Accountant Joan Verhoeven has been awarded the Foodstuffs North Island overall values award for 2018. Verhoeven, who works at Roma Road in Auckland as member accounting services manager, won the ‘Overall’ award at the cooperative’s annual Excellence Awards in recognition of her consistent role-modelling of Foodies’ values. Hundreds of employees were nominated out of 22,000 total teams with just five employees taking home Excellence Awards for the Foodstuffs values.
Verhoeven was praised for her approach that puts members first and tackles challenges positively, and for leading a team that’s engaged, customer-focused and always up for a laugh, despite the high levels of change and challenge they are experiencing.
Foodstuffs North Island CEO Chris Quin said Verhoeven's commitment and dedication was a real asset to the co-operative. “Joan is a role model for the values we promote: she ‘Thinks Customer’ by delivering the information our store owners need to benefit their shoppers; she's ‘In It Together’ with her team and the wider business, and ‘Courageous’ even when faced with weighty challenges; and she's ‘Above the Line’ taking 100 percent responsibility for delivering day in and out and always doing so with a smile.”
Other Foodstuffs North Island employees honoured at the Excellence Awards for value awards included:
- Fleet Compliance OH&S Manager Blair Inglis won the ‘Courageous’ award for bringing about industry-leading road safety standards
- New World Te Rapa general merchandise assistant Tracy Leslie received the ‘Think Customer’ award for consistently going the extra mile for shoppers and colleagues
- Digital technician Chan Tallon earned the ‘Above the Line’ award for delivering great desktop support at Roma Road and doing so with patience and good humour
- Merchandise category assistant Feri Tan took home the ‘In it together’ Award for his team-work on the Supplier Promotions Portal project
