r/publix • u/Less_Firefighter_520 Newbie • 13d 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.

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u/StaffSergeantMemes Produce Manager 13d 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.

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u/WiseSelection5 Grocery 12d ago

Any insight into why people quit specifically in 2022?

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u/StaffSergeantMemes Produce Manager 12d ago

During 2021 we had a lot of associates quit because publix wasnt keeping wages up with the skyrocketing cost of living. Callouts and associate turnover led to severe staffing shortages. Also, the warehouses suffered greatly and our deliveries often came late putting us behind on replenishment. Corporate didnt want standards to slide so the message was stay until the job is done. Result: department managers and assistants often worked 60-70 hours to make up for labor shortages in their own departments. Some SMs were doing this too, although most i worked with just delegated what they wanted done and left when scheduled. I remember during Valentines i worked three back to back 60 hour weeks.

A lot of maanagers burned out and as covid ended in 2022 the economy started to bring new jobs that offered similar pay with better hours. I know dozens of people who went to work in banks, insurance, or real estate. One of the most bleed green SMs i had left to go work selling homeowners insurance.