Home Depot orders corporate staff to take 8-hour retail shifts

Employees, including senior management and remote workers, will have to complete an eight-hour shift beginning in the fourth quarter of this year, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg News.

“We need to stay connected to the core of our business, so we can truly understand the challenges and opportunities our store associates face every day,” Chief Executive Officer Ted Decker said in the memo introducing the program. 

A company spokesperson said it’s been the company’s longstanding practice to ask staff to spend time in stores, with this new program being its latest initiative. 

Home Depot, one of the largest US retailers with more than $150 billion in annual revenue and 450,000 employees, has been enduring a rough stretch. After splurging on their homes during the pandemic, Americans shifted spending to other sectors and caused a sales slump at the chain. 

The move by Decker to require everyone at the company to take a shift is unusual in the sector and comes amid rising activism in the labor force. That includes both Home Depot, which faced a small unionization effort in 2022, and other retailers. 

Sporadic schedules, physical labor and low pay have historically made working in stores tough. The job has become harder in recent years due to store theft and unruly customer behavior, and operators are introducing new benefits and raising pay to improve retention.