Photo by Mike Mozart/ CC BY 2.0
Home Depot is implementing a new policy aimed at bridging the gap between corporate and retail operations. Starting in the fourth quarter of 2024, all corporate employees, including senior management and remote workers, will be required to complete an eight-hour shift at one of the company’s retail stores every quarter, Bloomberg reported, citing an internal memo from Home Depot CEO Ted Decker.
This decision aims to bridge the gap between the corporate office and the retail floor. The intention is to ensure that all employees, regardless of their position, understand the challenges and daily operations faced by store workers, thereby fostering empathy, better decision-making and a more cohesive company culture.
“We need to stay connected to the core of our business, so we can truly understand the challenges and opportunities our store associates face every day,” Decker said in the note to staff.
Home Depot, one of the largest retailers in the United States with over $150 billion in annual revenue and 450,000 employees, is reviving this practice after it was suspended during the pandemic due to safety concerns.
For white-collar workers, this move serves as an opportunity to gain firsthand insight into customer interactions, operational challenges and the physical demands of retail work, potentially enhancing their managerial and strategic decisions.
However, this mandate is considered an unconventional step for the retail industry, particularly in light of growing labor activism and a recent decline in sales after a surge in consumer spending during the pandemic.
How This Policy Could Backfire
The success of this initiative largely depends on its implementation. If presented as a genuine opportunity for learning and growth, with proper support and preparation, it could yield positive results. However, if perceived as punitive or if corporate employees are inadequately prepared, it may lead to discontent or further division within the company.
There are potential risks associated with this policy. Corporate staff, unfamiliar with retail operations, may struggle with customer interactions, product knowledge or service protocols. This could result in temporary inefficiencies, mistakes or a decline in service quality during their shifts. Consequently, there’s a possibility of negatively impacting store operations or customer satisfaction if not carefully managed.
The policy’s effectiveness will ultimately be determined by the quality of training provided to corporate employees, the overall acceptance of the initiative within the company culture and the ability to maintain consistent service standards during these shifts.
DoorDash
DoorDash previously introduced a program called WeDash, requiring all employees in the U.S., Canada and Australia, from engineers to the CEO, complete a food delivery once a month. This initiative aims to provide staff with a deeper understanding of their product, offer insights into how their decisions affect Dashers and customers and maintain customer connections as the company grows.
The company monitors participation in WeDash and incorporates it into employee performance evaluations. For those unable to make deliveries, alternative options include working in customer or merchant chat support.
“When DoorDash was founded in 2013, all employees, including our co-founders, needed to know the three sides of our Marketplace inside and out in order to operate at the lowest level of detail and continue improving every aspect of our offerings,” employer brand and recruitment marketing lead Raj Prashad wrote on the company blog. “Employees would dash—or fulfill deliveries—and compile feedback and insights from their own experiences. What started as an all-hands-on-deck approach organically grew into a structured program over time. By 2015, we formalized this feedback model into WeDash,” he added.
Despite facing some criticism—particularly from high-earning tech workers who expressed frustration about the mandate—many view it as a positive initiative that promotes empathy and understanding of the core business.
“The WeDash program centers on our Customer obsessed mindset and allows us to demonstrate bias for action in identifying, understanding and escalating the toughest challenges faced by our merchants, Dashers, and consumers. It allows us to be an owner of the products and logistical infrastructure that powers our platform, operate at the lowest level of detail, and constantly think outside the room as our teams work to solve these challenges. No matter what team you sit on or which city you work from, the common language spoken at DoorDash is dashing,” Prashad stated.
Source: Forbes
