most of them walked around the Store like they were Better than everybody else, while the folks on the Floor was doing the Real Work, hardly ever left the office anyway......gonna miss the some of the demo ppl tho who actually worked the floor and wasnt stuck up....smh
30 replies (most recent on top)
I don't think there is any point in kicking people when they're down. That being said, I've worked with entitled and lazy, minimal effort marketing TMs just as I've worked with amazing, dedicated, hard working and talented ones... just like people from other departments.
It's foolish to argue amongst ourselves.
Lack of accountability is on STLs and driven by regional.
Some of the positions cut shouldn't have existed in the first place, and yeah, some needed to be eliminated due to restructuring.
Most of the cuts I'm aware of in the SW were for the best, TMs that weren't invested. But that's not true for every store in the company.
Change can be scary, but we need to evolve if we're going to survive, and now is the time for us to band together to get the job done and weather the storm.
How petty and classless to be saying these things about people who lost their livelihood. Did YOU lose your job?? Bitter, jealous idiot, party of one?
Your busted a$$ grammar is exactly why MTLs are needed.
Your busted ass grammar is exactly why a MTL is needed.
I was a marketer and I firmly believe that each store does not need a marketer, the smart business decision is to have a metro. The buyer positions are also extremely repetitive and a good business decision to cut. In addition to WFM I have also worked for Trader Joe's and Sprout's. At Trader Joe's I was given the task of ordering a section after being employed for 3 months, at Sprout's I was a department manager and I wrote all my own orders. The grocery department does not need a team lead, an assistant team lead, and several buyers. With that being said, the layoffs were a panic move that was not thought out. Just because you don't need these buyers to purchase product does not mean you cut them, you offer them alternative positions, and not in the manner they are acting like they're doing. How about you take a buyer to a full time team member position without a reduction in pay and simply don't hire the 2 new TM's at 1/2 the rate since the buyer will more than likely be worth the salary of 2 individuals due to their company/industry experience. Some will work their way up to TL's, others may leave, this is how the natural attrition that WFM is talking about would work if they did things correctly. By getting rid of buyers you have ensured that your bench for new TL's and ATL's is extremely low. As a marketer, I had numerous projects, events, and agreements in the works all the way through December. I took the 8 weeks severance on Tuesday, how do you think the community partners are going to react when they don't get the donation that we agreed to because you laid me off without a plan in place to ensure these agreements were taken care of? This process was not thought out, period. In business quick moves such as this lead to negative sales.
I am not against marketing but it does not need to take up 40 hours a week per store!
No mtls are not the voice of our differentiators the tms are! The ones that are working 2-1030 helping the majority of the customers! They at out there interacting with the community! Not someone sitting in the office sending an email! Speaking of differentiators they are not that anymore, our differentiators are now common denominators....so what are you the voice of now? How do you tell the community that you are so in touch with to come to WFM and spend 3x as much?? What does your degree tell us to do In that at situation? It's obviously not to cut labor and lower prices!
You're right. I'm just raw cause every thing is did to become an MTL is gone, just gone. I don't even know why I'm even on this site. F*** it. I'm out anyway. I'm gonna miss the awesome people I worked with.
What does it matter who does what? In some way or form we have all contributed to the growth and success of Whole Foods Market. Not one person should be defending their role or trying to explain to one another who works harder. Every position has its merits and challenges. Every TM takes their licks on the chin in one way or another. The general consensus is this: for those of us that have believed in the message and lived those core values in and out of the store, this is defeating! Outsourced companies are bleeding us dry while the TMs are working their fingers to the bone and now getting laid off. Broaden your world, stop pointing fingers at each other. See the bigger picture.
I wasn't always an MTL. I worked on the front end, I worked in prepared foods, I was a porter. I busted my ass to get that job. Once I got it, I worked harder than I ever did because the job is very tough. You have an AC, an STL and two knucklehead ASTL's messing with you every chance they get because they see you as a tool to pad their own success. Bullshit politics are deep in that role. Ever been in a store without one? I'll tell you, a ton of stuff just falls apart. MTL's are (were) the voice of our differentiators and a connection to the community, the stuff that made the company special and different. But now WFM is just like every other grocery store, so I guess we don't need them. Thanks for your post and paving the road to your job at Kroger.
I have always said, no one knows what we do. I wasn't even a marketeer, just a kick ass demo specialist. I fed everyone, made name tags, sold food. Sampled 5 hours a day on the floor, fed broke team members, drove injured team members to the doc in a box, made sure all our local charities got free food for their events, hustled companies for free product so I could pass it on the the food bank, never disrespected anyone, took care of customers, got food thrown at me by customers, came in at midnight to make food for the overnight crew...I served. I came from bakery. Been doing my job very well for 13 years. I get why we are cut, I do, but please don't denigrate what you do not know about first hand. I had many a team member shadow me forr a day just so see what we do. it's a lot. And I loved my job and I love MY store.
