In high school and college I worked in busy kitchens cleaning mountains of dishes, mopping floors, and prepping food.
At the time, I had no plans of ever working in the hospitality industry again. In fact, I swore that when I graduated, I would never wash another dish again!
Turns out, I’m still in the hospitality industry (and love it).
And every year, during our “Week of Thanks” at Sheetz, I go to multiple stores and HAPPILY wash dishes. 😎
Funny how life comes full circle.
WHY WASH DISHES?
“Week of Thanks” is a company-wide initiative that deploys corporate employees into our stores to work for a day. We hit every store in our 775+ store network.
The genius behind “Week of Thanks” is two fold…
It gets keyboard jockeys like me out of the office so we can see first-hand how our stores operate.
It allows office support staff to connect with employees in their environment.
CONNECTING WITH EMPLOYEES
When I’m in stores, I like to strike up one-on-one conversations with employees.
I like to ask them how long they’ve been with the company, where they came from, why they joined, and what their plans are for the future.
And I always press them a little bit to tell me one or two things they wish that “corporate” could do to make their work or home life easier.
I’m always amazed at how transparent and honest they are with me! 😱
Their answers not only help me make a connection for the next time I see them, it helps me pressure-test our employee value proposition (EVP) and improve the communication of our benefits.
No report or survey is going to give me that level of intel.
UNDERSTANDING THE BUSINESS
While “Week of Thanks” isn’t the only time I visit stores during the year, it’s the only time I get to work alongside our front line employees.
I get to see the type of energy and enthusiasm it takes to do the work -- cleaning gas pumps, stocking coolers, merchandising shelves, sweeping the parking lot, cleaning windows, helping customers, making food, washing dishes, etc.
It’s busy job and time flies by…but it takes someone who really likes a high-energy work environment. This reminder helps us design better assessments and ad copy.
After all this great learning, the end of my “Day of Thanks” always ends the same way…with a nap!
No matter how many high-level meetings I have at corporate HQ, there’s no better way to learn the business than doing the work of our employees.