Thread regarding Follett layoffs

3-way Match was tremendously over budget due to poor specs and user input. Remember, the CHIEFS know all ;)

Who picked IBM for the eFollett cloud. Time to change the old saying, you don't get fired for buying IBM.

The work to replace SODA has started.

SODA was a great system compared to what we previously had (anyone remember that? CC# printed on paper) However, it has run its course. We need to be able to confirm, ship, & slap a label with a click of a button. Has anyone toured an Amazon facility before? It’s shocking!

SODA does need to go! The teams should be coordinating with field needs when a new system is in place to ensure everyone is happy!

2 points from a high volume manager who transitioned here from a very similar company:

1. Waiting for a world to return where walk in sales dominate without a fast and customer friendly online presence is sad.

That being said. . .

2. SODA is a freakishly inefficient and obtuse system for processing orders. We process at 1/3 the speed of BNED, 1/10th of Amazon.

The company is a company. If you are looking for help from above, you’ve already lost.

As a field team member (and Follett team member), The Follett Team Member has a point and so does the last poster. What I would say, or interpret, is that The Follett Team Member meant it’s about the “company” meaning each and every team member and not just one. I definitely would have read it as the opposite way if the Follett Team Member was not respectfully posting below. As a company we need to come to consensus but there is no way to get 5,000 people on the same page. I actually really appreciate this dialog, we need more but not anonymously. The HO and Field are discussing real issues on here and not slinging mud. Maybe a separate string is the right way to go Follett Team Member.

Sincerely
A Field Leader and Partner but above that Follett Team Member

And there it is. “It’s not about you”! I would have to respectfully disagree. Just maybe if we started focusing a little more on the people and less on the company, the bottom line would fall into place. How one feels they are truly being treated is the biggest motivator there is. I ask you. Do you feel that you are respected and valued Team member? Because they are too many who can say they are not!

To dyhd+151JHuJG.

All valid points that need to be surfaced, thanks for raising them. I would just ask that you reserve the criticism as the previous did and I have been doing. Happy to start another string if needed, but this is not about you, this is about the company and how we work together to help each other. There is a definite bandwidth issue, there needs to be more direct communication with the field for sure... I hear that loud and clear!

If you are so concern, here is some constructive feed back. As a store leader, why haven’t I been invited to a weekly field webinar? Why haven't I been asked to attend a townhall? Why wasn’t I invited to hear PC talk about the company’s Covid-19 strategy? Why do I receive daily nameless emails demanding an action that has nothing to do with the store? It’s called a lack of respect. Just because we choose to stay at the store level doesn’t mean we are stupid and need to have every second of our day micromanaged. Why does it only take days to create a system to keep track of if we are doing our jobs and years to enhance the systems to help us do our jobs?

To the last two poster, this is the Follett Team Member that posted the post you are replying to.

I want to be transparent, and I feel that all team members deserve that, labor dollars are very hard right now in Follett in general, and the current situation has not helped. I would ask how can we look at system and process enhancement TOGETHER to help Follett.

As for not having direct contact, I hear you. I think what we need to work through is how do we remain efficient in answering the fields questions and support issues better and my personally but also keeping it in a portal/ticketing structure to ensure that it is not lost in Outlook. That also was a problem And feedback from the team before so I want to make sure WE can meet all needs.

Both of these are great conversations to be having and I hate that it needs to be on this platform because I cannot reach out to you. The key is we need to solve this and not just HO or Field and then push it out. It’s a team effort where one or many team member's may not like the decision but the conversation was atleast had and all parties heard.

How do we change that?

I don’t want you to be at risk revealing yourself on here but we also need leaders in the field like yourself that put together thoughtful and constructive responses.

I do really appreciate the respectful responses and constructive conversation.

Respectfully,

The Follett Team Member

I understand that many of the people in the home office are in similar positions as store managers in that we all have someone higher up that we are reporting to. I do not take issue with many of the individuals at the home office, most of them are just doing their jobs. I appreciate the individuals like the planners and the ap people who are also just trying to do their best.

Yet the home office is the place where many directives are formed and passed onto stores. The resentment comes not feeling like we are being communicated with or heard by those making the directives...which again, I acknowledge is a select few within the home office and not the majority of individuals trying to support us.