This is on operations and Ken Myers.
A mtl needs a degree? You can throw your college degree in my face that's fine your right I don't have one but chances are I make more money than you and I am on here defending the company that gave me my degree and again I challenge you to be that shelf stocker you are mocking for 40 hours! Again the mtls are the smartest people in the WFM. Just to bad that you are the only one that thinks that
What are you talking about? The marketing team is the made up of the most useless people in the store. Not one of them has an education beyond high school. At Lamar essential team members on the admin team were let go in favor of marketing and useless astls.
Do you feel that way about all people who have professional jobs that require a college degree?
Marketing is a general term. It also consisted of the graphic artists and demo as well. Even tho I was in marketing, i stocked shelves, i did guest service, i bagged groceries, i connected with people. That is a seriously bias uneducated post. I have a degree but I never once thought it was beneath me to clean a spill, or pickup trash. Also, if you just sat as an observer in a marketing office on a busy ad week or holiday or program launch, you would probably have a better perspective. We dont just make posts, or "color all day". Its all about maintaining the brand and selling it to the community. Marketing requires alot of ingenuity, quick thinking, a ridiculous ability to multitask as if you had 7 heads and 20 arms. And you arent just dealing with things from the community. Every tram in the store continually wants specialized promotion. So does store leadership. And regional and global. As we had to make it work, and we could never use an excuse as to why something didnt come to fruition. Constantly under the fist of another and our feet shackled to the ground. I was lucky to even find time to eat.
So please, stfu about it. You know nothing.
Well like the guy said mtls walked around like they were better than everyone... And you summed that up by saying the marketers created the theater .. I think the tms created the theater! Then you go on to say that I just stock shelves? No I'm a meat tl but I have friends and family that just stock shelves! I guess we can agree to disagree but the big wigs agree with me the people that "just stock shelves" are more important than the stuck up marketers with a Twitter account! Thank you for proving out point! Maybe you should see how many hours you can "just stock shelves"
That's real talk badass marketer! And as for the person who posted the original post. I'm sure there were numerous marketers whom didn't do their share as I am sure there are numerous team members on the floor who don't. I can't speak for all marketers but I can speak for myself and most people I came into contact with at WFM did not understand marketing. It's not about sending a tweet or posting something on Facebook it's about creating a genuine connection with an audience and not just any audience, a target audience in order to create impact and drive people into the stores to buy products from the departments. In other words drive your sales, in turn helping your gain sharing and thus your paycheck. You can cry all you want about marketers not doing anything but I personally know that I drove in sales and do you know how I know this? Because I measured ROI, on the events I took part in as well as the coupons I gave out and the social media posts I made. Also, I personally worked on the sales floor in retail for different companies for 10yrs, worked my way into management while going to school, received my bachelors and then went back to school and got an MBA. I earned my path to marketing wherein I was able to set my schedule and have the occasional weekend off. I still came in @6am on ad change, and worked my ass off. In fact my last full shift with WFM was an 11 1/2hr shift because I ran one event at 7am last Friday and another event ending at 6pm. I worked the floor on numerous occasions and saw plenty of people f***ing around. Get over yourself and do your research!
As someone who has lost their job as a former marketing team member, I'll be the first to say you're an asshole. The marketing team is a group of team members that were paid to create theater in the stores by give it a feel of more than a publix, and to motivate the teams to promote programs. I was required to know all quality standards, core values, programs, 5% partner ships. My demo team showed over 500k in demo driven sales while bringing in 34k in additional revenue to the company. And took home to my family pennies on the dollar. What the f*** have you done. Stocked shelves?! marketing tm some of the most well versed group of employees at wfm and now we are all out jobs for duchbags like you who think we play on fb all day. The world of Social Media is prime time for marketing, what we were getting paid for!
It's not the people I'm disrespecting it's the position
There is no need to be disrespectful. Some of the people that you are generalizing have lost their jobs! Have some compassion!
Mtls set up 5% day, send a tweet, then post a pic on Facebook. I had to have a sit down with an stl and a mtl cause I posted a pic on Facebook and she was upset and said "if everyone starts posting pics on social media what is she going to do"
in the world of social media there is no need for a marketing tl in a store. Just one per region.
Hey 169295, I have a degree and was stuck on the sales floor. Don't generalize.
guess your degree didn't mean that much to whole foods.....
*sales
Get a degree and maybe you'd be off the sakes floor like the marketers. #Haters
Couldn't agree more
My marketing team is very creative and are great people, but if I had a dollar for every time I've seen them in their room on facebook, worldstar, and iTunes, i'd be rich. Most likely not a proportional depiction of their whole day, but just saying.
sometimes i had to ask ppl, what do you do here ????
Truth!