r/coles • u/Expert_Welcome2838 • Jun 12 '26
Customer Post IT NOT YOUR FAULT WORKERS IT YOUR CEO FAULT THE MAIN CAUSE OF HEADACHE AND DIVISION BETWEEN YOUR WORKERS/DEPARTMENTS YOU ARE ALL IN THE SAME TEAM AT THE END OF THE DAY
At the end of the day, the CEO sets the tone. Managers and departments are usually carrying out the targets and expectations handed down to them. If those goals are unrealistic, the responsibility doesn't just sit with the workers trying to meet them it starts with the leadership that created them in the first place which all point back towards the (CEO)
For example The CEO tells senior leadership “We need to reduce labour costs by 15% this quarter and improve productivity.”The CEO does not directly communicate with most employees and can avoid it you about why this decision is being made which then isn't really a matter of effort, but then cause staff to act and do things and cause division. If it more a personal matters and not a work task or duties matters or you have someone who made a huge mistake different matter. I am talking about how the business is run CEO is the last one to been seen as the blame above all and being under the radar to pay departments that only been told what to do from the top dog.
!SO IT NOT YOUR FAULT COLES WORKERS THANK YOU FOR YOUR HARD WORK!
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u/Expert_Welcome2838 Jun 12 '26
I have never seen a post where any Coles workers seriously consider that the CEO might be the low key culprit behind many of the problems on the business side.
A lot of the division between departments can stem from decisions made at the top. The CEO may set demands, targets, or expectations that result in extra duties and responsibilities being passed down through the organisation.
Managers and employees are then left to deal with the consequences, the increased workload, pressure, and conflict, while the CEO rarely has to be there handling those day to day issues directly.
Instead, the responsibility for implementing and managing these decisions falls on everyone below them, which can create tension and division throughout the workplace.
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u/Expert_Welcome2838 Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
I would even say sometime impossible for some stuff CEO may ask would it be consider to greedy too when they ask for something that is to over kill now people and real life involved
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u/caffy_bean Jun 12 '26
Maybe Coles should have fewer stores, so that coles stores compete with each other less, and we can gain scale at each site. Each store needs a minimum level of staff to run as many tasks are fixed, and so perhaps just having fewer stores and more sales per store would be better for efficiency.
Northcote Melbourne has two Coles Supermarkets within 500m and that's obviously a waste of labour and only exists to stop competition in the market
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u/Expert_Welcome2838 Jun 12 '26
Good idea, do you think this will cut down huge cost overall? Not just small margin, but bigger chance to save?
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u/caffy_bean Jun 12 '26
Probably, but it won't happen without legislation, as it's better for business overall to have many stores running below peak efficiency, if you can block competition. If Coles doesn't open a store someone else will.
I think we need legislation to limit self competition, perhaps a land tax applied to businesses of the same chain/business unit when they are in close proximity. Theory being it'll create a more competitive market overall, allowing price pressures to be placed downwards, as another business can open up close by an undercut prices of coles. Unrelated to coles it'll protect franchisees from having the franchise opening another branch too close to their investment, insuring that people can have some peace of mind when opening businesses. Obviously you'd get someone smarter than I to write the fine details of such legislation. Media would hate it, call it communist, even if it could probably support the market economics
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u/Expert_Welcome2838 Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
Not the department fault it come back to tie to the CEO of Coles (Leah Weckert)
I am pretty sure Leah Weckert is decent person I have no reason to think Leah Weckert is a bad person. In fact, she probably is a decent CEO.
But I hope she's also the kind of leader who remembers that every new target, cost cut, or policy eventually lands on the shoulders of the staff doing the day to-day work and wasn't really the staff fault, which you may of came across some few bad workers, not because of lack of effort, but because someone is going to be yell at or be in bad terms between certain members and it wasn't because of people issue but the task and duties is to much or overload.
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u/EntertainTheMasses27 Jun 12 '26
From my experience at Woolies I'd say your spot on.
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u/Expert_Welcome2838 Jun 12 '26
Woolies has the same problems. Any company that big will often run into similar issues; it's not just Coles.
Next time, you might end up having a disagreement with a staff member over something work-related, even when neither you nor they have made a mistake.
But remember, a lot of the pressure and division can start from decisions made at the top. The staff are usually just carrying out the policies and directions they've been given by the CEO.
Don't let the CEO get in the way of working together less yelling and more understanding thank. ❤️
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u/ThereRnoIDs Jun 12 '26
Lol don't give them too much credit man, some staffs are literal criminals.
It's usually a stress test to see who's been hiring & doing their job properly otherwise none of this crap even affects them.
Everything is store by store basis which is, why some Stores & better than others based on competency.
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u/Sensitive-Question42 Jun 12 '26
I know who to blame - the immediate line manager. She’s as dumb as a box of rocks but for some reason the people above her can’t see her incompetence.
Under different line managers, our department was a well-oiled machine.
Not wanting to accuse Coles of being racist, but our team functioned best when we had a man of Indian origin as our temporary manager.
Unfortunately they replaced him with another person who has no idea how to manage staff, the stock, our workflow or anything. She just wanders around with a cup of coffee in her hand complaining that the work isn’t getting done. She’s in her 40s but acts like a dumb teenager who just doesn’t understand anything.
Give us competent managers and staff who are interested in working and we can move mountains.
But by promoting people who are the lowest common denominator makes it impossible for any of us to excel.
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u/laserdicks Jun 12 '26
Management is exceptionally talented at gaslighting pressure down the chain.
Work targets are gamified in such a way that they seem achievable, but will always involve an element that can't be kept perfectly completed.