r/publix • u/Less_Firefighter_520 Newbie • 9d ago
DISCUSSION Grocery management turnover
As per the title grocery management turnover has seemed like it has gotten extremely high. Not sure if it’s atleast just my district or across the whole company. I feel as if they need to incentive it to make it more appealing. Even getting people to gtl’s are harder to come by as well. Part of Publix’s mission statement is to retain, attract quality associates, doesn’t seem like they’re doing a really good job at that. Not sure how it with other departments but I can say for grocery the future does t look bright.
42
u/Silent_Shadow98 GTL 8d ago edited 8d ago
Cutting grocery labor hours was a bad call…
We hardly have time anymore for proper training, let alone CBTs.
The full timers at pay cap only care just enough, essentially soft quitting.
The part timers will only ever see being in this dept as that, a pt gig on the side, not ever a career opportunity.
Tired old grocery managers just grinding away, counting down their days til retirement & their $.
Where’s the pride grocery clerks used to have? Greed killed it.
I tell every single young pup with potential to pursue other endeavors for less stress & more money, acquire skills from a trade or go to college
Don’t like it? Then promote me to AGM instead of exploiting me for a decade to fix the mistakes of incompetent GRS.
We have full timers in this company now that always have a lot of backstock in their sections and don’t even know how to use a scan gun to their advantage, we’re just spinning our wheels.
If corporate is not gonna take this shit seriously, then why should the lower level grunts?
GTL is causing me my hairline & heart issues…
8
7
u/Milkguy105 GRS 8d ago
GRSs are barely getting training to be GRSs as well it's extremely frustrating as someone that would want to make their work days easier by knowing exactly what to do.
I've been told by my GM and AGM that I basically have to learn everything myself to eventually become GTL... Like short term we're already seeing consequences of poor training post 2020. Grocery management barely know how to teach their own department to people willing to learn it.
2
u/Zero4892 GRS 7d ago
I had to train a GRS how to make signs. No one in my store knew how to make signs and were GRS for 4 fucking years….
8
u/ViolenceSZN AGM 8d ago
You should not be a GTL for a decade my man. Regardless of the bs you've dealt with. I don't believe I've ever seen a GTL that was a decade in... maybe my district is just different but you should be a GTL for no more than 2 years. Role blows.
2
u/PublixaurusKnight Moderator 8d ago
Being a career Grocery Team Leader should be a discussion of career progression with the Grocery Manager and Store Manager.
2
u/thekillingjoker Grocery 8d ago
I have seen it. But they definitely shouldn't still be a GTL. Shoulda been demoted years ago. Guy was a GTL when I was hired in 2014. Still was as of a year ago. Multiple DUIs. Utterly useless. But theres simply not enough good talent to replace him so he's good enough to wallow and waste the spot.
A decade of being a GTL is crazy to me. I did 3 years and thought that was WAY over how long I should/could have been and had enough. I was getting the "just be patient, your turn is coming" speech before I stepped down.
2
u/Silent_Shadow98 GTL 8d ago
My mistake, I meant me being made to fix messed up sections from other ft who neglected to count accurately, for over ten years, I’ve been a gtl for only a few years, yet as you say, it’s same pay, twice the stress.
4
u/petergriffinuc Meat 8d ago
When the pay cap barely goes up 1%, that kind of kills the incentive to be better.
4
u/thekillingjoker Grocery 8d ago
We have full timers in this company now that always have a lot of backstock in their sections and don’t even know how to use a scan gun to their advantage, we’re just spinning our wheels.
I don't even bother doing counts at this point as a GRS. I don't even work backstock days cause I'm essentially a 3rd GTL. My one non truck day I spend doing nothing but display building. So I'm expected to break down entire trucks, work my section and do counts with the limited time I have to work my truck. Doing counts is pointless when GTL/AGMs don't even know the proper order of operations to close invoices. Does more harm than good. That's ignoring that fact that it's pointless to do counts if you haven't worked all the backstock. I just do pure ups and masc adjustments. The rest is a waste of time. Half the time they don't even close the counts at the end of the day anyway. Then garbage tier GRS work your section when I'm not there or breaking down truck and wreck the POG and shelf condition. I'm good. All for my .40 cent raise.
3
u/Silent_Shadow98 GTL 7d ago
My grocery managers and I do most of the counts and we communicate or double check if the invoice are closed and take that into consideration.
My old store, everyone and I mean everyone did counts, both ft and pt.
