I find it interesting that Walter Robb has been busy talking to Global and Regional team members about the lay offs and why they happened, but no one has bothered addressing the team members left on the store level. Seriously? Aren't we the people most effected by this recent decision of leadership? Why haven't any of the office positions been eliminated? Just a month or so ago, all the leadership from my store was flown out to the west coast for a "team build". Where did all the money for flights, accommodations, dinners, etc. come from? According to my team leader, they were all drunk most of the 3 days they were out there. Maybe Walter can also explain these expenses the next time he chats with the people that occupy all those office jobs.
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Hi
I appreciate the point of view of where you are directing your comments except for: Aren't we the ones most affected by the layoffs? Seriously? Unemployment collections take 4 weeks...severance pay has not been paid and the note to pay is a convenient payment for them to assuage their less than well planned lay off tactic.
I did not ask to have my position eliminated. I did not ask for my "supporting peers" to ostracize me or to make me feel uncomfortable after I was laid off. How in the world was that my fault? Oh sure they might have felt bad but seriously you have your job..you have insurance..you have a paycheck..you have support with each other.
Hi
I appreciate the point of view of where you are directing your comments except for: Aren't we the ones most affected by the layoffs? Seriously? Unemployment collections take 4 weeks...severance pay has not been paid and the note to pay is a convenient payment for them to assuage their less than well planned lay off tactic.
I did not ask to have my position eliminated. I did not ask for my "supporting peers" to ostracize me or to make me feel uncomfortable after I was laid off. How in the world was that my fault? Oh sure they might have felt bad but seriously you have your job..you have insurance..you have a paycheck..you have support with each other.
Why do we have these huge gatherings in Austin where team members win prizes--and are encouraged to spend time at the store preparing to win prizes--for the most creative display using recycled materials--or whatever.
Why do we pay someone at global, or regional, to create fancy online material describing our quality standards for seafood, produce, etc, or our relationships with our vendors, or the latest product introductions when, at least at my store (and this was before the layoffs) we have NO time to read them, little access to computers. (The new poster-style newsletter is a huge improvement--one page, and it can be hung in the lunch room, or the hall bulletin board, where you can scan the headlines in 2 minutes. No need to log on to a computer, to click on things to read them, etc.) Every time I get one of these in my email inbox, I think about the person getting paid to create these online newsletters, and I wonder if they think we have time to read them.
We lost 17 positions at our Regional Office last week. Over the past year and a half, our regional office restructured both IT and Accounting and several folks had to reapply for less positions. This is happening at all levels.
Maybe becuase they have been reducing regional jobs for well over a year.....