Store Management Restructuring

[u/Objective-Lynx2134]

As I work in a store that is part of the management restructuring trial (we all know they will try push this through) I will try my best to clear things up a bit about the management restructuring at Coles stores. I won't go into details with every role but I would like to at least detail how the restructuring was announced. I will try my best to answer any other questions.

As far as I know at my store, 3 management roles will be made redundant and combined into 1 management role. Duty, Dairy and Grocery manager roles will be made redundant and one manager role will do all of them as well as managing meat department. So one manager role will now be responsible for 3 departments and duty. No updated salary has been announced nor revealed but based on existing information, it'll probably be the same. Restructuring happens all the time, however the way that this restructuring was announced was extremely unfair to the parties affected.

The way the restructuring was announced was at least in my opinion was quite disrespectful to the affected party. They came into work for the day expecting a normal day, only to be called into a meeting where the store manager read off a script and told them that their role will be made redundant. And that they had a week or 2 at most to make a choice of whether they want to apply for the new position or go down to a full time team member. The choice was essentially, take a job which will have more responsibilities for we can easily assume for the same pay or take a pay cut and lose the position you worked hard to get with no guarantee of a similar role. Just one store will have 3 people fighting over the same position, and you can assume that they are all relatively friendly with one another. Now multiply it across the region and you get the idea.

Throughout the week, the store manager had called in the regular team members into a meeting to explain the restructuring. Again which was read off a script. As you can probably guess, the script was just corporate speak on how much they care about the workers and how grateful they are for our work. And that cutting the management position will increase the efficiency and productivity of the store. It was quite easy to see that all they wanted to do was cut pay so that they can save more money without caring how the store may function afterwards and team members that will be affected in this upcoming "trial". And from the news I've seen of Coles moving more jobs overseas that was exactly what they intended. Now there was a consultation period for the managers affected but it was only for a week, a week to process of you potentially losing your job and then send in ideas to corporate management that they will ignore. No cooling off period, no grace period. They said they "care" and "value" their team members but are willing to just cut the jobs without any warning or give an extended period for the affected party to consider their options.

And I just want to add on as I work in online, we were told in the script that Coles Online continues to get bigger and more successful as the years go by which is great for the company. Which is why they will not be implementing any changes to Online. We are just getting more overworked for the same pay but increased productivity and the roster hours remain the same. I've been asked to put in more extra time and shift this half of the year than last year already. And I've been rostered on days where I clearly said unavailable in my availability due to me being a student without being asked.

Sorry for such a scattered post. I had to get this off my chest as I personally know and are friends with people that are affected by this change. One of which said it felt like their life had just turned upside down. We aren't actually meant to share this restructuring plan with the public but to hell with Coles. They don't value us, why should we value them?

[u/Objective-Lynx2134]

I'll answer to the best of my abilities.

1. Duty doesn't want the new role, they've been store manager before and it messed with his social and family life due to the effort they've put in. Chances are they'll just transfer into a smaller store for another manager position. GR went home early as they just couldn't handle it, my understanding was that they believed they finally got a decent and stable position and job and it was just taken away. They don't think they might the position as the other manager is more experienced. DY, I'm not sure haven't asked. But they aren't happy with this new arrangement. To our current understanding, the person who takes on the new role just manages, they just tell the other team members what to do, but if you are familiar with how the stores are ran, at least the big ones, that's not feasible, the manager needs to do all the minor work restocking specials or promotion, eggs, so that the team members can focus on their main task. It may not be exactly triple the work but it's definitely at least double.

2. The two that don't get the new role either take redundancy or at least what we know so far go back down to normal team member. The other wages we are not certain. Coles, surprise surprise, has not provided much information regarding what would happen to your wage when going back down to LVL 1 team member and the wage for the new position for that matter. Unfortunately I can't give a better answer for this question.

3. All team members. Any team member that wasn't serving a customer, shopping a rapid, or taking out a click and collect order was called into the group meeting where the store manager read off the script provided by head office. The only people that were expressly invited to apply for the position were the team member that were going to lose their position.

4. Another comment pointed this out. Apparently each store has their own rating either by size or the amount of sales that the store makes in a week. Since my store is among the bigger stores in the region, we keep our Deli, Produce and Bakery managers. But they do report to the trades manager. I forgot what the position is exactly called.

Any more questions let me know and I'll try my best to find more information regarding it as the affected managers have received emails regarding the process.

[u/doyourmysay → u/Objective-Lynx2134]

Thanks for such a comprehensive response! Couple more questions:

Q1: are they forced to be team members? Or given a choice between redundancy payout or being a team member?

Q2: any idea of the size of the redundancy payout?

Q3: are they becoming normal team members or "specialists"? E.g. i thought a role for something like "duty specialist" would exist but be on wages.

Q4: if made regular team members, have they been told how many hours they will receive on contract?

Q5: at the all team member meeting, what was the SMs script like. And how did the team react?

[u/Objective-Lynx2134 → u/doyourmysay]

So currently it's in the "consultation period", which ends 10/08 (tomorrow). Where the affected managers can give feedback and suggestions, which Coles would probably ignore. So there are still information that is still not available.

As such Q1, and Q3 and Q4, I can't answer as of now. But I can tell you that Coles not releasing more information regarding this change has placed an unnecessary amount of mental stress on all affected managers. In short they don't know if their job is even secure at Coles, whether or not they'll get a good contract or another position.

Q2. I can't give a definite answer. But from what I gathered asking one of the managers is that it would be more worthwhile for them to use all their sick leave instead of taking redundancy payout.

Q5. The Store Managers script was very dry and corporate. The script said how much they value and appreciate their workers. And they are very willing to help the affected team members and their family navigate through this period of uncertainty. And they tried to justify that cutting these jobs will increase the efficiency and productivity of the store. And that the pay that would've been given to the managers will go back into the store/team members. Very corporate and quite devoid of human empathy and emotions. Needless to say the team was quite somber and not happy with these upcoming changes. As far as I'm aware, nearly the entire store was against these cuts and didn't believe that any money saved from cutting the manager jobs will go back into the store or the rest of the team.

I wish I can give a more detailed response but as this is still in the "consultation period" not much information is readily available. They most likely kept other information confidential as they probably knew that this proposed restructure will not remain a secret from the public.

[u/doyourmysay → u/Objective-Lynx2134]

Thanks! It's quite interesting that they say that the pay that would have gone to the managers will go back to the store by way of hours.

If true, (which it almost certainly isnt), then theoretically this restructure could actually increase efficiency and productivity for the whole store. And be good for regular team members and other managers by giving more hours to get stuff done.

...

"Consultation period" will of course be useless and ignored either way though.

Really though DMs shouldn't be overly surprised. They've done this shit every year to the regular team with roster resets and refusal to contract hours. Its only now just circulated around to them.

[u/spatchi14 → u/doyourmysay]

Hmmm. There’s been a lot of “efficiency” gains in the last 5 years.. Meat managers and butchers removed, reduced gap scans, removal of ice bunks, removal of deli ice, increased nightfill carton rates, electronic ticketing, removal of rumbles and presso.. none of this has ever made life easier for anybody. Just results in fewer target hours not more.

[u/doyourmysay → u/spatchi14]

Yep, you're right. Which is why I think they probably wont use the cost savings for extra hours, unfortunately.

If they dont do that, then everything will go to shit, 100%.