Also sending mixed signals to the home office being there to help and support and listen is the fact that many of us are instructed to not have direct communications with individuals at the home office. We need to submit this request through this portal, that request through that portal. Sometimes we are going in circles trying to figure out the proper protocol to make a request happen in our store. Not all regionals are helpful when it comes to these store level things as they should be. I understand it might make keeping up with communications easier for the home office folks, but it does not really feel like we are working with an actual person.

To the previous poster from home office and to anyone from home office who follows these threads:
The number one request I have from the store level is more labor dollars. We are customer facing and are struggling with the little labor dollars we receive. A lot of frustrations with store level complaints could be helped with more support in stores.

I would argue that the majority of people at the HO listen, care, and react to the store team needs though it is not everyone and I cannot argue that.

It sounds like you do not have a eComm concern, you have concern with being heard in the field. Has the field been cut, yes. Has the field been asked to do more with less, yes. All stated are the facts that no one can dispute and I would love to hear how anyone could. I would just ask that you look around a once full HO and see the many empty spaces (before Covid), the once three or four roles that are now put on one HO Team member, and the lights that are on from 630am to 830pm. This is NOT saying that the field is not working these hours or experiencing this so please DO NOT take this as an attack. This is an ask to find those at the HO that do care and that do want to hear you.

To date, the success that has been seen is ONLY seen because HO and field worked together... Discover, ACCESS, eComm, CORE, CT, etc.. The field is a invaluable presence on campus, I do not think anyone will deny that. I would also say that the HO is invaluable because they are building new programs, platforms, systems, assisting with RFPs, building PPTs and marketing, and finding ways to support more with less to make life easier in the field. Does it always turn out perfect, most definitely not but we are trying as you are trying and we fall at times as do all.

I would also say that certain HO teams have partnered and most importantly heard, the needs of the field. The Weekly Field Calls are a perfect example. The same eComm team being spoken about was the one that put together, and is running Without question, the curbside pickup and worked night and day to do because they care for the field. What does curbside have to do with eComm... nothing but they care so it does not matter if it means assisting our store teams.

So I ask that as I have done with my key field partners, find those HO people that want to partner to revitalize Follett and speak up in a respectful manner about those that are not. HO needs the field and the field needs the HO.

Yes, I will answer this before someone comments... I am from the HO. I am here to listen and partner with those in the field because at the end of the day we are all under the Follett name And work for each other. That part is key, we do not work for you and you do not work for us... the field is not the only “register” and neither is the HO... we work together as a team! I am not here to create further segregation, as this post is a perfect example of a few bad seeds poisoning the perception HO has of the field, and the field has of the HO. The minority are those being spoken about on here, not the majority and we are all smart enough to know that and come to our own conclusions.

I would just end with an ask, find partners that want to hear you because there are leaders that do and exist both in the field and HO. We will put our nose where it does not belong to partner as we would expect the same in return.

This is meant to be a sincere note, though the minority spoken about above will make fun of it and mock. That’s is fine, I am still here to hear you and will continue to do so.

Respectfully,
A Follett Team Member

Same team? For YEARS...SO——MANY——YEARS——the field has been whipped into submission by the Home Office. Do more with less hours, do more with fewer people, you don’t need these positions to operate your store, we’re going to make more people PT so you can have more flexibility in scheduling but you also don’t get enough labor to schedule anyone so you have to run a register but why aren’t you out on campus selling includED, why is your receiving room such a mess, your 3WM is also too high why can’t you keep it low, but we also want you to tell us what we can take off your plate to help, we won’t actually do anything about it but doesn’t it feel good that we asked? Nobody in the field, no campus I’m aware of asked for a better efollett but sure let’s throw $50 million at that instead of the people that keep our business functioning. Also, here’s a new Home Office VP, and another, and another, another, and another, and so and so got promoted, and so on and so forth. Too many people have been making decisions for the field that have NEVER worked a day in one of our stores so how on earth can they know what we need? And if you ask for an explanation or for the decision makers to show you the math, they say you can ask but you wouldn’t understand it. So forget about “team”, it’s been US vs. them for a very long time.