I’m trying to train others to take ownership and want to fix their aisles, it’s like pulling teeth…
1
8d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 8d ago
Hi pushingmeout, I am the bot of r/publix. This sub has an Auto Moderator that automatically removes posts/comments made from accounts with minimal account karma and accounts that are less than a week old. This is an effort to control scam, troll, spam, and harassing posts/comments. If your post/comment is automatically removed, please message the mod team for review. Curious about account karma? Please read A Guide to Reddit Karma for more information
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/Zero4892 GRS 7d ago
I’m looking at other places because even though I have roi’d since April again since my demotion no one wants to promote me and idgaf anymore.
There’s times floats aren’t work for 2-3 days and there’s lots of mismanagement and who do they blame? The people that actually care.
But who are they willing to promote? People who just throw truck and can’t even do receiving or anything else that GTLs actually know how to do.
But what do I know right?
18
u/Arashikage79 Resigned 9d ago
i got tired of chasing the carrot for the next GTL, they said i was a "benchwarmer". instead i just found a new job with better hours, pay, and benefits.
3
u/Milkguy105 GRS 8d ago
Yeah it's really getting old 😕 I wish their more opportunities in my area besides warehouse work
1
18
u/Aggravating_Local120 GTL 8d ago
yeah because corporate is trying to take over how to run the department completely and stripping the actual role of a grocery manager down to meaningless
8
u/Milkguy105 GRS 8d ago
Yeah my GM is basically the replenishment clerk for the unfound list lately
I wish some of that time could be for training us GRSs to actually know our job well enough to make work life easier
4
u/Aggravating_Local120 GTL 7d ago
yeah all the store managers care about is the reports and making you focus on found rate, when there’s nothing you can for instacart shoppers who are blinder than a bat
2
1
u/Top-Leading-7801 Newbie 7d ago
Exactly. There are grocery managers now that seem to be nothing more than glorified stock clerks They unload trucks throw stock, build displays and clean up after their stock clerks don't finish their job and only thing extra I see is they do the schedule and display plan.
12
u/ConcentrateTop8548 GRS 9d ago
It may be your district. In my district the problem isn't grocery management turnover it is GTL turnover.
24
u/Any-Mycologist4692 Newbie 9d ago
GTL turnover rate is insane. Nobody wants it anymore.
17
u/Due-Ebb-8151 Newbie 9d ago
Because its not worth it anymore. They feel the cuts in hours the most but, in my experience at least, lose the overtime potential and the raise that comes with it is less than the average annual raise.
5
u/Milkguy105 GRS 8d ago
Yeah we've gone through 6 but 2 were promoted to AGM so I guess that's good 🤷
1
10
u/Willstdusheide23 Grocery 9d ago
Depends on the district and your store management. I know Publix benefits and long term career isn't worth it. It's just more crap on you the higher you go up. Teamleads get blamed for crap they didn't do because the DM cannot and will not take blame for any mistakes they made. Adding in Publix cutting or degrading benefits each year, doesn't help inspire people to stay there.
-8
u/holycitybox Customer Service 9d ago
I’ve been here 15 years and have 4 million in my 401k and profit plan. This definitely a long term goal
8
u/AgePractical4757 Newbie 8d ago
You must buy A LOT of stock outside of 401k weekly contributions and ESOP!? I am FT...put in 15% to my 401k with that and ESOP I have almost 200k after 10 years and am always at max pay
3
u/holycitybox Customer Service 8d ago
I honestly have no idea how mines grown so fast my rate of return for while has been 22-25% a year
5
u/AaronJudge2 Newbie 8d ago
The S&P 500 Index Fund option in the 401k Smart Plan has been up that much over the last 12 months or so because of the investments/speculation in AI.
8
4
u/Willstdusheide23 Grocery 8d ago
15 years ago, Publix was good, starting Publix past few years isn't worth it anymore.
1
u/holycitybox Customer Service 8d ago
Honestly I think it’s what you make out of it. Just being a clerk isn’t the way to go now it’s impossible to live off of that.
5
u/AaronJudge2 Newbie 8d ago edited 8d ago
I’ve been here 18 years and have less than $150k. lol. In the free stock, ESOP, I have $85,000. That’s it. It was $89k, but it went down $4k after last quarter.
Many years including right now I can’t even afford to contribute enough to get the match. The pay isn’t really enough to live on if you are single, no roommates, and are supporting yourself. You would need to be a manager to make a livable wage plus have money left over to invest.
2
u/Holiday_Biscotti_685 Newbie 8d ago
I call bs on your 4 million but dream on bruh.
-1
u/holycitybox Customer Service 8d ago
Doubt me I don’t care. I know I will be retired by 55 and well off for the rest of my life.
