This is obviously a good idea. I don’t want to complain or discourage it, but those 8 hours should include at least some customer-facing work. No fair hiding in the manager’s office or stockroom all day - which is not to suggest that working in the stockroom is easier. In many ways, it’s harder, but it does lack one crucial element of retail.
If they really want to “bridge the gap”, they need a firsthand understanding of the hell that is customer service.
If they want to bridge the gap they need to go out there more than once a year and the rest of the staff including managers shouldn’t know they’re corporate. Otherwise they’re just larping to feel better about being in corpo and to say they’ve done it all.
IMO, they should go through the entire training and then a day or two of doing at least one of the top 3 employed jobs at the company.
Whether that’s stocker, cashier, or whatever.
No one should know they are corporate, but I’ve trained new manager for my stores before when I worked retail. Truthfully, they are just people trying to get through the day. It didn’t matter they were my bosses they got trained and treated literally the exact same as any of my other trainees.
It’s not larping, it’s not PR, it’s literally just understanding core areas of the business so that any decisions they make they have context on what it will actually impact. As management, I’ve specifically gone out of my way to sit and shadow people so that I can understand their job and try and identify challenges they face. And if it was within my power or knowledge to explore a solution I would.
I’m not opposed to the idea, but it’s just PR. Taking a day off of a cushy six-figure exec job to play retail worker for a day is nothing at all like actually working retail because you have no other choice
This is obviously a good idea. I don’t want to complain or discourage it, but those 8 hours should include at least some customer-facing work. No fair hiding in the manager’s office or stockroom all day - which is not to suggest that working in the stockroom is easier. In many ways, it’s harder, but it does lack one crucial element of retail.
If they really want to “bridge the gap”, they need a firsthand understanding of the hell that is customer service.
If they want to bridge the gap they need to go out there more than once a year and the rest of the staff including managers shouldn’t know they’re corporate. Otherwise they’re just larping to feel better about being in corpo and to say they’ve done it all.
IMO, they should go through the entire training and then a day or two of doing at least one of the top 3 employed jobs at the company.
Whether that’s stocker, cashier, or whatever.
No one should know they are corporate, but I’ve trained new manager for my stores before when I worked retail. Truthfully, they are just people trying to get through the day. It didn’t matter they were my bosses they got trained and treated literally the exact same as any of my other trainees.
It’s not larping, it’s not PR, it’s literally just understanding core areas of the business so that any decisions they make they have context on what it will actually impact. As management, I’ve specifically gone out of my way to sit and shadow people so that I can understand their job and try and identify challenges they face. And if it was within my power or knowledge to explore a solution I would.
I’m not opposed to the idea, but it’s just PR. Taking a day off of a cushy six-figure exec job to play retail worker for a day is nothing at all like actually working retail because you have no other choice
Maybe if it was a week of swing shifts?
All is a big word. Maybe too big. But the general idea is neat.