On the same team! Too funny! Must be someone from the ivory tower. I have yet to see any effort made by HO to make us feel like we are part of the team. When will the BS stop. This company is far from having a team culture.

Home office vs operations needs to stop. We are all on the same team. Half of the e-commerce team is furloughed or laid off. The 50M was over six years, most of it was in budget, and most of the increase hasn’t been spent yet. Every day, I hear the home office thank store managers for everything they do. To the folks in stores every day wearing masks and filling web orders, thank you for keeping this company running!
The e-commerce investment (small as it was) is The best investment Follett made over the last few years.
I understand this is an extremely difficult time, and we all are feeling frustrated. But the-commerce investment is paying off times 100. E-commerce is not the problem.
We need to work together, not against each other right now.

We know who made the $50 MM decision even though the lack of return could have been forecast before it was made. We have removed all of the common sense ecommerce leadership we used to have because there would have been push back against projects like this. Like someone said, an echo chamber.

The last successful project Follett actually completed was 3-way match. Every other project I worked on was over budget, late, poor implementation or never actually completed (unless you count sc-apping as completed). The IT dept (actual workers) knew what they were doing, but the CHIEFS never had a clue. Now everything is outsourced “to save money”. We know who started that ball rolling (off a cliff). That $50 million will turnout to be another bad decision....

Yeah, the Follett model is the same model as all the large successful eCommerce groups use.

Wait, not that isn't right. Follett lives in an echo chamber where the big shots tell each other how smart they are and the family is too stupid to see what a fail they have going on...

And, enjoy!

I don't think it is anti-eCommerce. eFollett is unlike any other retailer. Nearly 100% of the traffic comes from the specific, unique institution for that site. Without the institution, sales are practically nothing. Follett has already had eCommerce sites that provided online purchase access to students. I think the real question is 50 million bucks got you what over the last version. Where is the benefit. Follett will be lucky to survive over the long haul, and needs to be very wise on capital expenditures. Only critical, profit generating projects should be invested in.

Don’t forget how much HO hates store personnel. Just the over all attitude towards the teams that are doing every thing in their power to keep their campuses happy, and also sending books out to other schools. It seems that some in upper management forgets that we are a service provider and not a traditional retailer or an e-commerce retailer.

It's not really anger with eCommerce itself. More the attitude that eCommerce sales are just generating themselves and that is why they are up. There is still someone at the store, or multiple someone's, pulling, packing and shipping those online orders. It's the people on the store level that have to make sure their websites are "gold status" for the ".edu" project. Or whatever the heck their calling it these days. We're also still the ones having to have the conversations about "can we have this email list."

I really do not even understand what they spent that 50 million on. I had a parent point out to me the other day that it was really hard to find gifts for their graduate. Why...? We did not have half our "graduate gifts" categorized accordingly on our website. They can't buy it if they can't find it on the website.

And yeah, they have not done a noticeable update to our online fulfillment system in I don't even know how long...Talk about clunky and confusing.

First time poster, but had to chime in. You sound like old school Follett seeing online as the enemy of the stores. I work in a store that is not open to the public yet, and I am forever grateful to have online orders coming in. Right now, I'm thankful to have an upgraded online experience since walk-in customers can't come to the store. I don't get where the anger for eCommerce is coming from? I'll take an order no matter how it comes in to me - in-person or online.

"This information is simply not true. Online sales right now are 70% of revenue"

Obviously. Stores are closed, numbers for efollett are up only because of instore not available. Has nothing to do with the $50million investment.

This information is simply not true. Online sales right now are 70% of revenue. My manager told me. The eCommerce team did do furloughs and layoffs as I know many of them.

Tbh Khan Academy is pretty cool.

Outside of the bizarro world pyramid scheme educational bubble, ebook sales already well exceed physical book sales, and the "Netflix of Books" epic Books and Raz Kids style apps and free e-books even at the k-12 level from the likes of MIT, Khan Academy, Harvard, and others are beginning to take hold and school districts are already saving money. Of course classics have been in the public domain and freely available from Amazon for ages. The cushy physical copies world is going to go the way of the dodo bird sooner rather than later.

Misleading sales increase. Only up because stores are closed. Once stores and campus reopen efollett will drop.
The statement efollett did no layoffs, who do you think pulls and processes those orders? All the people laid off!