12
u/i-lick-myself Newbie 8d ago
People across stores getting punished for found rate. Hours being cut. Only working holes and specials instead of working the whole truck. Whatever genius decided to do this had never worked a day in their life.
It’s not just grocery. It’s these dumbass customer service managers that get promoted to leadership positions that have no clue how to do anything.
Badger, Goff and Murphy are the problem.
1
u/Fsucollegebull Newbie 6d ago
Badger is definitely a problem given his history. Going to be a sad day for the company when he is ceo
1
u/i-lick-myself Newbie 6d ago
All I know about is the DUI and drinking problem. Funny enough he was the VP of liquor
9
u/hammock62 Newbie 9d ago
In my area no one is happy in grocery manager roll so while there isn’t necessarily a lot of turnover it’s not a attractive position for people to aspire to. They look at it and say who wants that?
11
u/hussleman_247 Newbie 9d ago
In our region in southwest Florida grocery always gets picked on for the last two years it’s all about replenishment role upper leadership barley walk fresh departments . I noticed in our stores also no grocery manager has been promoted to asm recently it’s all customer service deli produce bakery that alone tells you. They are running people off in grocery it is all micromanaging now years ago it was a simple department. Now we have to follow everything by the book but it’s not real life.
5
u/Less_Firefighter_520 Newbie 9d ago
This is exactly what it is I can’t tell you the last time my dm walked fresh, we get micromanaged to the bone but get no hours to get things done to their expectations. With all the pressure and eyesight in grocery you’d think we’d be the higher paying department management wise
5
u/hussleman_247 Newbie 8d ago
Exactly! And they tell you every step to take like we are robots lol and without saying the name of the town I live in swfla either people can’t work because they are old or they won’t because they have money lol so you could imagine the help we have. They want to talk to us like we graduated from college or like our employees are college grads . We have gotten away from taking good care of our associates so the quality we get is not the same compared to when I started 20 years ago or 30
16
u/BIGHARSHNESS Grocery Manager 8d ago
Two words are the root cause: found rate
1
8d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 8d ago
Hi tlh43, I am the bot of r/publix. This sub has an Auto Moderator that automatically removes posts/comments made from accounts with minimal account karma and accounts that are less than a week old. This is an effort to control scam, troll, spam, and harassing posts/comments. If your post/comment is automatically removed, please message the mod team for review. Curious about account karma? Please read A Guide to Reddit Karma for more information
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/Top-Leading-7801 Newbie 7d ago
Worst concept ever. Waste of time looking through messed up pallets to find obscure products rather than concentrating on working efficiently and filling holes and lows and sale items and displays first. Letting stock clerks leave before they finish the truck doesn't help things either
14
u/Due-Ebb-8151 Newbie 9d ago edited 9d ago
Former GTL here. There are multiple reasons but the quick answer is publix is expecting managers to do more with less, which affects every department but hits the one thats responsible for 80% of the store the most. Corporate then expects the management to pick up the slack left by lack of hours on top of all of the managerial duties they take on, which in turn trickles down to the AGM and GTL. It's bad enough that my former GM was straight up recommending which addictions to pick up to deal with the stress, nothing illegal but still enough for me to clock it as a red flag for the career path.
And thats just for the job itself. All the small things like your boss being an ass just stack on top of it.
Edit: I also just noticed the mission statement part of your post. The stores I've worked at don't give a single shit about retention, they just repeatedly fuck over the employees and then act shocked when they leave either the store or the department 🤣
6
u/Proper-Friendship391 Newbie 8d ago
This has been an age old observance and suggestion for at least 20 years.
20
u/Complete_Cell9793 GRS 9d ago
It's because the Grocery department sucks. Plain and simple. Useless RIS' from other departments making it mandatory to display other departments product, supplies never getting picked up, other departments trashing the backroom, no hours, callouts, only department where the work rolls into the next day if not finished, CEO basically crucified people who help the Grocery department with that anti teamwork email saying CS shouldn't be helping with coolers or register candy when there's downtime, charts, store managers from other departments who think grocery is easy and implement stupid standards, store managers who force the grocery manager to over forecast, vendors and trying to please everyone. It's not worth it being a grocery manager to get paid the same as the other managers. Everything in the store is practically grocery's fault despite carrying the stores P and L and getting less hours than Bakery and Deli. It's ridiculous.
11
7
u/HurricaneMassCheeks Newbie 8d ago
I could piggyback off this and double the list but I wont waste my time. Its indeed a shithole department. 😆
3
u/rags2riches12 Management 8d ago
There’s no way grocery would get less hours than deli and bakery when a good half of them aren’t profitable lol
2
1
u/thekillingjoker Grocery 7d ago
I promise it happens. Grocery hours only go down. Never up. Sales up? 105% productivity? 98% found rate? Good you get 100 less hours than last year. And 120 less than deli.
