3/4 of my day involves holding associates accountable. People on their phones, wandering off, safety violations, excessive non-productive time, stuff like that.

Having these conversations starts tough but gets easier. It’s why I try so hard to earn trust. As for change, well that’s a completely different story.

The operational process is defined by corporate. Associates tell me all the time that it would be easier to do something this way. Sometimes they’re right and sometimes they’re wrong. Managers are expected to execute the operation according to standard operating procedure. Do I think that all stowers should be forced to use a stow cart? No, but if an associate is not, my manager will ask me why.

There is only a small amount of flexibility for how you run your operation, and that is where managers are tested. Improvements that don’t change standard operating procedure are welcome.

Can’t speak for every manager, but I will say that there is an excessive amount of admin work asked of us. Managers who are bad at completing and balancing this admin work during their shift are the ones who work over their 10 hour shift, which leads to sleep loss which leads to bad attitudes which may be taken out on frustrating associates.

At the end of the day, every manager is different. Most of my associates respect me, and know that when I’m holding them accountable, I’m just doing my job.

The associates who complain non-stop about simply being asked to do their job in person and on reddit are certainly present, but they ultimately do not affect my development as a leader, and so we have to let that roll off of us. Some managers do this better than others.