Home Depot 2007 Annual Report Download - page 7

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 7 of the 2007 Home Depot annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 91

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91

OUR ASSOCIATES
When our customers shop at The Home Depot, we know they expect a high level of customer service by
knowledgeable and engaged associates. We are reinforcing that level of customer service by improving how we
attract, recognize and reward, and train our associates.
We revised our compensation structure to make sure we recognize and reward great customer service and
performance in a tough selling environment. In the stores, we reintroduced our Homer Badge program, our on-
the-spot recognition badges for excellent customer service. We also awarded restricted stock for assistant store
managers – roughly 10,000 associates - in order to give them a greater sense of ownership in their store and its
success. Finally, we changed the threshold for Success Sharing, an incentive program for our hourly associates
driven by individual store performance, to recognize the hard work of our associates in this tough environment.
These changes allowed twice as many associates to earn a bonus compared to the previous year.
This year we introduced Master Trade Specialists, a new role in our store, staffed exclusively with licensed
plumbing or electrical professionals. These specialists are better able to help customers with their plumbing
and electrical projects and help train other associates. Through bi-weekly conference calls with our plumbing
and electrical merchants, they also help us better assort stores with merchandise that matches local building
codes and requirements.
Through these efforts, we have lowered associate attrition compared to the previous year and improved the
customer experience in all major classifications of our “Voice of the Customer” surveys. Most importantly, we
are investing for the long term in our most valuable assets, our associates, so they can exceed our customers’
expectations.
072007 ANNUAL REPORT
Our Master Trade
Specialists share their
knowledge in the aisles
and our in-store clinics.