I am a department manager in one of the superstores here in Ontario and can relate to some of the comments made here. Our labour for each department has been cut yet again as of January 1st 2011. The expectations for conditions are still there but with almost 40% less hours to do it. Is this a stressful place to work? Absolutley! I used to love my job, now it's very difficult to go to work everyday. When I started with the company 11 years ago as a part time employee I thought wow what a great place to work, as a department manager they no longer let you run your department or make any decisions, they dictate to you when you work, which isn't always to the needs of your business. I have no life anymore, which is true for all the department managers. We don't manage any more, we are expected to do most of the work and work very long hours to get our "management" work done besides! Galen if you ever read this take a minute to reconsider some of the changes you have made in the past 3 or 4 years.......make this a better place to work again, not sure how long I can wait for those changes. I want to love my job again. I never thought that I would ever want to look to work for another company before I retire, but I think of it every day!
Just don't go to Shoppers Drug mart, they make superstore look like heaven.
OMG! You took the words right out of my mouth!Everything you said about labour, not letting the department manager MANAGE their department, working long hours, not having a life ect pretty much hit the nail on the head.I am also a department manager at Superstore in Ontario. I'm currently on Mat leave and dread having to go back to work. I have been with the company for 16 years and used to love my job. In fact I loved it so much that I couldn't picture myself NOT working for them. Now I really don't know if I can go through another new bunch of meaningless/wasteful sign changes. Or if I can tolerate a new bunch of ya-hoo's who have never worked in a grocery environment trying to give me advice on how to manage my department. I love and embrace change but wish they would stop trying to reinvent the wheel every 18 months.
You are EXACTLY right my friend! But I am there for exactly 8.5 hours and gone, I dont give them a minute of my time anymore.