The Grand Rapids Press reports on how “Meijer Inc. plans to move forward with the ‘right people’ now that it has let go 500 department managers in its 180 stores throughout the Midwest.”
According to the story, Meijer senior management interviewed more than four thousand managers at its supercenters in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky over the past month as it looked to “determine the best use of personnel and to restructure work responsibilities.” The evaluation only included store and departmental managers, and not headquarters personnel and hourly staffers.
According to the story, Meijer senior management interviewed more than four thousand managers at its supercenters in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky over the past month as it looked to “determine the best use of personnel and to restructure work responsibilities.” The evaluation only included store and departmental managers, and not headquarters personnel and hourly staffers.
- KC's View:
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As tough as this is on the 500 people who lost their jobs, the unfortunate truth is that this is hardball – every store in every market has to work on the premise that every customer and every transaction is in play. That means working doubly hard to keep the customers and sales you have, and even harder to attract new people into the store.
I just hope that in addition to the 12 percent of store and departmental managers who were let go, the people who remain are being given the motivation and wherewithal to truly be innovative and aggressive. Just making cuts isn’t enough…my experience is that retailers generally only create differential advantages through addition and multiplication, not subtraction and division.
