Thread regarding Whole Foods Market Inc. layoffs

As of today, all Retail Specialist Positions in the PNW are eliminated.

They will have 9 months to decide if they want to become a Front End Supervisor or find another position elsewhere in the store. After that time is up the position will be completely eliminated and any RPS still in the roll will be let go without severance. The Metro Creative Team Lead Position is also being eliminated with those in that roll being transitioned into regional graphic designers. Store Graphic artists will then be expected to reduce chalk production (for its inefficiency) and increase print production.

They will no longer be expected to be involved with any sort of custom in store design and will essentially be printing what the regional graphic designers will give to them. All program execution on a store level will be performed by the store graphic artists.

SGA's will also be transitioning to the Front End yet will not be entered into Kronos but instead schedules will be added in after the fact (presumably ensuring near similar workweeks and two day weekends for SGA's?). SGA's will not be expected to ring for the front end but we will see.

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Post ID: @OP+IWijxD8

12 replies (most recent on top)

Wfm "turnt" in gg's vernacular...and boo hoo..the much venerated culture was built on nothing but cash...with no other groceries in the game the company had unbridled success and was free to create a cult to control employees...now everything has dried up because of a rough economy and inevitable competition...now the "culture"is devouring itself to the embaressment of its creators ...but more importantly the "culture" now has gone ape and is ripping the floor boards out of the foundation...once again.. boo f---ing hoo...I bet if the execs had a switch now they would turn wfm culture down to about 3 on the amp....it's nasty....gettin worse.....but like in Frankenstein the controlled now wants to burn the house down because they are disappointed....broken promises...only death now

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Post ID: @1pzn+IWijxD8

Gg on the shas of sunset just said "you're turnt"... that's funny she means you have "turned"... anyway why hash over the stupid burnt out miserable old washed up shell of itself wreck of a never really was cool Texas dooshbag footnote in history at best company like wholedoosh..have any of u have a clue how stupid this site is..n how much nobody ever gave a fuc...as soon as the rest of the grocery industry jumped on "all natural" the f---ing jig was up straight away...u think those hippie bozos were going to be loyal to you?....and when the economy is what it is your double toast...fuc off and stop griping you weren't what u thought u were...now your miserable..who the f--- cares...shut this site down I'm dropping the mike b--ches

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Post ID: @1ogq+IWijxD8

No one in leadership at WFM is going to tell you HOW to get severance going forward. They paid out far too much last fall to just hand it out left and right without trying to get you to take another position first. It is still offered according to the GIG, but you have to meet the parameters they have set. Read the GIG, consult your lawyers.

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Post ID: @huf+IWijxD8

*from the news from the call. (We had a chat with leadership after the call took place)

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Post ID: @ght+IWijxD8

I clearly heard with my own ears both in the matter of RPS and in the matter of teams being combined (GroBody, etc.) that there will be no severance. This was both from yesterday's call and from what STLs have been telling the teams that will eventually be combined.

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Post ID: @rlr+IWijxD8

Hopefully someone can confirm the various rumors about severence. Anyone who can say firsthand that "They told me to take another position or leave"? People quitting on their own accord is not the same as not getting severence. (attrition) The gig clearly states that as a team member you are eligible for severence, but everyone on here says "no more severence" makes me wonder if people are stiring the pot or if whole foods is going down hill fast. I suppose the recent wave of global hirings can tell us just where this company is headed. It's sad, more than the loss of more jobs are the loss of company values.

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Post ID: @gsq+IWijxD8

Backstory: When the Marketing restructure happened last September, SGAs were reduced from 2 to one and to help with the workload of hanging signs and trying to get teams to execute programs, the RPS (Retail Program Specialist) role was created. At the time, store level Marketing Team Leaders were eliminated (unless you are a frontier store aka not a part of a metro). These were replaced by Metro Marketing Team Leaders who initially oversaw the RPSes. As far as I know, that role is in tact though still a bit of a misnomer because they don't actually lead a team. The Metro Creative Team Leader position was created as a position for the SGAs to report to as we technically didn't have any leadership, though we'd co-report also to our STL (in my case nearly impossible because I never get quality time with my STL, they're simply too busy).

Now, as the SGAs are back to hanging signs, the store over a specified square footage are once again having part time SGAs in addition to their full time ones. (Coincidentally, the SDA position had been changed from one single store full time to two or more stores with hours combined to make full time. This has just recently been changed back to full time at a single store. They (regional/global) can't seem to make up their minds.

Since last year's restructure, they've pretty much eliminated severance. As teams transition to GroBody, they're basically planning on reducing positions through attrition or allowing people to take other roles (or so I'm told).

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Post ID: @pbl+IWijxD8

What is a RPS? We don't have that here in FL.

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Post ID: @nls+IWijxD8

9 months puts it near the end of Q3, which sounds similar to other post, wrapping some positions up before the summer slump. Federally, with any notice of more than 60 days an employer does not have to pay wages in lieu of notice. Severance is never guaranteed. You may want to re-read the severance pay portion of the summary of benefits plan on workday to see if 9 months holds any significance to that timeline. If i remember after the layoffs around 2008 affecting regional/ global only, the payout amounts for severance were lowered the following year.

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Post ID: @fhf+IWijxD8

Yay Washington!!!!!!!!!!!

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Post ID: @rqh+IWijxD8

If you insist on repeat posting at least answer questions. Why 9 months? What about marketing team leaders? Why no severence for a new position that was unrelated to the I intial layoff? What if the RPE wants the no chalk design job? Your claims have many holes. SGA here.

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Post ID: @pfd+IWijxD8

What??? No torturous and intrusive "open availability " schedules for these forlorn graphic artists??

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Post ID: @fph+IWijxD8

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