I used to work for Publix, a grocery chain in the south east US. They talk a big game to the new hires that no matter how high up you make it in the company, you’re not too high to do the tasks of the entry level employees. You’ll even see the CEO in some of the stores in Lakeland, Florida. I’ve always felt it was for show because all you’ll ever see anyone in a management position do is bag groceries. There could be a dozen other tasks that need doing that would take priority, but don’t worry, you have time to do those things because the guys making 6 figures are on bagger duty.
Be real, how many jobs do you trust a suit to be able to figure out? Do you really want one of them behind an electric pallet jack?
No, but cleaning up the disgusting public bathroom is doable
I didn’t mention in my original post but the company only hires within, meaning that every single person within the company started at an entry level position, many of them did operate pallet jacks. Every suit that did come and pretend to look like they were working hard did do that job at one point. I think that’s what made it even more infuriating to me
A couple of night stock shifts would be good for them.
The CEO of Publix is a piece of shit. Fuck that guy.
This is obviously a good idea. I don’t want to complain or discourage it, but those 8 hours should include at least some customer-facing work. No fair hiding in the manager’s office or stockroom all day - which is not to suggest that working in the stockroom is easier. In many ways, it’s harder, but it does lack one crucial element of retail.
If they really want to “bridge the gap”, they need a firsthand understanding of the hell that is customer service.
If they want to bridge the gap they need to go out there more than once a year and the rest of the staff including managers shouldn’t know they’re corporate. Otherwise they’re just larping to feel better about being in corpo and to say they’ve done it all.
I’m not opposed to the idea, but it’s just PR. Taking a day off of a cushy six-figure exec job to play retail worker for a day is nothing at all like actually working retail because you have no other choice
Maybe if it was a week of swing shifts?
Oh cool, it’s the corporate version of those people who cosplay as homeless by “living on the streets” for a week
Or its to emphasise where you actually make your money. A lot of people in offices far away from where the money is earned end up making up convoluted versions of reality to fit their processes, applications and such. Making everyone do a day on the floor of the business emphasizes that this part of the business is key.
It can be done the right way too. My wife’s company does something similar and it helps a lot with how the back office thinks of processes. They also are encouraged to use these informal contacts to check new things they imagine would be helpful. They have scrapped entire projects after collecting feedback and running fields tests this way. At the same time their front line feels they can actually provide feedback that is heard.
