It seems that much of our time since we last met has been spent in meetings and conversations regarding Pepper's vacation/leave of absence turned decision to leave the Management Team. Goldy and Erica are presently working to ensure that all of Pepper's supervisory responsibilities will be adequately covered by existing staff, while the MOC proceeds with their management search. We have all been saddened to hear of Pepper's departure, but are growing most accustomed to his news; the remaining members of the GMT are growing more comfortable with the prospects of taking on additional responsibilities and we are confident that we can, along with the support of our Department Managers, attend to all of the necessary day-to-day details and look forward to what we hope will be a prosperous summer.
The three GMs, and some department managers, have been participating in a webinar series sponsored by the National Co-operative Grocers Association titled “Survive and Thrive in the Recession.” NCGA has generously made this training available to all food co-operatives, regardless of NCGA membership status. Titles of completed seminars include: Managing in a Recession—an overview, creating labor efficiencies, and lowering staff cost (without layoffs.) Titles of seminars forthcoming include: lay-offs: if you have to do them, do them right, managing and maximizing cash, and Managing inventory to maximize cash and sales. Our experience has been that these seminars have offered good advice and excellent info, and we are pleased to know that we have many of the recommended tools already in place to be able to weather the storm: a multi-dimensional staff, an incentive program that rewards excellent performers, etc.
We are presently determining whether any additional staffing will be needed to get us through the busy summer season, and are looking at an estimate of about 40 seasonal hours that will need to be added into the schedule for July, August, and September (store-wide). We've encouraged all DMs to be conservative in their considerations for additional staff, and we've been pleased to see a willingness to try and get by with a less than optimum staffing load, given the uncertainty of the economic times.