Last week, Whole Foods Markets fired nine store managers out of its Washington, D.C. stores. According to the grocery giant, these individuals had committed improprieties in managing a profit-sharing program for their own advantage.
According to the Associated Press, managers at nine separate stores in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. have been terminated. Those individuals had been found misusing the chain’s “Gainsharing” program, which awards bonuses to hourly employees whose departments come in under budget.
Whole Foods has not offered comments on the nature of these misdemeanors or specified which locations were affected. “We took swift action, but, relative to the rest of the company, this manipulation only happened in nine of our locations,” says company spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan.
“Gainsharing,” which allows employees to receive benefits for their cost-saving measures, has been criticized as a way for employers to determine how to best cut labor costs. As such, this program rewards workers in the short term, but could potentially eliminate their jobs in the long term.
