I know some of you get shuffled around too, mainly due to people calling out and basically working with a bunch of knuckleheads but I just wanted to give my opinion on each team and see if anyone else's store is similar. I'll start by time of day and chronological order.
1. Flow Team:
We are a 6 am store and when I work flow we normally don't finish with the unload until AT LEAST 7, and usually everybody stays until 11, even though they are scheduled for 10:30. A lot of old ladies in soft lines and food ave, young guys in hard lines, and quiet no bullshit guys in the back room. It is a really simple job, and as a result a lot of the people on the flow team kinda work like drones. On some occasions if everybody works we can be done right at 10, but normally people go off on unscheduled breaks, socialize, and we leave about an hour after we are scheduled. This is definitely the easiest job, although it is probably a big stressor on the logistics ETL to get all the merch pushed and back stocked before the store gets too busy.
2. POG:
Technically they start at the same time as flow, but I heard that they will be switching to 7:30 in the near future. In my short experience, this job requires the most brainpower of all the jobs I've worked. It's sort of like putting together a puzzle. if you can follow directions it's very easy, and the people on the POG team are the most personable out of everyone in the store. Maybe my favorite position, but I have only worked here 4 times so I'm sure that will fade. Time definitely goes by fastest when I'm setting.
3. Instocks:
I've worked in stocks twice in the past 2 weeks and I don't like it. I hate how time wasting some of the actions you have to take on the PDA are. PARTICULARLY the rain checks and I even made a thread about it a couple of days ago. This job seems the slowest, but like any other position, you have to get your job done so you are still under a time crunch. Team lead is very nice and easygoing if you work, if not, well you probably won't be on the in stocks team anyway. I think there are a lot of areas of instocks that can be improved, but I just started there so who knows, maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about.
4. Backroom Day:
This is the other position in running for my favorite and was also what I was hired as. Main thing I like is not having to deal with guests, worst part is the Flexible Fulfillments that never seem to miss the opportunity to drop right in the middle of the 12 oclocks. Also a lot of sales floor people don't know how to navigate the stockrooms so we have to take them to items and pull them for them usually in the middle of CAFS. The people in the back are chill and generally DGAF as long as you get your work done. The only thing I don't like is when hard lines people come and throw stuff in the main stockroom without telling me. I don't know about how other stores work but I call on walkie when and what the pulls are on the line, so I expect them to call me and tell me there is a tub of back stock. It's very easy to get behind when you are in another stockroom and all of a sudden you walk to the back and 3 new tubs have appeared.
5. Hardlines:
My least favorite position. It is so boring, and I don't understand how people do it. I pushed for 10 minutes, got abandons for another 10 minutes and then had nothing to do. I guess I understand why I see TMs moving like slugs on the sales floor. Unless a guest is asking for help, if there is nothing to pull you just stand there. I have only worked here once in the past 2 weeks so I guess I need a little more experience before I make a judgement.
Are these descriptions anything like your stores?
1. Flow Team:
We are a 6 am store and when I work flow we normally don't finish with the unload until AT LEAST 7, and usually everybody stays until 11, even though they are scheduled for 10:30. A lot of old ladies in soft lines and food ave, young guys in hard lines, and quiet no bullshit guys in the back room. It is a really simple job, and as a result a lot of the people on the flow team kinda work like drones. On some occasions if everybody works we can be done right at 10, but normally people go off on unscheduled breaks, socialize, and we leave about an hour after we are scheduled. This is definitely the easiest job, although it is probably a big stressor on the logistics ETL to get all the merch pushed and back stocked before the store gets too busy.
2. POG:
Technically they start at the same time as flow, but I heard that they will be switching to 7:30 in the near future. In my short experience, this job requires the most brainpower of all the jobs I've worked. It's sort of like putting together a puzzle. if you can follow directions it's very easy, and the people on the POG team are the most personable out of everyone in the store. Maybe my favorite position, but I have only worked here 4 times so I'm sure that will fade. Time definitely goes by fastest when I'm setting.
3. Instocks:
I've worked in stocks twice in the past 2 weeks and I don't like it. I hate how time wasting some of the actions you have to take on the PDA are. PARTICULARLY the rain checks and I even made a thread about it a couple of days ago. This job seems the slowest, but like any other position, you have to get your job done so you are still under a time crunch. Team lead is very nice and easygoing if you work, if not, well you probably won't be on the in stocks team anyway. I think there are a lot of areas of instocks that can be improved, but I just started there so who knows, maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about.
4. Backroom Day:
This is the other position in running for my favorite and was also what I was hired as. Main thing I like is not having to deal with guests, worst part is the Flexible Fulfillments that never seem to miss the opportunity to drop right in the middle of the 12 oclocks. Also a lot of sales floor people don't know how to navigate the stockrooms so we have to take them to items and pull them for them usually in the middle of CAFS. The people in the back are chill and generally DGAF as long as you get your work done. The only thing I don't like is when hard lines people come and throw stuff in the main stockroom without telling me. I don't know about how other stores work but I call on walkie when and what the pulls are on the line, so I expect them to call me and tell me there is a tub of back stock. It's very easy to get behind when you are in another stockroom and all of a sudden you walk to the back and 3 new tubs have appeared.
5. Hardlines:
My least favorite position. It is so boring, and I don't understand how people do it. I pushed for 10 minutes, got abandons for another 10 minutes and then had nothing to do. I guess I understand why I see TMs moving like slugs on the sales floor. Unless a guest is asking for help, if there is nothing to pull you just stand there. I have only worked here once in the past 2 weeks so I guess I need a little more experience before I make a judgement.
Are these descriptions anything like your stores?