over the 2007 survey.
The survey also confirmed that we still had some work to do, particularly in the areas of career growth and development opportunities for our employees. Sixty-seven percent expressed a favorable view of our career development and professional growth practices, but we’d like to see this number increase. This continues to be a priority.
