Home Depot Inc. will begin requiring corporate employees to work a full day at one of its stores every quarter, a move the company said is aimed at supporting its retail staff.
Eh, with 4 days a year they'll be essentially perpetual new employees who don't know how anything works and who aren't given any training or responsibilities because they'll be gone tomorrow. Everyone will be on their best behavior and no one will tell them the ways they need to break the rules to get stuff done because they're outsiders who are either management or might rat them out to management. This is a gimmick.
It definitely will take time for it to work, and it will depend on company culture (which Home Depot may have a terrible one, in which case even more time).
I do think it's a good idea, but it's got to be treated as a learning opportunity and not an opportunity for punishment.
If the companies serious, it'll be helpful, if not... well then you're right.
That's good but I'd prefer it to be longer, like one week as per the top comment. More time to pick up on the flow of a given store, sometimes you don't get all the unwritten rules all at once.
You know why their sales are in the shitter? Because contractors have been going elsewhere. They've locked so much product behind lock-and-key, it then takes an hour to find someone to get it for you, and then you have to wait for that associate to zigzag through the store to bring it to the register, and then you have to wait while the poor cashier hands you three other people's items before giving you what your items. The items they are locking up are the ones that contractors grab the most, not the stupid shit Suzie homeowner is coming to buy. On top of all that, the quality of their products keeps dwindling.
You're not lying. I regularly buy spools of cable, and I used to have to hunt for an employee clear across the store. They put it out on the walkie and 15 minutes later someone wanders back to the wire cage. I just go elsewhere now, it's cheaper everywhere else anyway.
Dude I've waited two hours for an employee before, only because I was on a job in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. I use a lot of 6awg and I've just taken to climbing the rack. Unfortunately, HD has the best prices on wire.
This doesn't make any sense to me. When I worked for Home Depot corporate in the 90's, you were required to work on a store for one week. I thought it was an annual thing. Did they drop the requirement?
I should point out that by the end, I hated my job and the culture, and was so ready to leave. After Bernie and Arthur left, the place really went down hill
I recently moved to a new state and one HD is like the upside world. Literally everyone in the store is willing to talk to you and help you find something. Literal opposite of every HD where I moved from.
I think this is excellent. Ay real leader would be extraordinarily happy to have access to this data directly. Every company should do this, for mroe like a month. 4 days is nothing.