In the spirit of Labor Day (celebrating work), I thought I’d comment on Paige’s new “labor” since she was hired in August as a Lululemon Educator. Paige’s early interest in the company may have been mostly about the perks (can you blame her?), but it seems like the corporate culture is going to provide for good learning experiences too.
But, back to the perks: yes, Paige will get some great discounts! In fact, Lululemon may be one of those jobs where it’s easy to spend your entire paycheck on merchandise.
In addition to good deals on athletic clothing Paige also gets to attend classes at a bunch of yoga studios for free. Lululemon want their “educators” (aka employees) to wear the gear, try it out, and get it seen in the right scenes (ie. the gyms, etc.). Hence, the company pays for Paige to go to fitness related classes at the company’s expense (now that’s a pretty slick arrangement).
During training, Paige has been impressed by Lululemon’s interest in getting their employees to set goals and to strive to be their very best. When Lululemon opened their first store in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1998 the original slogan was “to elevate the world from medocrity to greatness.” Today the mission statement has evolved to “create components for people to live long, healthy, and fun lives.”
Lululemon Athletica has 7 core values (hey, kind of like the YW Values; although YW's now has 8 since they added Virtue). The educators (that would be Paige) at the company are expected to articulate and embody these values, which are: Quality, Product, Integrity, Balance, Entrepreneurship, Greatness, and Fun. My personal favorites of the Lulu values would have to be balance and integrity.
One last thing I love about the company is the Lululemon Manifesto. The manifesto is inspirational thoughts that are printed on their shopping bags. It’s too long to list all of the maxims but I’ll wrap up my Labor Day blog by posting a couple of my favorite Lululemon quotes below:
“The conscious brain can only hold one thought at a time. Choose a positive thought.”
“Life is full of setbacks. Success is determined by how you handle setbacks.”
“Listen, listen, listen, and then ask strategic questions.” from the Lululemon Manifesto
