There was a time when Whole Foods thrived and team members were well taken care of...wfm just survives now...and there is no shame in that ...but there is also no plan to take good care of Team members any more...it's not in the current business model...so team member happiness and all that "culture" ...this was allowed to exist only when wfm was the only big player in the game...the halcyon days...that's all over... but wfm will shuffle forward...no more brash walking tall..it's like what happened in Rome...the capital moves to Constantinople and lingers as a shell of its former self for many centuries ...not dreaming of empire..only hoping for survival
21 replies (most recent on top)
I used to have my guys, and myself clopen once every week. with labor and staffing, it was the only way i could give everyone two days off in a row. to me, getting two days off in a row was a personal preference, and everyone else agreed.
I worked for a leading grocery retailer for 18 months after leaving Whole Foods. Clopening was PROHIBITED for reasons of safety and because it hurt productivity and service. The company wanted people to get at least 10 hours of rest between shifts. It was never a problem for the store...and in fact it did ensure that everyone was rested and came in ready to work and take care of the customers. Clopening is what loser companies do that can't or won't schedule properly. It's a cop-out and also it's a power trip. Best thing to do is just say F$#@ no.
A set schedule is certainly doable under ideal circumstances. They're far from ideal right now though.
I'd challenged any TL in the south region right now to write a decent schedule and it not have to change week to week with all the crap going on at the moment. It's a struggle to even get coverage let alone nice set or rotating schedules that ppl are happy with.
That's great that you were able to do that. I bet labor was a different beast then I imagine. It's ridiculous now. I was on a small team, and with regional and stl requirements, every team member clopened once a week. Even the TL and atl. Especially the TL and atl.
And yes, a tm can refuse to clopen that's fine, just don't ever expect any favors from leadership.
back when i was a TL many years ago, i trained my atls, supervisors and team trainers to write the schedule. I gave them all of the requirements for leadership and floor coverage, all of the requests for team members , all of the set availability and labor constraints.. I added 2 of my own expectations, no clopens unless you got a verbal OK from the TM and at least one weekend day off every three weeks.
I encouraged them to make the schedule better and we would review it together to look for gaps in coverage before it was given out and jointly decide on how to fix it. I also had them involved in the discussion when a TM was not happy with their schedule, why and look for switches that could meet needs.. I followed up with them several weeks in and asked if their opinion about writing the schedule and no one ever said it was easy to make the schedule. What it did do is involve the team members in the process to understand everyone has lives and the team got more flexible in switching shifts to help others out and people starting appreciating those that looked out for the team.
I can definitely see that. We have one lifer who thinks he's John's gift to WF that tells the TL how his old store never scheduled him to close because he's such a good stocker. Then we have a college student that strictly closes. My schedule is fairly set, but I usually alternate sat and sun. I'd rather work sat and sun one week, and have both off the next. But that's WF with their stupid work week. One thing I miss about Target.
Every week has different requirements. Yea it would be easy to have a set schedule if ppl didn't whine about closing all the time or opening all the time. Call outs are always a problem.. there's more to it, a lot depends on store leadership too. Ours was constantly messing with our schedule.
I agree, but don't see how TL meetings and call outs affect a schedule. Unless you have a habitual caller, in which case schedule them less.
Because most teams don't have enough ppl, and everyone seems do have days they can't work, and different meeting/requirements week 1 thru week 4, call outs, you name it. There's always something that prevents a set schedule on most teams. It always seems easy till you're the one writing the schedule.
What's the reason for not having a set rotating schedule? Is it really that difficult? Or is it a power trip thing? Or is it because sat and sun of separate weeks are on the same work week?
To be fair, how hard is it to show up to work on time? Some ppl need to grow up, tardiness isn't tolerated anywhere else, why should wfm be different?
That said, I know juggling a constantly changing schedule can be difficult to keep track of. You can't just count on working certain times on certain days. :(
They like to get rid of hard working team members who may occasionally run a little late at times, but they keep the ones who DO NOT DO THEIR JOBS AND ALWAYS CALL OUT. Such a shame I used to be so proud to have worked at wfm and now it's one big sh-- show.
Is it the bags or the printed logo on the bags? Hats with printed logo also are not being ordered, maybe wfm wouldn't need printed logo if a sale is taking place after the holidays.
As a former employee who worked hard, had good numbers and sales were up. Working hard does not always pay off. For over half my life I thought it did. Well, was I wrong!!! Whole Foods you managed to kill that reality for me and a lot of others I know of!!! THANKS A LOT!!!
Wow, Whole Foods you have not disappointed me. You have continued to chop off the hands that fed you. You got rid of a lot of your hardest workers with little or no REASONS. (Of course the fact that a lot were former Wild Oats employees is a little suspicious.) I formerly was such a loyal customer/employee. In the words of one of the sharks, Kevin. Whole Foods you are dead to me!!!!!!!
When lidl comes we will have metro stls. One stl for 2 stores. Makes sense since they never at the store. Their excuse will b i was on my way to the other store n got stuck in trffc. Hah
If we're limping now, what happens when Lidl comes?
Good post..like the historical reference
Free range chickens i hear they take breaks and more than 28 days vacation. They get free organic lunch and are treated with love and respect as team members. They get bonus n not cheated out of it. i wish i was a free range chicken but am just a whole fools employee
Culture is dreads and s---ing up....that won't keep the company alive.
Welcome in the new "work culture" - it's a job thingy that most people in this country have to endure. If you work hard in this culture you will be rewarded. If you slack profusely, bye bye.
This is why many STLs and ASTLs that are not working hard are going to find themselves out the door. Real shared fate based on work.
Labor - THEY are nothing without US.
Well yeah. Culture is a luxury and only important as long as the board or investors is happy. This is normal in an industry full of "non competitive" low wage jobs. Google and sas, in contrast is full of talent they need to attract and keep with incentives and benefits like an awesome work culture.