Home Depot will begin requiring corporate employees to work a full day at one of its stores every quarter. The company says this is aimed at supporting retail staff.
Employees, including senior executives and those working from home, will be required to work eight-hour shifts starting in the fourth quarter of this year, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg News.
“We need to stay connected to the core of our business so our store employees truly understand the challenges and opportunities they face every day,” CEO Ted Decker said in a memo introducing the program. ” he said.
A company spokesperson said the new program is the company’s long-standing practice of asking employees to spend time in-store.
Home Depot, one of America’s largest retailers with annual sales of more than $150 billion and 450,000 employees, is enduring tough times. After splurging on housing during the pandemic, Americans shifted spending to other areas; Poor sales With a chain.
Mr. Decker’s move to require everyone in the company to work shifts is unusual in the industry and comes at a time of rising workforce activism. This includes Home Depot, which faced a small unionization effort. effort 2022, other retailer.
Sporadic schedules, manual labor, and low wages have historically made store work difficult. In recent years, that job has become increasingly difficult due to in-store theft and unruly behavior from customers, and operators are introduce We will provide new benefits and pay raises to improve retention rates.
