It’s permitted, not recommended, and certainly not promoted. That’s essentially the Wegmans stance on employees wearing face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday, the company dropped a ban forbidding workers from wearing masks on the job. Internally, there has been a deafening silence in the days since. I can’t speak for all employees, but…
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Daddy Wegmans
Wegmans has always been a paternalistic place to work. We’re fed. This used to happen mainly on holidays and in snowstorms. Given the current demands on employees, there’s free food almost every day. We’re clothed. Wegmans shirts are issued without charge in various juvenile colors. And we get free shoes twice a year. We get…
Faltering leadership
When New York State legislators considered a ban on plastic bags, Wegmans opposed it. When the ban passed, Wegmans enacted the change before the new law took effect. In essence, the company came out looking like an early defender of the environment when all it ready did was institute an unwanted ban a few weeks…
Wegmans allows masks
Under pressure from employees and a local legislator, Wegmans has altered a policy that prevented workers from wearing masks. The company added this statement to its press release detailing its response to Covid-19: The statement did not mention supply of masks, which would seem to imply that employees are responsible for obtaining them on their…
Drive-bys
Having lived in Detroit for years, “drive-by” doesn’t have great connotations. I’m readjusting, in these upside-down times. Yesterday, a convoy of honking cars drove by my house – twice – to wish happy birthday to a girl down the street. Drive-by birthday parties are a thing now. So are drive-by baby showers, drive-by teacher parades,…
More openness needed from Wegmans
We had been wondering – in the absence of any policy announcements by Wegmans – what the procedures would be when employees were, inevitably, diagnosed with the coronavirus. Yesterday, officials in Onondaga County, NY, said a worker at the DeWitt store had tested positive. I believe, though I can’t be sure, that this is the…
Mortality math
Those who are fascinated by numbers often have a morbid streak. It’s not only insurance analysts, financial planners and medical researchers who study death rates. Many of us commoners do, too. I’ll admit that sometimes, while attending the sort of mass-audience events that are now banned, I would mentally do the calculations. If there are…
Cake and cookies: your patriotic duty
I spent much of last night filling shelves with sacks of flour and bags of sugar. In the continuous overbuying that has accompanied the COVID-19 crisis, flour and sugar are outranked only by hand sanitizers, paper towels and toilet paper. Baking, it would seem, is the ultimate comfort. Wegmans is selling cake mixes, chocolate chips,…
Thinning ranks
“Wegmans is hiring” signs are posted in the front windows and at the registers. Actually, Wegmans is almost always hiring. When much of your labor force consists of teenagers, college students and senior citizens, turnover is constant. But the sign in the front window is new. And corporate has made a point of making the…
Finding comfort in endcaps
In grocery lingo, an endcap is the set of shelves at the front or rear of an aisle. Markets typically usually use this space to highlight new or unusual products or to give prominent display to sale items. Endcaps also change with the seasons. At Easter, you’ll see chocolate bunnies. At Thanksgiving, stuffing mix and…