Thread regarding Whole Foods Market Inc. layoffs

"I know Whole Foods is taking a lot of heat at the moment, but I don't think they should." Oh yes they should. They deserve every bit of heat for the irresponsible way they've been running this company into the ground and making this whole situation "necessary". They've had WFM running scared for a few years now and that's a real shame. The WFM brand was incredibly strong and could have carried us, but instead they've been throwing too much money and energy at everything BUT our core essence. And why did we have so many marketing folks and signmakers that now are being purged? Because of all the superficial and unrealistic expectations coming down from the top, and all the STLs kissing up regardless of how reasonable or sustainable the expectations were. Now so many marketers and signmakers are personally paying the price for supporting those unsustainable and superficial demands. Leadership of this company has screwed the pooch over the last few years, flailing about and constantly biting off more than we can chew.

People aren't just upset about the job cuts. (Note: they are job cuts, not layoffs.) We are upset about the way it has been handled. Many people found out about the cuts by seeing it on the news, reading about it on Facebook, reading a notice posted by the time clock, or word of mouth from other TMs. WF has told us over and over that we are different from other companies, better than other companies, and that we take care of our people. We wanted to believe it, but it was all just lies.

It doesn't matter how nice the severance is it was a bad decision! There are a million other ways to cut expenses. These are some of the people most responsible for our stores appearance and reputation. As a grocery tl I can honestly say my dept will not run well after this and that I am ashamed of what I have to do to my loyal honest buyers. And no one at a regional or global level is smart enough to turn this into price cuts. They will try screw up the math and make things worse so at least that's funny!

Everybody needs to grow up and get over it. If the choice was to lay off a few of you to keep the business alive and not have to fire the other 80k of is, then I say it was a good idea. This could have been a lot worse. How do you think Walmart would have handled it? No severance and no 8 weeks pay. If you put all of your trust in a for-profit company to take care of you without any kind of backup plan then you're a fool anyway.

I didnt expect severence either...

I was braced for whatever may come after 3 days of panic when i heard about fl then it hit sw today.

And here we are.

An insomniac again. No access to my healthcare or medicine after tomorrow due to cost.

They bled us dry.

They stole hopes, ideals and dreams

Passion..

Creativity...

But most of all they took love

and corrupted it.

I didn't expect a severance. I expected a company that employs so many wonderfully creative and exceptional individuals and has a solid group of core values to uphold them. Or continue to uphold them. I've had 5 yrs in before today and I drank the kool-aid after my first team build. Team members were the happiest and passionate of any place I had ever worked. I remember...Guests were so happy we were comping positive every year because they liked what we were giving them and kept coming back. Gainshare was that little bonus for feeling like you were appreciated and were rewarded for a little more hard work from time to time. Free coffee was in the breakroom. Drawings held every month for team members who dropped $25+ when shopping for groceries. When we actually got to use our culinary skills to prepare fresh food from scratch. Instead of figuring out what's the most efficient way for me to open the box, cut the package open, heat it, and wait for it to die on the hot bar while I cover two other venues. Back when you could walk across the store and not see guests needing help because grocery had already taken care of them. Before there were lines to check out. When you got a gift card for scoring 100% on a secret shop. I could go on and on about all the things that set us apart and put us on the "Best Place to Work" list. But it boils down to the Team Members. But what really hurts is the fact that we are only comfortable having these conversations anonymously or behind closed doors. Actually it sickens me. I don't feel empowered, do you? Betrayed? Yes. Saddened? Yes. And if you don't understand that then you were never a part of this "culture" just the business. The "Values Matter" campaign was a bunch of propaganda and so was the video that followed. They should have made one called "Market Values Matter". Pretty sure that's why there's such urgency and misleading information regarding these layoffs. Get your info straight and don't be pressured.

Thank you to all that have posted your honest thoughts and feelings in here. I wish you all the best.

My family was astounded at the severence package I was offered. With my already frugal lifestyle I'll be ok for more that 7 months.

But since I can apply for unemployment as well, I'm going to do it. Hopefully by time I find a new job I'll still have a chunk of my severence money stowed away.

Goodbye student loan!

I actually agree with you. Other companies just layoff people and don't give them a penny.

Where is your confusion coming from? I've worked for WFM for 14 years. At some point, after years and years of hearing that it's a "good company to work for," there's a small part of me that would like to believe it's true. Isn't that a logical response? Isn't it reasonable to assume that the happiness of employees is important to the corporation since it's a core value? I think that's a pretty reasonable assumption to make. Yet, when I wake up one morning to texts bombarding my phone from friends being laid of all over the country, it suddenly becomes hard to believe that this is a good company to work for or that they care about our happiness. It's fine to lay people off, but there is a way to lay people off with integrity. I have yet to see any integrity in this process. This is just cold hard capitalism; there's nothing conscious about it.

WFM is supposed to be all about sustainability, but they failed to create sustainable jobs. And instead of finding a better way to transition to something more sustainable, they decided to cull.

Severance is nice, yes. But a specialized job (marketing, graphic design, hr) at a unique retail company with people you love was better.

We are just sad. Give us a week and we start acting like adults again.

In some ways you are right but not really. The amount of time and dedication of my hard working sweat went to build this company. I have well had 13,000 sevice hours for WFM. 11 year worker and for them to keep all these people that barely work in other departments and elimate mine (marketing) is not right. I don't care about chum change when I was making $40k a year for WFM. It's what the company was all about now is forgotten