A few months ago, Tony Kline received a package in the mail that came as a shock: the 5-year Geek Squad badge of his colleague, Bob Luthardt.
While Tony immediately planned to send the badge back, Bob included a note that explained there was no one more deserving of his badge. The two have never met in person, but they’ve developed a bond over the years that Bob says saved his life.
“Tony persevered with me when no one else would,” Bob said.
Best Buy has earned a perfect score of 100% on the Disability Equality Index (DEI), ranking among the leading companies on the list of Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion for the seventh year in a row.
The DEI is a benchmarking tool used by Fortune 1000 companies to better understand how they can achieve disability inclusion and equality. The index measures culture and leadership, companywide access, community engagement, supplier diversity, recruitment, benefits, and employee retention and advancement.
More than 61 million adults in the U.S.
Best Buy has long focused on providing mental health resources to support our employees, and those efforts have only increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the past year, we have increased our investment in this area by introducing new benefits and expanding existing ones. It’s a big commitment for us year-round, not just during Mental Health Awareness Month in May.
Mental health is an integral piece of our focus on our employees’ overall well-being — physical, mental, financial and work/life — as we work toward our goal of being one of the best employers in the U.S.
On Caitlin Waugh’s second day as general manager of a Best Buy store in Portland, Oregon, one of her employees told her they wanted to take their own life.
Needless to say, it was an eye-opening experience for her.
“In that moment, I realized I wasn’t really equipped with the skills to navigate these conversations,” Caitlin said.
Thankfully, she was able to help the employee through the crisis, but she knew a situation like this could happen again with someone else.
Warning: This post discusses depression and suicide.
TJ Ellis is no stranger to struggle.
His grandma raised him, but she died from breast cancer when he was 11. After that, he couch-surfed so he wouldn’t have to sleep in the back of his mom’s van. At 16, he juggled school with a full-time job. And at 19, feeling overwhelmed and alone, he tried to take his own life.
Now the general manager of a Best Buy store in suburban Seattle, TJ uses those life experiences to shape how he cares for his employees — especially the ones with whom he can empathize.
Warning: This post discusses depression and suicide.
Ric knew something was wrong when everything he used to love—like playing his guitar, listening to music and watching movies—started to feel off. Nothing clicked for him anymore. He felt stuck and was considering suicide.
“I had planned out different ways of doing it. I just wasn’t happy. I just felt like I wasn’t needed,” said Ric, a longtime Best Buy employee.
Thankfully, as his depression became unbearable, Ric reached out to his wife and she got him some help.