Healthy eating for children
Culture
Careers
Learning and diversity
OUR PEOPLE
more than 1,100 products. The company aims to provide
healthy, responsible and tasty products in all main food and
drinks categories.
Also in 2005, ICA launched the Gott liv range, another
initiative designed to provide customers with clear
information on levels of fat, sugar, salt, and fiber in food.
Gott liv has rapidly become one of the largest private brand
ranges in Sweden, making healthy food a simple, affordable
choice for ICA customers.
Giant-Carlisle's new store in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, offers
a ground-breaking approach to health and wellness.
The store has full-time nutritionists on hand to answer
customer questions and a health food department - Nature's
Promise Marketplace - that stocks more than 3,400 natural
and organic products. The newly-launched Nature's Promise
range can also be found at our other stores in the United
States. The Camp Hill store also includes a cooking school
where customers can learn how to prepare healthy meals
and a community center, where local partners provide
exercise classes and health education services.
In addition, Ahold's U.S. retailers are supporting the
Department of Agriculture's My Pyramid program, an
interactive guidance system that helps customers choose and
prepare healthier food. Store offerings include a brochure
with recipes, menu plans and shopping lists, in-store radio
announcements, and a Stop Shop weekly circular.
U.S. Foodservice is contributing to the promotion of health
and well-being by partnering with restaurants, schools and
hospitals to help develop healthy menu options.
In Hypernova stores in Slovakia and the Czech Republic,
Ahold Central Europe has launched Healthy 5, a program of
learning activities for children. Developed with the support
of the World Health Organization, the project aims to inform
and inspire schoolchildren about the need to eat five
portions of fruit and vegetables every day.
Taken together, these initiatives, and many more, underline
our growing role in encouraging a healthy lifestyle for our
current, and future, customers.
customers. Their expertise, knowledge of the business, and
commitment are key to Ahold's success.
We aim to attract and retain the best talent and create an
environment that encourages innovation. Our core values
provide the basis for how we work together. These values are
helping us build a strong culture and guide decision-making
and the way we handle dilemmas. For example, we have
included these in the way we manage the performance
criteria of our employees and plan their careers.
One of our priorities is to develop talent within the company
through challenging assignments, targeted training, and
rewards based on performance. The majority of our
vacancies are filled by internal promotion. We recruit
externally to bring in additional skills, perspectives and
experience.
Our management development practices, at all levels,
encourage employees to grow within the company.
Career progression is based on an employees' capability,
performance and behavior consistent with our core values.
We focus on developing staff to ensure we have the right
management potential to meet our future needs, with
particular emphasis on areas that are strategically
important.
We value diversity and are committed to developing our
people and giving them opportunities to grow. This is
essential for Ahold to compete in the ever-changing food
retail and foodservice environment. We have launched a
company-wide initiative to become a 'learning organization'.
We are also increasing the number of international
assignments for employees to broaden their perspectives,
unify the organization, and share best practices. We are
putting processes and systems in place that increase
collaboration throughout our company. Training and
development programs across Ahold are being aligned to
develop our core capabilities as a competitive advantage for
the group.
We employ approximately 247,000 people, most of whom
have direct contact with our customers. Internally, we refer
to our employees as 'associates' reflecting their role as
partners in achieving our objectives and serving our
AHOLD ANNUAL REPORT 2005 13
