Archived New hl tl need advice

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Hey team,

So I was promoted to HL tl back in March, I was excited because I thought I would be able to make a significant difference only to really only be playing catch up daily with no time for much else.

We only have one hl tl at our store and my hl etl is shoved to softlines and has been there since. My training was zero but I caught on quick enough that they left me alone up until two weeks ago. I don’t know if this is a normal issue or not but we bring in right now 110k daily but we’re only getting 250hrs for hardlines while softlines gets 400ish. It wouldn’t be an issue if we were not helping with truck, pulls, pricing, back ups, carts, and even Plano. It’s ridiculous the amount of work they throw at my team and I don’t know if this is normal or not but it’s definitely affecting the store and the team. I need advice on how I can get my etls to realize HL IS important and needs to be given the time softlines is to get our side of the store looking brand.

Thanks guys
 
I'll second @Hardlinesmaster here on the end to end part. SL has always gotten more payroll than HL anyhow, but even more so with remodels and the selling focus. Biggest advice for you is to prioritize where you can and make sure you give consistent communication to both the TMs and ETLs. To help team morale a bit, have a specific plan of attack to share with them wherever possible, keep expectations high while being fair, and just be there for the team.

If you're struggling on brand or zones, I suggest using a strategy out of the ULV book if possible: focus on your areas in a rotation, so if A gets super-zoned one night, B gets it the next and so on. This tends to allow the zones to hold better over time and can help you catch up and keep up.

Hope that helps!
 
I'm okay with SL getting hella hours because it means they can come in early with the unload team and do their own breakout (some posters have said flow has to break out SL repacks at their store...gross)
 
Tbh, I get hardlines needs some TLC but softlines gets the hours they get do to the heavy focus that they are for the company and working in softlines is not a walk in the park. It’s easier and faster to zone an aisle in Hardlines than it is to zone a comparable area in softlines.
 
We do a fair bit more in daily sales than you and my HL hours are at 260, but that’s only because of the BTS coverage, also some of those hours are bike builder. Before BTS I was getting 180 hours. 40 of which were the VM. Helping SFS, backing up, pushing reshop from the night before, and pushing truck that didn’t get done means I have about 6-10 hours a week to actually maintain and focus on my workcenter. That pretty much means filling endcaps, maybe setting one, definitely begging the PPTL to flip a bunch of my endcaps, superzoning one problem area, and that’s about it.

Walk your areas and make a list every morning. Then focus on the things that make the biggest most obvious visual impact (appeases your leaders when they do a lap around the store; deep filling endcaps), and the things that make the biggest financial/process impact (superzoning and auditing a low performing area to increase its sales). I let the reshop sit until everyone’s bitching then grab it and crank it out. If you’re the only one in hardlines, when calls for backup happen, remind the team on the walkie that you’re the only one in hardlines and to ask who from softlines or consumables can respond.

At this point, you WON’T convince your ETL or STL that hardlines needs more payroll. They are being ridden hard by their bosses about food and softlines, as well as upcoming logistics modernization stuff. By me, during visits hardlines is entirely skipped.

It’ll be easier to maintain the brand if the zones are done better. I know this seems like a ‘no shit’ thing, but flow team pushes better when the zone is good, and as a result the zone gets less fucked up which makes the following nights zone easier. Eventually, there will be enough time savings to make a difference (ideally; not so much at my store). Hold the closers to a higher zoning standard, even if it means the reshop doesn’t always come clean.

Always have a plan, always be able to speak to that plan. Hold yourself accountable and take notes of what you want to do every day, and what you actually do everyday. With all the playing catch-up and helping everyone else that we do, it’s easy for us to be asked ‘what did you get done today?’. Whip out that list and tell them you backed up on a lane for 2 hours, covered the GSTLs breaks, filled 13 endcaps, worked 4 vehicles of push, audited lamps, and wrote all of your PDDs for the week. It seems an impossible battle. Make sure you make it clear to your leadership that you aren’t being given the resources that you need to succeed. They likely already know, but once they know that you’re aware of that being the reason why you’re struggling it becomes harder for them to hold you accountable for what they aren’t enabling you to do.

MAKE SURE THE IMPACT YOU HAVE ON THE BUSINESS IS CLEAR AND UNDENIABLE, EVEN IF IT IS NOT IN YOUR WORKCENTER. We are there to do what meets the needs of the businsss as a whole, and not just our workcenter.

Good luck; I truly feel your pain. Things will change before long, with modernization. So don’t let it get to you.


Hey team,

So I was promoted to HL tl back in March, I was excited because I thought I would be able to make a significant difference only to really only be playing catch up daily with no time for much else.

We only have one hl tl at our store and my hl etl is shoved to softlines and has been there since. My training was zero but I caught on quick enough that they left me alone up until two weeks ago. I don’t know if this is a normal issue or not but we bring in right now 110k daily but we’re only getting 250hrs for hardlines while softlines gets 400ish. It wouldn’t be an issue if we were not helping with truck, pulls, pricing, back ups, carts, and even Plano. It’s ridiculous the amount of work they throw at my team and I don’t know if this is normal or not but it’s definitely affecting the store and the team. I need advice on how I can get my etls to realize HL IS important and needs to be given the time softlines is to get our side of the store looking brand.

Thanks guys
 
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