a double take at fresh & easy
A remarkable thing happened last week.
In March 2006, we hired our first fresh&easy employee. Over the next 18 months, we increased the number of people to over 300.
Last week, in a single week, we more than doubled the size of the company, bringing the total to over 600 people, as we recruited from the neighborhoods around our first stores.
It was quite fitting that the news came through as I was attending the graduation dinner on friday night for our first 22 store managers, who will be responsible for running these stores.
They'd graduated from our 5 week course, which teaches them not just how to run one of our stores, but more importantly how to lead people - after all, everybody deserves a manager who's been trained to help them.
They'd come from a variety of retail and services backgrounds, but it was inspiring to see how they'd become a positive and coherent group, embodying the values of fresh&easy that are at the heart of what we're trying to do.
Of course, we haven't opened a store yet, but I was filled with confidence that the 300+ people we recruited last week will be lead in the fresh&easy way.
Whether that way is right, our customers and employees will decide, once we open in November.
And that, as ever, is how it should be.....
posted by Simon Uwins @ 8:44 AM
10 Comments:
"What does it mean to be a neighbor?” Barrow a cup of sugar… lend me a couple of eggs… let me stay at yours till my mother gets home with the key to our house…? I jotted those words down on my way to see for myself at one of your job fairs in LA this week. After speaking to Heather, I was beginning to get the feeling. The Fresh and Easy Neighborhood touch was beginning. I needed to see more, so I drove to San Diego for yet another job fair {they can be just so boring}!! There, I met Jon. He changed all that. People were crowded around, not just something simply different. It was something coming to “your” neighborhood and the feel is good. For me, the feeling was even brighter. I want the feel. I want to be part of what you are doing. “Hey, can I barrow a cup of sugar…?”
Really, I trekked down to one of the job fairs, only to meet Fresh and Easy. They made polite chit chat for a few minutes. What ticked me off is that they were not accepting resumes. Since they were the only company I went to see, I was pretty unhappy that I put a suit and hose on just to get greeting for a few seconds. Next time you go to a job fair, take a damn resume from people. That is why they are there!!
Does corporate write these responses? So many of them seem so canned.
So how long until those 20 hour a week jobs get cut back? Probably once the media stops paying so much attention to you. Then you'll be just like Starbucks. Tooting your own horn about how great your benefits are but never giving employees enough hours to get them. Anything that sounds too good to be true usually is.
I read the responses and I wonder what planet some people are on. A company proposes a good wage and benefits and already someone is saying it's too good to be true...20 hours a week? I'm sure an F&E store will have a load of employees working 19 hours per week--how absurd. If you read enough about the company, 20 hours is the MINIMUM number of hours an employee works (unless the employee chooses less, and probably wouldn't have been hired). You will see that many customers have been waiting for a store where they are treated fairly, not ignored like during most shopping trips. I can't wait to see the revolution on 11/8!
Yes, it will be to good to be true. Starbucks brags about how it offers benefits for all of its employees working 20 hours or more per week. I worked there and found that most employees are kept just under that magical 20 hours, so SB can save on paying their benefits. I'm sure that once the dust dies down this company will be no different. Plus, what "revolution" are you talking about? It's just food for goodness sakes, not the second coming!!!!!!!!
I find it frickin hillarious that you continue to post my ramblings. I was obviously not good enough to hire, but I am good enough to fill your blog page with entertainment. I guess I should have applied for a marketing position instead of management.
"I find it frickin hillarious that you continue to post my ramblings. I was obviously not good enough to hire, but I am good enough to fill your blog page with entertainment. I guess I should have applied for a marketing position instead of management."
NOTE:
Maybe it was the constant use of "I" that kept you from getting hired. (five times in three sentences)
No, look down a few blog entries. They hired a guy who cannot even spell.
hello mr.simon
on the future opening of 2nd
upand ca. store. its on route
66 foothill blvd. depmode song
route 66 , we need hot rods,
50's theme for employees and
so forth. i can supply die-cast
toys (hotwheels) for a giveaway
rope off the front with a few
choice hot rods and you will
have a winner
jim west covina/la habra
fresh and easy employee
thanks good-nite now
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