I want to get a sense of what other people think of this. I am the closing team lead at my store, and we have so many issues with too many people on break at one time. We already have a much slimmer team at night, but if even three people go on break at a time, someone is going to have to run from one end of the store to the other to get a call box. I know ASANTS, but I just want to see what the consensus is among other stores/team members before I make a decision on this. My team would probably hate it, but it makes us unproductive when we don’t have max coverage on the floor.
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Tessa120
Current game: Elex
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For a while my store had a formal break schedule. The 15 minutes were ignored by softlines, possibly the entire store. It lasted only a few months.
The 30 minutes were written on the grid and were pretty much set in stone, unless leadership was asked and approved a different time.
Edit: Softlines was good about policing its own, staggering our break times. Without that self discipline it would have emptied the sales floor.
The 30 minutes were written on the grid and were pretty much set in stone, unless leadership was asked and approved a different time.
Edit: Softlines was good about policing its own, staggering our break times. Without that self discipline it would have emptied the sales floor.
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You can make a break schedule, but it would hard to enforce. Any little thing that causes a deviation at the beginning causes exponential problems later. Fir example, John was supposed to go to break at 7:15, but he was assisting someone in the back. He was five minutes late going to break. That pushes everyone else back 5 minutes. But it causes a cascade effect if that happens more and more.
Better to just tell them, police yourselves. Treat them like adults. No more than 2 people on break at once. Not many people, I'm looking at you SD and etls, like going to break by themself. If it doesn't work, then tell them you are initiating a schedule.
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I agree with @Tessa120 on this, Style definitely handles it’s own for closing breaks. At my store outside of Style there is usually only the closing Beauty/Tech/F&B/GM left on the floor. GM usually covers Tech’s break (so no overlap there) and Beauty takes their last break much later than everyone else. They tend to take them so they only have about an hour left on their shift.
Mandatory break times only work when there is someone else to cover the break. There is never a good time to plan on light guest traffic+pushes completed+reshop done+end caps zoned and basedecks clear (tables first fold for the Style team). That’s an ideal break time. After that it’s fussing with recovery and touching basedecks, racks for Style. Last half hour is all about reshop and the racetrack. Ideally. Since we work at Target and not Utopia that isn’t going to work. If someone is already on break and someone else calls out they’re going just ask them to wait till the other TM is back. What are they going to do? Pout?
Mandatory break times only work when there is someone else to cover the break. There is never a good time to plan on light guest traffic+pushes completed+reshop done+end caps zoned and basedecks clear (tables first fold for the Style team). That’s an ideal break time. After that it’s fussing with recovery and touching basedecks, racks for Style. Last half hour is all about reshop and the racetrack. Ideally. Since we work at Target and not Utopia that isn’t going to work. If someone is already on break and someone else calls out they’re going just ask them to wait till the other TM is back. What are they going to do? Pout?
happygoth
reshop till I drop
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I think mentioning it to them and requesting they monitor themselves would be a good first step. Give them the chance to handle it, and if they can't, then step in with a more formal structure.
As a Softlines TM I always make sure there is at least one other person on the floor when I go on break (if there is another one there, lol). And I always go on break by myself, that is me time and I'm not interested in idle chit chat with other TMs. Nothing against them, but my breaks are for me.
As a Softlines TM I always make sure there is at least one other person on the floor when I go on break (if there is another one there, lol). And I always go on break by myself, that is me time and I'm not interested in idle chit chat with other TMs. Nothing against them, but my breaks are for me.
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One time my 15 minute break turned into a 45 minute break in the breakroom because too many beautiful team member girls kept joining me at my table for their lunch breaks as time went on! I finally tore away at 45 minutes with at least 8 of them at my table....had to get back to the salesfloor!
It would seem that it doesn’t make much sense to have a break schedule then. And, honestly there are times where I’m too busy doing things that when someone says they are going on break I just say “have a good break”. Which sounds terrible because it makes it seem like I’m not listening or paying attention. I am, I’m just usually on the WAVE, or a ladder, or I’m just trying to get a uboat done. I guess part of the problem is me taking on too many tasks and not giving them enough attention. Sometimes I wonder why my SD thought it would be a good idea to have the most scatter brained leader in the building be the closing team lead.
I have tried since the beginning to take my meal before too many leaders leave. It’s maybe happened twice in the three months I’ve been in role. Although, my SD is going to start making ETLs have one day a week where they work a late mid so they are there until like 8. I’m happy that’s finally happening.
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