Wonder who's leaving ? Fresh leads? Floor leads? There's alot of leads right now
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I have been a fresh lead and I still do everything that involves HMS. I order, organize the truck and i am food safety certified. I keep the area clean as I go and keep the cases clean not to mention still have to prepare the food. Our club is #4 in sales in the Northeast. The only thing the team lead does in my club is make pizzas at the cafe and cant pass the food cerification. So yes. I feel this position is unnecessary. We need more more associates and less leads.
A few years ago bakery was in charge of cafe it isn't a new concept. The meat lead is right beside hms in almost all clubs they could easily watch both areas when fully staffed.... And if someone needs a lead to make sure they are keeping the food safe then that is a person that needs to be moved out of a production area. However with all that being said I agree produce would be the easiest to move. Though having worked produce for six years now I can say the workload is often underestimated by those on the outside. Even the fresh managers, at least in my store, don't appreciate all that the produce lead is expected to do. Of course that may just be that produce/FCD has never been fully staffed in our store. Not in the six years I have worked here. The produce lead is scheduled as a stocker at least three days a week and is expected to keep on top of everybody and all the projects on the other two days.
I don’t disagree that Produce, Freezer/cooler & deli could go to grocery because it is simply date rotation and stocking. I do disagree that removing the Prepared Lead and adding more associates to that area is the answer. Associates don’t follow food safety standards without oversight. I don’t believe Sam’s Club wants to be in the business of making members sick.... I also disagree that Bakery could assume another area. Bakery is a high volume production area that needs dedicated lead support. If prepared foods was the least important lead it would be the lowest paid fresh lead position...but, it’s not...produce is.
Yeah those departments can be busy and need a hand, but that doesn't mean they need a lead. All it means is they need more staffing.
I have been a lead for the past 4 years. I have done merchandising lead, front end lead, and lastly prepared food lead. In my opinion, the PFL is the most difficult lead position in the whole club. The cafe is constantly needing assistance and HMS/Roto can never keep up. Funny people think it’s unnecessary.
I will agree there is a lot to learn and keep up on, and is a big job in understaffed stores. However if a fresh lead was to go away it would be either the prepared foods lead or the produce lead. Bakery can take back over cafe and meat department can watch rotisserie and hms. Produce and freezer would go to a floor lead if it dissapeared.
Prepared foods lead is hardly unnecessary. Are you food service certified? Do you feed hundreds of people a day? Do you know Ecolab standards? Unless you work in that position, you have no idea how many moving parts it takes to prepare fresh meals. Before you determine a position is unnecessary, I suggest, you try it for one day. I look forward to reading your remarks after you Give it a go.
My guess would be prepared foods lead. Unnecessary position.
Maybe no leads at all...
Maybe it's the multiple salaried positions where you have 2 (or 3) managers with the exact same job title... 🤔