Social And Economic Issues Facing Wfm - 1216 Words

In September 2016 organic grocery giant Whole Foods Market (WFM) announced they were laying-off approximately 1,500 employees. For this paper I will be explaining the social and economic issues facing WFM that led them to lay-off those 1,500 employees, and what this means for the future of the company. I joined Whole Foods at a very low point in my life. I was forced to drop-out of school because of financials reasons and had no structure or direction in life. Before I was hired at Whole Foods I had never worked Full-time before. This job was the first step in getting myself back on the right path. I was nervous when I first stated, but learned the ropes quickly. What surprised me was how friendly and supporting everyone was, not just my†¦show more content†¦For three decades it has dominated the organic foods market, becoming known for its high quality foods. The market dominance and strategic store locations made it possible for WFM to charge more than other food stores and still make huge profits. The company had its first true test though when the global financial crisis hit in 2007-08. Many people began to abandon Whole Foods for cheaper chain stores and their stocks took a big hit. They rebounded with the economy but it was the first time expansion had stalled. Anoth er more gradual threat emerged and that was other grocery stores venturing into the organic foods market. These companies saw the success WFM was having with its organic products and began incorporating more and more organic/responsibly made foods at lower prices. When the executives saw this they began to implement measures to try and keep their market share. I started to notice that we were having more and more sales in the store and almost every week there was some sort of special event. I also noticed that there was an increase in part-time workers. I asked my boss about this and he told me that the new policies wanted a full-time to part-time employment ratio of 70/30. It seems though that these actions were not enough and so the CEO’s decided to lay-off 1,500 employees. Upon further investigation I found that most of the jobs cut were in marketing, demo, and certain specialists. Also the 1,500