Attracting, developing, and retaining top talent is one of Burlington’s primary growth strategies because we know that our success depends on cultivating an engaged and motivated workforce. Our goal is to create an environment where associates are focused on driving results and everyone feels welcome and empowered to build a career.

Engaging Our Associates:
Since 2011, Burlington has conducted an annual Your Voice Associate Engagement Survey with our entire associate population. This is one of the most important activities in our organization as it provides valuable feedback and helps us understand where we are succeeding and where we have opportunities to improve.

Because of the work we have done through the survey process, Burlington’s overall associate engagement levels have increased 7 out of the last 8 years and now exceed the retail norm, according to our survey administrator.

In addition to supporting our associates, strong engagement supports our business because we recognize the connection between higher engagement scores and higher levels of performance.

Associate Values:
To support engagement and fortify our culture, in 2015 we launched our value proposition “Our Burlington.” Centered on five tenets, “Our Burlington” defines who we are as an employer, what’s important to us as a team, and it guides us toward becoming an even stronger competitor in the off-price channel.

“Our Burlington”

• We are an off-price retailer
• We live by our core values
• We believe everyone matters
• We win together
• We are a caring company

Diversity and Inclusion at Burlington: We are proud that we have created an inclusive environment which has attracted a diverse workforce that is 75% female and 71% people of color. We strive to cultivate an environment where every associate feels valued, respected, and included. With that in mind, we established two Inclusion & Diversity Councils (one for stores/field, one for corporate/DC teams). These councils include a wide range of associates who meet throughout the year to explore and expand our understanding and respect for each other’s differences.

Learning and Growing at Burlington: We want our associates to achieve their greatest potential and build fulfilling and meaningful careers. Therefore, each year we promote many associates to new and more complex levels of responsibility across our organization. To help us continue “building our bench” we offer learning programs that provide associates with in-person, online, and individual learning programs. These include:

Leadership Engagement & Development (LEAD): The Leadership Engagement and Development Program (LEAD) is designed to help develop the skills of high potential store managers and assistant store managers at Burlington. LEAD helps prepare our leaders to take on greater areas of responsibility within the organization. 

Leading@Burlington (L@B): Leading @ Burlington (L@B) offers a year-round approach to leadership development, with blended learning experiences in each series, including instructor-led sessions, recommended eLearning, publication sharing, leadership tips and tricks, podcasts, and more. L@B is for our corporate and distribution center supervisors, managers, and directors.

Assistant Buyer Training: This on-the-job training program takes the newest members of our merchant team through a 12-week program that includes instructor led training, market visits, courses in business acumen and negotiation, and shadowing. After completing the program, these assistant buyers are ready to begin a dynamic and progressive career path in Burlington’s growing merchant organization.

Awards and Recognition: In 2018, for the third consecutive year, Burlington was certified as a Great Place to Work by the global people analytics and consulting firm, Great Place to Work® Institute.  Also in 2018, Great Place to Work and FORTUNE honored Burlington for the second year in a row as one of the Best Workplaces for Women, Best Workplaces in Retail, and Best Workplaces for Diversity.

Locally Burlington was recognized as a Top Workplace in the Philadelphia Region by Philly.com (powered by the Inquirer and Daily News newspapers).

These honors are especially important because they reflect our employees' unwavering commitment to drive our growth strategies and deliver results in a supportive, collaborative and inclusive working environment.

Internal Recognition: Burlington has a number of ways we recognize associates, including in the stores, the corporate offices, and in our distribution centers. Our recognition vehicles include peer to peer, manager to associate, and corporate to associate. Below are two of our most successful programs:

Brags: Each week we receive more than 500 Brags submitted by associates to celebrate each other. Brags recognize outstanding contributions, adherence to our core values, and collaboration amongst our teams. All Brags are posted to our intranet and official Brag certificates are sent to associates in their store or corporate location.

CEO Awards: The highest form of recognition at Burlington is the coveted CEO Award. Distributed quarterly to associates in the stores, distribution centers, and corporate locations, the CEO Award recognizes associates who have gone above and beyond to drive results and impact the business. The awards are given out at a formal luncheon hosted by our CEO, Tom Kingsbury, and the entire senior leadership team.