At RONA, everyone has a voice to help drive the culture

Growing up in the field of retail and engaging with people gave Marc Macdonald a sense of the meaning of service.

“It is meaningful for our employees that we were open for people during COVID-19,” says Macdonald, senior vice-president, human resources, at RONA. “The culture of service to the community has always been there.”

With its head office in the Greater Montréal Area, RONA has a network of some 450 corporate and affiliated dealer stores from coast to coast under different banners, including RONA, Lowe's, Réno-Dépôt and Dick’s Lumber. They meet the needs of Canada's home improvement DIYers and contractors alike.

Macdonald says RONA employees help Canadians carry out meaningful projects for their homes, and take pride in being part of making dream homes come true. They focus on customer service in the stores and, in return, the company serves its employees well.

One way RONA invests in employees is through its benefits program.

In light of the increased needs for mental health care due to the pandemic, the organization expanded coverage to include more types of mental health-care professionals. It now ranks as one of the best mental health coverage benefits in the Canadian retail industry. And RONA’s retirement plan matches employee RRSP contributions up to four per cent – or five per cent after 10 years of service.

Benefits are only one way RONA makes sure its employees thrive.

“Offering a welcoming environment where everyone feels safe and included has always been a priority,” says Macdonald. This is why the company has doubled down on its equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives over the past years.

The company sponsors business resource groups (BRGs) to influence and drive a more inclusive culture. Women Empowered was launched in 2022 and a Pride BRG will follow in 2023. “This resonates with our teams, who have rated inclusion as one of the best-perceived topics in the annual engagement survey,” says Macdonald.

RONA also offers many opportunities for development. New hires in stores receive 25 hours of training on RONA’s mission and values, service, sales and products – and as their career grows, more training follows.

Louis-Philippe Charland, manager of paid media strategy, is one example of employee growth. Less than three years into his work at the organization, Charland was nominated for a new, advanced leadership program. He joined a team of 45 people from across the enterprise to work through a three-month program customized to the organization’s business context and challenges.

At the end of the program, Charland completed a project and presented it to the senior leadership. Since then, he has led his marketing team through one of the leadership development exercises.

“At RONA, a successful leader is one who knows they are there to support the team,” he says.

Charland is inspired by the mentorship and exposure to senior leadership he has experienced at RONA, including meeting once a month with his vice-president. In fact, there are periodic virtual meetings called “Chat with Cat,” where the whole team meets with the VP of marketing, Catherine Laporte.

“We connect with employees wherever they are,” says Macdonald, who himself goes out to visit stores regularly. Last year, the company held a back-to-school event that included a bingo game and group spinning sessions. And in the summer, RONA held a staff barbeque at its Boucherville head office, where employees had a chance to gather, play games and share ideas on how to improve the work environment on a massive whiteboard, and much more.

“We are not that hierarchical here,” says Macdonald. “We don’t have better ideas because of our title. At RONA, everyone has a voice.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Montreal’s Top Employers winners, published February 28, 2023 in the Montreal Gazette. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.

RONA reduces waste and promotes sustainability

In 2018, RONA became the first major home improvement retailer in Canada to charge customers a fee for plastic bags. In only three years, this resulted in a 62 per cent reduction in store-wide usage — representing the elimination of 34 million plastic bags.

Starting in June 2022, RONA will build on this achievement by progressively withdrawing these bags from its stores altogether – the company is the first in its industry to commit to stop using plastic bags entirely.

“Like all of our sustainability initiatives, what’s so rewarding about this undertaking is that it has a real and tangible impact,” says Jean-Sébastien Lamoureux, RONA senior vice president, RONA affiliates, wholesale, and public affairs. “Everything we do is one more step in contributing to a better environment and society.”

RONA’s sustainability initiatives are focused in three key areas – reducing the environmental footprint of the company’s operations; helping customers reduce their own environmental footprint; and supporting and engaging employees and communities where RONA operates.

The company has embraced an ambitious goal of reducing its overall greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2025, compared to a 2016 baseline. By 2030, the goal is to achieve an overall 60 per cent reduction.

Improving energy efficiency is key to reaching these goals. Since 2019, RONA has invested nearly $30 million in energy efficiency measures. This includes installing business management systems in 173 corporate stores to allow for improved management of lighting needs and temperature fluctuations. It also includes retrofitting 193 corporate stores with LED lighting systems.

RONA encourages recycling by making it easier for customers to drop off products that need careful handling when no longer useful. The items are then safely disposed of or given new life.

In 2021, this program collected 125 tons of household batteries, 1,861 tons of paint and 95 tons of bulbs and fluorescent tubes.

Another major initiative is the ECO pictogram that appears on over 5,000 products identified by RONA as environmentally-friendly alternatives for home improvement or construction projects.

Marie-Ève Charest is a RONA merchandising manager who oversees the selection of products in the lawn and garden area and is committed to bringing in more ECO products to help customers reduce their environmental impact. When she looks at potential ECO products, Charest considers two key questions: does it meet a customer need and does it work? Whenever possible, preference is also given to Canadian-made products.

One product introduced in stores across the country last year that proved particularly popular was a plant fertilizer made with chicken manure. Another recent innovation: offering clover as a substitute or supplement for grass seed, since clover requires less water and tending.

For Charest, finding and distributing these products is a personal as well as professional passion.

“I try out all the products myself,” she says. “My yard and driveway are like a lab.”

She also enjoys visiting stores and talking with associates about promoting eco-friendly products.

“We have many millennials among our staff and a lot of them are just as passionate as I am about this stuff.”

In fact, Lamoureux finds that one of the biggest values RONA derives from its focus on sustainability is employee engagement.

“More than ever, people want to work for a company that connects with their values,” says Lamoureux. “This is something all of our 26,000 associates can take ownership of and feel they are making a positive difference.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Canada's Greenest Employers winners, published April 20, 2022 in The Globe and Mail. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.