Do You Know Darden?

Darden Corporate Headquarters, Lakeland, FL

A few words about the restaurant giant Darden Restaurants. If you've patronized Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorns or Capitol Grille, you've eaten in a Darden owned restaurant.

Darden seems to be engaging in some egregious employee practices. See here and here. Seems par for the course; yet another company short changing their employees.

"I'm convinced that the only edge we have on our competition is the quality of our employees as reflected each day by the job they do."- Bill Darden, Founder

Mr. Darden's words seem contradictory given the charges leveled by advocacy groups in recent months. Check out the video below.

For more insight read this NY Times interview with Darden's CEO, Clarence Otis Jr.(an African-American) in 2009. See his philosophy on hiring employees. He stated "it's less and less about getting the work done, but more and more about building a team..." So Darden wants to build a team by paying them low wages and cutting hours to avoid paying healthcare benefits?

The employees are the most valuable commodity a business has. Without them there would essentially be no company! Employees deserve respect! They're not just employees, but human beings working for wages to provide for themselves and their families.

Companies should give employees what they need most; competitive compensation to allow a sustainable living, affordable health benefits, sick time, vacation time, a company wide matching savings plan and a chance for vertical promotion.

It's less and less about getting the work done, it's more and more about respecting your employees that's part of your team. Take care of them.