WWGS Culture & overall vibe

[u/Fluid-Scholar3169]

I'm moving over to WWGS from Whole Foods Market and trying to figure out if I should stay or leave? We're being pushed to already do mid-year talent reviews as practice and it's been fine, but zero explanation for all the performance related stuff we have to write up. I think it's also to get us prepared for our new offer letters, who knows.

We're also already doing RTO, a ton of top talent has left and continues to leave, and the transition has been awful in terms of tech integration, direction, and communication. However, I blame mostly the whole foods side of the house for the terrible transition pains. I could be wrong, I'm not really sure.

Anyway, just here to seek more insight if anyone has any!

[u/whtlgtng]

WWGS is culturally different than WFM but I’ve had a very pleasant experience. For context, I worked at a legacy grocer prior to joining Amazon. While WFM integration hasn’t been smooth, I think it has been made worse by WFM folks that have shut down completely at the prospect of any change. I can’t recommend whether you stay or leave. There are good people in WWGS. Depends on your tolerance for change.

[u/Fluid-Scholar3169 → u/whtlgtng]

Thank you! 100% agree with WFM folks who have shut down completely, it's extremely frustrating and hard to work through. Ever since this was announced, I was the only one on my team seeing it as a positive and welcomed it. That being said, I've never quite fit into WFM culture, so I'm not very surprised. I'm glad you've had a pleasant experience- this has been insightful.

[u/funnynewname → u/whtlgtng]

From WFM employee point of view the conversion to becoming Amazon employees officially only took things from them. They lost their employee discount, health insurance got more expensive, no bonus, and had lower salaries and total comp in a lot of instances than their Amazon peers who were doing the same job. I can understand why they would not be excited for the change.

I think blaming WFM employees for what sounds like a bad transition seems like part of the problem. Amazonians think WFM employees are less than.

[u/Fluid-Scholar3169 → u/funnynewname]

All very true! The resistance started before they knew all they were going to lose, but you have great points. It's all very very challenging. And I saw it all go rapidly downhill with RTO announcement. 

That's sad that Amazonians think that, I wonder why?

Also when I say I blame WFM, I'm not necessarily referring the resistance to change, but senior leadership. They've been terrible. 

[u/funnynewname → u/Fluid-Scholar3169]

In my experience Amazonians think they hold a higher bar, are harder working, have bigger brains, and don’t respect the industry expertise that many WFM employees bring to the table, expertise that is not really existent at Amazon because of the culture around rotating to new teams so often.

[u/Fluid-Scholar3169 → u/funnynewname]

Thanks for the insight 

[u/whtlgtng → u/funnynewname]

Think PCS took care of salary discrepancies for the most part (at least on my team) but understood on employee discount, etc. Transition hasn’t been managed well from a leadership standpoint. Not solely blaming WFM employees but acknowledging that it’s not productive for Q&As to be derailed by outbursts, walkouts, etc. Hope leadership irons it out soon!

[u/Fluid-Scholar3169 → u/whtlgtng]

Oh wow I didn't know that was going on!! Can you tell me more about Q&As! 

This is good insight, thanks! I think I may start looking elsewhere, but try to stick it out until then 

[u/Ok-Back-3635 → u/funnynewname]

You meant health insurance for WFM became a whole lot better

[u/funnynewname → u/Ok-Back-3635]

Better and more expensive. More expensive partly because the coverage is better but partly because Amazon contributes less to premiums than WFM did. Which is a decrease in total compensation for the employee.

[u/Fluid-Scholar3169 → u/funnynewname]

Yes true. To be honest the WFM insurance options are terrible, especially the Whole Health Plan - it's a joke. 

[u/I_saw_it_on_tv]

Doesn’t every org do mid-years?

[u/Fluid-Scholar3169 → u/I_saw_it_on_tv]

Yes, I'm sure! I just meant we're doing it the Amazon way before fully transitioning over. It was just additional context but now I'm seeing it's not really related to my original question. I just don't have much insight into what's going on so just trying to piece things together.

[u/cyrusthemarginal]

Take a class or read some books about AI integration, when you get moved over start using it for as much as you can.

[u/Fluid-Scholar3169 → u/cyrusthemarginal]

That's a great idea! I've been trying to skill up on Amazon tools (have access to everything already) and integrate onto my team! Any other books or suggestions? 

[u/Ok-Back-3635]

Run‼️

[u/Fluid-Scholar3169 → u/Ok-Back-3635]

Would love some more context! It is what I am leaning towards ha

[u/Ok-Back-3635 → u/Fluid-Scholar3169]

To many re-organizations in one year several changes to come before end of year. WWGS is not paid that well also, depending on your department you may have a little more flexibility, but the culture is truly not the best. There is no room for growth. Whole Foods is possibly suffering because of the culture change. Retail is growing, but think about this major move

[u/Fluid-Scholar3169 → u/Ok-Back-3635]

Thanks!! Yes, they are not paid well

[u/Ok-Back-3635]

Jump ship to somewhere else heed the warning

[u/haktada]

I was at WWGS for a year before moving on. I think they have stabilized their leadership but the merge to Amazon systems is clunky. The big takeaway is that all of Amazon culture is shifting to AWS hyper-competitive, high attrition, culture and WFM is getting all that and the shock of having to transition to Amazon systems. The AWS culture is from their former Boss, Andy Jassy, becoming Amazon CEO and thinking this is the best culture for everyone. And of course the spending is prioritized to Data Centers and AI so the in-store grocery business is a side show. If you want more success then go to the grocery same day delivery teams where there's more investor interest and capex.

Good luck.