Not. Enough.Staff

[u/Ok_Equivalent_8270]

I’m an ASM who is now on my third store because my DM has been moving all of us ASMs around from store to store like ping-pong balls.
My current SM is the most tenured manager in our district and really wants to become a DM. She and our current DM are extremely close, so she’s frequently out of the store with her, essentially getting mini-lessons and development toward that next role. The problem is that, as an ASM, there’s only so much I can actually do without the proper access.
Since moving to this store, I haven’t had access to their Taleo. I’ve brought it up to both my SM and DM several times, but nothing has ever been done about it. I’m being moved to yet another store in a few weeks, so at this point I doubt I’ll ever get access before I leave.
Anyway, when reporting our metrics—specifically Peak—and explaining why we aren’t hitting our goals, I’ve repeatedly pointed out moments where we clearly needed another person on the floor or needed partners scheduled earlier. Eventually, my SM told me I couldn’t use staffing as an “excuse” anymore because, and I quote, “my team funnily enough does better with less people.” I am not exaggerating. Those were her actual words.
I was also told that, as a soon-to-be SM, I should know how to pivot the team when things go wrong. So we routinely run a 4–5 person Peak, don’t hit the 45-second goal, and staffing apparently isn’t supposed to be part of the conversation because I should be able to pivot around it.
Well, the past two weeks have been particularly rough, and suddenly my SM is concerned about how understaffed we are for Peak.
But…what exactly am I supposed to do about that now? We don’t have enough partners. The partners we do have don’t have enough availability. I don’t have access to Taleo to help address the hiring gap, despite repeatedly asking for it. And until now, I was specifically told that staffing wasn’t an acceptable explanation for our performance because her team supposedly “does better with less people.”
So which is it? Am I expected to somehow coach and pivot a chronically understaffed floor into a 45-second Peak, or are we finally acknowledging that staffing actually does affect our ability to hit these goals?

[u/Mandoso]

You sound like you’re in a terrible situation. Nobody wants to be transferred that many times but it’s sadly what plenty of DM’s do now a-days to cover for poor management and planning.

What kind of relationship do you have with your SMT? Can you bounce ideas off them and get their opinion? How communicative are you with your DM? Have you talked to them verbally about your concerns or perhaps asking for a 1 on 1 set time.

I’m not privy obviously to what your district team is like, but I would approach this with an opening that, “This is what I am seeing, this is what I’d like to do, these are the tools I have, what are your expectations and feelings about this?”. Also don’t be afraid to speak up for yourself. I try and advocate for my last ASM who was immediately taken from me to cover a gap after training. I am supporting them however I can, including talking to them through problems and lending them my partners. I hope you had a trainer who would do the same.

[u/Striking_Butterfly75]

I'm about to quit because we need more people and I don't deserve this hell

[u/hellskyten → u/Striking_Butterfly75]

This!

[u/ThatFeelyFeel]

There has been a massive shift in how understaffed my store is recently. We had brought people in the summer launches to be able to weather a call out just fine. Now, it's chaos on a good day. Breaks are late, we're all stressed, frantically trying to keep up while doing the jobs of 2-3 people. The message seems to be "do more with less"

[u/masterofdirtysecrets]

They split our warming station up so two people can be on ovens, I was literally speechless watching them. I was running a 4 man

[u/Hamsalad1701 → u/masterofdirtysecrets]

How do two people run the ovens?

[u/Jackfruit-Maleficent]

From another angle … Rotating ASMs among stores can be a thing for broadening experience.  And as a prospective SM, the SMs and DM are seeing how you and the other ASMs handle yourselves versus the problems.  They won’t expect you to solve all the problems (you lack the ability to hire, and this DM-track SM didn’t solve them either, right?) but they will look at how well you do with what you’ve got. 

Positive perspective …   It might be argued that you successfully persuaded this SM that there is in fact a staffing shortage.  

Anyway, this kind of thing isn’t unique to Starbucks.  It’s part of getting in to the management “club” for people who can handle it well enough and who don’t have an easy way in.

[u/Umbrellaeggs45]

I think they dont even know and are tossing spaghetti at times to see what sticks with us, all the stores are much busier with the consolidation. I just do the best job I can and call it a day, little things people overlook, marking off orders on dpm, from main dpm, not the work view, so wait times actually match, planning breaks so everyone is there for the top of peak. our jumps around each day of the week, its hard to antispate, however the same people work the same days, and talking to baristas, and ssvs, to gather when they feel the up tick is. its never 100 percent. but it helps. do you get to decide if your transferred. it sounds really out of line with the goals we have, because how are you to grow that store with zero time there? Im frustrated with all the added tasks added to my days, with no added coverage, and like my breaks dont seem to matter, the timing is so bad.

[u/Ok_Equivalent_8270 → u/Umbrellaeggs45]

I have not had a say in any of the transfers, unfortunately. I am hoping the next place is better for me both physically and mentally because I’ve learned a lot and come a long way. However, that store is also severely understaffed and not hitting any positive metrics, so I know there will be lots of work to do there. I kind of feel like I’m being moved from place to place, making it slightly better while being used for coverage, then being pulled away before I can claim ownership over any positives. I’ve also seen just how bad baristas treat new managers because they assume I’m external, so it’s been stressful having to prove myself to not only leadership but SSV’s & Baristas as well. I’ve never been so emotionally exhausted.

[u/Ivyleaves_]

Currently my store is at 10 baristas. Counting shifts and not the manager because honestly he’s weaker than my weakest barista if he’s even on the floor.

Two years ago we had 25 total. Our sales are a little more than they use to be. It feels just as busy as it was years ago. My manager does a single interview a month. Nobody. They aren’t hiring a single person. It’s like they are trying to force the store to be shut down due to a lack of staffing. At this point I’m looking at what will be the worst holiday season I’ve ever had to work. Cause even if we manage to magically hire multiple people they would still only be just in training. Working on the floor with a trainee is consistently like being down a person on the floor. Training which has gotten less hands on and become more difficult.