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0 pointsnaravara3y ago0 comments

At one point Waffle House required all of its senior executives to spend time each year working on the line. (They probably still do I just haven't checked in a few years). They feel this is important for their management team to more viscerally understand the lived experiences of the people working, identify issues in their processes and technology, and generally foster team spirit among their staff.

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9 comments · 6 top-level

telchior3y ago· 2 in thread

I think there's a story in the news today about Taco Bell doing the same thing.

More relevant to tech -- Automattic, Klaviyo and probably a lot of other companies require people in certain positions to do customer service rotations. Including C-level execs.

I haven't heard of a version of that for coding, though.

wepple3y ago

Door dash gets their employees to do 3 deliveries a year

sleepybrett3y ago

I'm pretty sure that's more to remind their corporate employees what life outside the tower is like. 'See how much better your job is than being a courier who barely makes enough to survive!'

inglor_cz3y ago· 1 in thread

I hope no one will try this out in a brain surgery clinic.

naravaraOP3y ago

I'll tell you one thing though, EHRM user interfaces would almost certainly be less dogshit if the hospital admins who procure them had to actually use them.

winphone19743y ago

This is about empathy more than contribution, same thing with Quantas right now getting executives to handle baggage. It looks good (see how much we care?), and can be actually positive if it makes senior leadership understand what employees go through, so I think it is valuable for Zuckerberg to do an on call rotation or try and push a documentation change for these reasons

sleepybrett3y ago

I worked for a national us clothing retailer that didn't require but encouraged their 'corporate' employees to spend time in the stores mostly doing reshelves/reracks, tidying the sales floor, etc. Mostly around holidays/sales.

I worked in software for them but 'close to the store' for a bunch of my time there, so I was often in a store somewhere and always would help out as I had time permitting. It was useful for me, it was maybe useful for some of the buyers, I'm not sure it was useful for anyone else.

spoonjim3y ago

I consulted for a Fortune 500 where the CEO would spend a hour or so every month taking sales and support phone calls. He would use this information operationally -- he would send out missives to the head of marketing saying "people are not asking about product X." I wonder what he said when people asked to speak to his manager.

commandlinefan3y ago

I seem to recall reading that every Disney employee is required to spend a week working in one of the parks for the same reason.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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9 comments · 6 top-level

telchior3y ago· 2 in thread

I think there's a story in the news today about Taco Bell doing the same thing.

More relevant to tech -- Automattic, Klaviyo and probably a lot of other companies require people in certain positions to do customer service rotations. Including C-level execs.

I haven't heard of a version of that for coding, though.

wepple3y ago

Door dash gets their employees to do 3 deliveries a year

sleepybrett3y ago

I'm pretty sure that's more to remind their corporate employees what life outside the tower is like. 'See how much better your job is than being a courier who barely makes enough to survive!'

inglor_cz3y ago· 1 in thread

I hope no one will try this out in a brain surgery clinic.

naravaraOP3y ago

I'll tell you one thing though, EHRM user interfaces would almost certainly be less dogshit if the hospital admins who procure them had to actually use them.

winphone19743y ago

sleepybrett3y ago

spoonjim3y ago

commandlinefan3y ago

I seem to recall reading that every Disney employee is required to spend a week working in one of the parks for the same reason.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse