‘All hands on deck’: Grocery store executives get a taste of the hard life on coronavirus front lines – Financial Post

Loblaw Cos. Ltd. sent an email to its head office staff in early March, asking for volunteers to leave their jobs and work in grocery stores instead.

Angie Kim, a senior director of finance, used to be a store manager years ago, so she knows how they work. She volunteered and has since been working 12-hour days at Toronto-area stores, cleaning carts, stocking shelves and assembling online orders for curbside pickups.

In the middle of the coronavirus crisis, grocery chains are scrambling to bolster their ranks as demand spikes, hiring thousands of people and redeploying hundreds of corporate-office volunteers to pitch in on the front lines, despite the increased risks of getting the virus and being hassled by customers.

I do struggle every day when I wake up, like, Can I do it again? Kim said. Because Im scared. Right? The pandemic is real. I see hundreds of customers every day. I get selfish sometimes thinking, I dont have to do it. I volunteered. No ones expecting me to show up. Can I do it again?

Still, she continues to do it, remembering the words of a colleague who told her that all well remember when the crisis is over is how we treated each other.

I know Ill regret it if I take the easy way out, Kim said. I want to be proud of myself looking back.

Even the chief executive of Longos, an Ontario chain of supermarkets, has made a point of working in the store.

Everyone in our business is all hands on deck, said Anthony Longo, who regularly visits stores and distribution centres, helping to stock shelves if new shipments come in, or bagging groceries when check-out lines are long.

Longos chief financial officer has also jumped in at the call centre to help with a surge in online grocery orders.

Part of the reason Longo and his fellow executives do it is to calm the jitters that are growing in his labour force. About seven or eight per cent of his store staff are healthy, but wont come in.

I do struggle every day when I wake up, like, Can I do it again? Because I'm scared

Angie Kim

We do have quite a number of people who dont feel safe, and thats an issue in the industry, he said. We want people to know that it is safe. Im out there.

At Loblaw, roughly 400 corporate-level staff now work at stores. Walmart Canada said it asked its head-office employees to shift to in-store work in mid-March and has since had dozens of volunteers. And, late last month, Empire Co. Ltd., parent company of the Sobeys, Safeway and FreshCo chains, sent a note asking interested corporate staff to fill out a survey about their relevant experience, so they could be placed in the right job.

Not only can you feel proud of stepping up during this crucial time, youll gain valuable visibility and insight into a different part of the business, the emailed note said.

Ryan Skelton was one of more than 200 employees who, as of Friday, had answered Empires survey. He usually works as a chef, designing take-home meals at head office.

I have so many friends and colleagues currently working at the stores now, he said, so I dont see why I shouldnt also step forward and take those chances.

The transition into the store can be startling.

Kim, the Loblaw finance director, was in charge of the lineup outside a No Frills in downtown Toronto last week. The store only allows 30 customers inside at a time now, so she was doing crowd control, only letting someone in when someone else left.

A woman at the front of the line, who had waited maybe 10 or 15 minutes in the cold, didnt look well and was coughing, Kim said. As a result, she had to stop the woman from coming in.

She offered to take the womans grocery list and shop for her. But the woman started cursing, Kim recalled. She was in a motorized scooter and started trying to push past.

Standing there by myself Im 52, 100 lbs Im not the most intimidating person, Kim said. I had to get a little bit of back up because she refused to leave Those interactions leave an impression. It stays with you throughout the day.

What concerns Kim is how often those flare-ups are happening. Customers will be mean or inconsiderate dozens of times a day, upset about the inconvenience of the new rules or angry about a missing product or a long wait to get in. Some ignore social distancing protocols and lean in too close to ask questions of a clerk.

Im used to showing up to work at the head office where everybody is super kind and polite and respectful, she said. Theres zero tolerance of abuse or harassment of any kind.

Kim, concerned about the full-time clerks who seem too used to the cruelty to complain, wrote a post on LinkedIn that asked shoppers to speak up if they see clerks being mistreated.

I am not hiding any stock in the back room, she wrote. I am not making you wait outside the store for fun. Im trying to protect everyone.

Galen Weston, Loblaws executive chairman, is apparently concerned, too. In one of his regular missives to customers last month, he scolded those who were reportedly ignoring requests to keep their distance, or making uncomfortable jokes about being COVID-19 positive while leaning around protective screens.

Fortunately, most customers are just grateful they can still shop.

Theres going to be the odd customer comment or behaviour that may weigh you down, but there are so many more customers who tell us were doing a good job, Kim said.

Last week at a No Frills on Parliament Street in Toronto, a customer gave the store $50 to buy lunch for the staff, just as a thank you. Kim went out and bought pizzas.

There is definitely a sense of fear,Kimsaid. But there is more a sense of pride.

Financial Post

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'All hands on deck': Grocery store executives get a taste of the hard life on coronavirus front lines - Financial Post