Robert and Dorothy Tracy founded an ingredient supplier company in 1960 in Mount Sterling, Illinois, which is about two hours north of St. Louis.
“Dad figured out that, after having 12 kids, he better acknowledge his wife, and so he named the business after Dorothy Tracy,” said John Tracy, their son and CEO of Dot Foods Inc. “That’s what Dot stands for.”
The couple put together a business that was a “consolidator” to the dairy industry and ice-cream manufacturers. By 1980, Dot Foods had hit $20 million in revenue, and then ultimately grew into the nation’s first and largest food industry redistributor. Now, Dot Foods does an estimated $6.2 billion in revenue a year, with 10 distribution centers that serve all 50 states and 25 countries and delivers more than 112,000 food products.
Eleven of the 12 Tracy children have worked full-time for the company.
John said inclusion is among the core principles that his parents left behind for him and his siblings to carry on.
“Not only is it a core value of the business, but it’s also a way to remain competitive in the world,” John said. “We need to make sure that we have the ability to recruit from the widest target population of talent as possible. The only way you can do that is to make sure you have an open and inclusive environment that’s attractive to the entire talent pool.”
On Thursday, November 17, Dot Foods will receive the 2016 Corporate Diversity Award at the St. Louis American Foundation’s Salute to Excellence in Business Networking & Awards Luncheon.
Dot leaders have a motto, “If it’s important to the business, you better measure it,” John said. About 10 years ago, the company began tracking diversity and inclusion at the company.
“Like a lot of companies, we haven’t made as much progress as we’d have liked to,” he said.
Dot has more than 5,000 total employees, which includes both full-time and part-time. The total full-time hourly and salaried employees number just over 4,500. Of that 4,500, 551 are minority men, 100 are minority women and 839 are white females. White men make up 67 percent of their full-time hourly and salaried workforce.
Dot’s leadership make up is 61 percent white males and 39 percent diverse leaders. Diverse leaders are further broken out to reflect 34 percent women and 5 percent minorities.
“Turnover is a challenge for any group at most organizations,” John said, “but we understand the additional barriers that may make turnover higher for some employee groups.”
Since 2006, Dot has intentionally focused on ways to reduce “separations” by introducing the New Employee Ambassador programs, flexible work arrangements and employee resource groups. In 2006, turnover for women was at 20 percent; today it is at 27 percent. Conversely, minority turnover was also at 20 percent in 2006, but today it is at 0.
Aside from tracking inclusion numbers, John said they also measure inclusion through surveys, exit interviews, focus groups and discussions among their diversity leadership council. The most important thing they’ve learned is that bias is a part of daily life, John said.
“We all have it,” John said. “It’s a question of if we understand it and can we mitigate it. It affects us in our hiring and promoting process.”
With that in mind, they have launched a mandatory bias training for managers.
“It’s been a powerful learning tool for us,” he said. “How we make decisions every day will have bias in it if we don’t understand what we have and how we can mitigate it.”
The 17th Annual Salute to Excellence in Business Awards & Networking Luncheon will be held Thursday, November 17 at the Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis, with a networking reception at 11 a.m. and luncheon program at noon. Tickets are $100 for VIP/Preferred seating, $75 for general admission. Call 314-533-8000 or visitwww.stlamerican.com for more information or to purchase tickets.