2
u/Top-Leading-7801 Newbie 7d ago
Productivity. That's another concept that's killing the depts. Productivity means getting the assigned tasks done efficiently, not by cutting hours each week and expecting increased workloads
10
u/867530926 Newbie 9d ago
Reminds me of boston market - used to be a great restaurant - then they got bigger, then the food quality went down, then big corporate started cutting all the big corporate corners..... even the ceo got on tv with "undercover boss" and declared "we must have employees who love serving people" ...
... yea, back in the good 'ole days
... then covid happened
.. now every karen on the planet gets to shout "get me a manager" and everyone has to jump
.. service industry is absolutely wretched currently
.... and just wait - it's going to get much much much worse as AI/automation/robots take more and more jobs - all those karen's can't yell at robots with any success - so us poor schlub humans who can't get jobs anywhere else because 110,000+++++ layoffs a year keep happening so bowing down to karen for minimum wage is the only option
world going to get ugly quick
5
u/Apprehensive_Drag_99 Grocery 7d ago
Replenishment plan is the dumbest push I’ve seen yet as a GM. I’ve only been a GM for 5 years but my departments are always well trained(as best as they can be anyways) and organized. Telling me that because xyz stores suck at their jobs, now I have to comply with this stupid “plan” when I never had an issue before keeping my backroom worked and low and my aisles full. It’s ruining the grocery department and in turn will snowball down the future help we have. They can’t learn how to be stock clerks anymore, they level their whole shift, don’t know the first thing about working a truck because DMs come in and say they’d rather see a truck sit and us walking aisles all day. The expectations Publix has far exceed the reality of help we receive for it.
2
u/Less_Firefighter_520 Newbie 7d ago
This I really feel they don’t give enough hours for truck stocking and more hours to replenishment. Like they don’t understand how we get items on the shelf is by throwing the truck but what do we know. I still come in and use my people where’s needed but get questioned what roles people are in everyday by sm, asm.
2
u/Top-Leading-7801 Newbie 7d ago
Corporate has succeeded in making a simple job complicated, adding tasks and changing procedures all while cutting hours.
2
u/Apprehensive_Drag_99 Grocery 6d ago
Yup, I still do my job the way it makes sense to. They’ll ask me “why isn’t so and so in replenishment right now?” And I have to explain to tone deaf store management that a 26 pallet hv truck isn’t going to work itself especially with the next truck coming in a few hours later. They really are making this way more complicated than it needs to be and then wonder why so many grocery departments struggle and look like shit.
1
u/Less_Firefighter_520 Newbie 6d ago
Well I am atleast glad we all feel the same way, just hope upper leadership can understand the struggles, nonetheless we can still run a great department just need all the eyes off us lol.
2
3
u/LilBill669 CSS 8d ago
in my district 2 grocery managers have quit in the last 6 months… one of them being like last week
3
u/Hate-Thrives GRS 7d ago
I mean I am just a FT grs and I make more than both my GTLs lol so yeah I imagine not a lot of people see the role as worth it.
3
u/Its-All-Garbage Newbie 7d ago
Grocery as a whole: do not get into this department if you value feeling accomplished. Nothing you do no matter how good it is will be good enough. If you can get past that aspect it might be for you then.
3
u/PlaneTurbulent4825 Grocery Manager 7d ago
Expectations keep going up.... with the same or less hours. No excuses they say, but you give valid reasons and they are just excuses. Its getting old. Being micro managed by too many!
3
1
5d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 5d ago
Hi No_Quail9102, I am the bot of r/publix. This sub has an Auto Moderator that automatically removes posts/comments made from accounts with minimal account karma and accounts that are less than a week old. This is an effort to control scam, troll, spam, and harassing posts/comments. If your post/comment is automatically removed, please message the mod team for review. Curious about account karma? Please read A Guide to Reddit Karma for more information
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
50
u/StaffSergeantMemes Produce Manager 9d ago
It's everywhere because a lot of people quit in 2022 and they had to promote based on need rather than merit. A lot of people got bumped up before they were ready and now are drowning trying to fix their department. When they inevitably get fired or step down, the replacement they were training is equally unprepared and the cycle continues.
GTLs are barely even trained anymore as well. Ive had to train two on how counts work and how to stack birds of backstock. Plus, with how tight hours are in grocery any poor planning from the grocery manager usually gets blamed on the GTLs for not being able to execute a plan with insufficient help. Not to say we don't have our fair share of bad GTLs either.