I think it's becoming more and more obvious that Follett will continue to go downhill until it's no more. There were plenty of opportunities to right this ship, and every one of them was missed or ignored. That should be enough of a warning to all employees.
Everybody should be looking for a new job right now. Don't wait until it's too late and you unprepared for what's to come.
I have seen the extraordinary changes over the past several years and it has been quite disheartening. The big layoff resulted in the loss of some good employees. There was an additional loss of talent by many of the folks who had to deliver the blow and struggled to handle the shock. This brain drain was replaced by the likes of Sears and Kmart thought leaders. It is clear that Follett is headed down the same path as these retailers due to a lack of inspiring and thought provoking leadership that is willing to create future possibilities. Our industry is challenging (as are many). I have served as a SM and RM and since departing Follett, I am content to create success for my post-Follett team because the Follett constraints do not apply. We are succeeding and my team is the reason why. This used to apply at Follett.
A little more than 5 years ago follett purged experience. Many of the senior managers, who administered this assault, were from the "good ole days" of follett. They went so far as to claim they had to layoff more than 10% of its workforce so they could be more responsive to customer needs https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=2127#m22195 . Many of the laid off were people over 40 and people who had between 10 and 15 years experience. They reclassified many of the remaining staff as part time and denied them health benefits. They emotionally assaulted employees with more than 15 years experience. Their unstated goal was to drive out as many as possible without paying severance. Excellent team members became suddenly stupid. All-Star performers would put on improvement plans. The company attacked the very people who helped build it.
The future of follett died a little more than 5 years ago when it attacked its past. I'm sorry some are late to understand this. It isn't a new development. If you continued to work for follett, you've been working in a decomposing corpse.
RM's need to stay to do store transitions (closings and openings-and there are a few), hire new managers since they continue to get out while they can, and fill in or get coverage for stores w/out managers, and to push campus to get on board with whatever program Follett is currently pushinh.pushing. GVP? No clue what they actually do other than sit on their computers all day.
The fact that more people say their RMs are unreachable should be a sign to HR that they have the wrong people in charge. No wonder there is so much disconnect with staff at store level being left with little support.
Too many chiefs, etc
Same here.
To save money middle management should be cut, what is the purpose of having rm’s & gvp’s? Exactly what do they do? Don’t need 2 middle managers trickling down directives from the powers that be. The 2 in our region I can’t even look to for support. Takes forever or don’t respond to emails.
I agree with most of that you said, but there is no real way to right the ship. It is sinking fast. “Leadership” will hang on as long as they can and get paid. Everyone else just keeps getting nailed. No one cares. It is a rudderless ship., RM, GVP, and upper management, they are just riding it out for the bonuses as long as they can.The interesting thing is why are the RMs and the GVP still here. Probably because they know there is no way they can get a job making what they are making in any other industry. And they are mostly incompetent and worthless.