Family & Staff
"Don’t blame your employer if your salary does not suit
you. He’s giving you a chance; dig in and make good. When you are
worth more he will give you more."
~ Book of Rules ~
Since the mid 1890s, the Anderson family has been prominent in the social and commercial life of St. Thomas, Ontario, with extensive involvement in community fund raising and other philanthropic ventures, church activities, the arts, sporting events, and the operation of one of the city's iconic business establishments and principal employers, Andersons Limited.
In particular, the Anderson family were widely recognized as exemplary employers. Highlights of the relationship between the Anderson family and the larger family of store employees include:
Extraordinary loyalty – many of the original staff who joined the store in 1896 remained as employees for more than 30 years;
Beginning in 1920, senior employees were actively involved in directing the store’s operation as members of the Andersons Limited Board of Directors;
Robert Marshall Anderson was one of the first businessmen in Ontario to implement a 40-hour work week for employees;
In 1946, Donald Hume Anderson established an extremely generous employee pension plan;
Employees were treated as part of a family and included in numerous store anniversary and other events, and were routinely honoured for achieving professional and personal milestones.
To learn more, read a brief history of the Anderson family and explore a gallery of images featuring the Anderson family and store staff.
