PLEASANTON, Calif., March 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Safeway Inc., (NYSE: SWY) announced it has been named one of the 2012 World's Most Ethical Companies (WME) by the Ethisphere Institute. Safeway earned a coveted place on the list by going beyond legal requirements and instituting practices that support a healthy workforce, benefit the public and respect the planet. This is the second time that Safeway has made the prestigious list.
"We are honored to be placed on Ethisphere Institute's list of the World's Most Ethical Companies," said Larree Renda, Safeway Executive Vice President and Chair of the Safeway Foundation. "Maintaining superior business practices is not only instrumental to the company's success, but also benefits our employees, the communities in which we operate and the people we serve each day."
The Ethisphere Institute is a think tank dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability. Each year it selects companies from throughout the world for its prestigious WME list. This year's list of 145 companies will appear in Ethisphere Magazine's Q1 issue.
In its announcement of this year's WME list, Ethisphere Institute said of Safeway and the honorees, "They are the companies who force other companies to follow their leadership or fall behind. These are the companies who use ethical leadership as a profit driver. And each of these companies embodies the true spirit of Ethisphere's credo, "Good. Smart. Business. Profit."
"Safeway represents clear ethical leadership within its industry and in the business world as a whole," said Alex Brigham, Executive Director of the Ethisphere Institute. "We applaud Safeway for maintaining a corporate culture that recognizes that making profits and doing the right thing can and should go hand in hand."
Through a rigorous, multi-step evaluation process, Ethisphere's researchers and analysts reviewed more than 1,000 companies in order to determine the finalists. The methodology includes reviewing each company's ethics and compliance program, as well as evaluating their reputation, leadership, innovation, governance practices, corporate social responsibility initiatives, and culture of ethics.