Employee Benefits

An important part of our mission is meeting the needs and aspirations of our employees, above and beyond what’s required. This creates an environment where everyone can thrive. In addition to offering a robust package of medical, dental, and vision benefits, we also offer incentives for wellness activities, including health assessments, bodyfat/BMI screening, and a walking program. In the FY ’08 Great Place To Work® Trust Index®, 86% of all employees agreed “we have special and unique benefits.”

Here are a few:

• Source Trips: In 1992, we began sending employees on “source trips” to coffee-growing communities in Latin America as a way to help employees learn more about coffee. Since then, source trips have become a way for us to reward employees for their tenure or outstanding performance, to build teamwork, and to provide employees with the opportunity to directly experience coffee from “tree-to-cup.”  In FY ’09, we sent approximately 35 employees on three different trips to Mexico, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. 
• Tuition Assistance: We pay up to $3,000 per year for tuition, books, equipment, or fees for work-related classes for our employees. In FY ’09, 57 employees utilized our tuition assistance program for a total benefit of $63,957 (as compared to 44 employees and a total benefit of $63,272 in FY ’08). 
• GMCR Scholarship Program: In FY ’09, we awarded twelve $2,000 scholarships — which are selected by a neutral third party, Scholarship Management Services — for post-secondary education in college and vocational programs for the children of full-time employees from all Business Units who have at least one year of service with our company. 
• Adoption Assistance: We reimburse eligible adoption expenses incurred by fulltime employees from all Business Units, up to $4,500 for each adoption per family for up to two adoptions. Eligible expenses include adoption agency fees, placement fees, lawyers’ fees and other required legal fees. No employees took advantage of this benefit in FY ’09. 
• Employee Stock Purchase Program: Employees from all Business Units are eligible to participate in our Employee Stock Purchase Plan, which allows employees to use payroll deductions over a six month period to purchase GMCR stock at a 15% discount to the market price on the first or last day of the program, whichever is lower. This program is offered twice a year. 
• Profit Sharing Plan: Within the Specialty Coffee Business Unit, we share profits with employees on an annual basis, subject to the achievement of profitability goals. This builds a spirit of ownership within the company and increases understanding of our business model. 
• Retirement Plans: Our 401(k) plan provides an opportunity for full-time employees to defer up to 100% of their compensation before taxes, subject to federal limits on annual 401(k) plan contributions. The company matches 50% (up to 6% of the deferral) and offers approximately 48 different mutual fund options for employee investment, including eight socially responsible mutual funds. In FY ’09, 1,082 employees from all Business Units (75% of our full-time employees) participated in our 401(k) program, as compared to 947 employees in FY ’08 (88% of our full-time employees).