WFH and meeting blocks, anyone know what’s up?
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What time do the other countries have their meetings?
They just promoted a bunch of DMs to EMs last week.
Who is actually working through this day? Weird to me that people are still giving it their all and acting oblivious. I’m distracted and waiting until I know.
@3 below - they would have to give us 45 days minimum for those of is at the Batavia office. Look up the IL WARN act
My buying director was just as surprised as I was about this meeting. I do think the GBD’s know. I can tell you right now that I won’t be getting a whole lot done tomorrow worrying about this.
UK here! Finance are being told to come into the office for the meeting. We also know some of buying have been told to come into the office for a meeting. Some of buying have another meeting later on but have been told to stay at home.
After it happens, everyone who stays, just stop working for 2 weeks. Show up, but don't do anything. See what happens when you turn the tables on their bullsh-t.
@4 Below. It was x date in the future, not a same day dismissal. Quite a long time line in that case but of course that does not guarentee anything for this round.
The US has one 30 minute meeting scheduled in the morning and then a block labeled “buying follow up meetings” for 2 hours in the afternoon. Is this similar for other countries?
On Reddit someone said that Austria, Australia, and the UK all have the same meeting. I'm thinking this is a restructuring of all buying departments. Who knows if ot means layoffs though.
This is what happened in finance. I don’t see how this can be anything good.
@below were the people who got laid off done with work that day or was it a notice that by X date you would be let go?
This is exactly the same pattern that happened back in 2023 in the UK office when Circa 140 people in GBC found out they were being made redundant. Unfortunately I do think its going to be similar news
Since I’m sure we all have our conspiracies about this meeting tomorrow, does anyone want to share their favorites?
The thought of unionizing has me kicking my feet and giggling! Like yes please!!
Do y’all wanna form a union?
I’m weirdly comforted to see everyone else in here freaking out too. Like everyone I talked to irl about this was trying to stay positive and telling me not to think about it, but I just could not do it. Thank you for starting this thread!
different teams in different countries were told different things. UK office is split, some teams being asked to stay home, some being told mandatory in office attendance
@below what do you mean, you’ve been asked to be in the office? They sent everyone home for the day
We have been requested to be in the office for the 'bad news', think I'd prefer to be at home to hear it than infront of all my colleagues and team members!
& let’s not forget that they moved ABs based on their tenure from their roles to other positions & locations with only 2wks notice back in November. Also that they divided those desks amongst the rest of the ABs, in some cases increasing someone’s workload by 50% without ANY market increase!!!! The job market views ALDI as a great employer but that is not remotely true.
@below about not knowing what ABA/IB/GS is, some parts of NB use different platforms and different processes entirely. We don’t know what any of that is so this meeting wouldn’t have a need to land our desks if that’s what this is about.
If you're asking what those are, I don't think you are a part of NB
what is GS/IB/ABA discussed in the comments below?
Joan strikes as a fox news mom. Daddy trump and president elon are screaming for return to office and with the new 5 year growth plan they're going to use that as an excuse to bring us back to Batavia 5 days a week once the renovations are done or even sooner.
There’s absolutely going to be bad news on Thursday. I can’t think of another reason why they would make us stay home. If it is about IB changes, I’m guessing the higher ups found a way to consolidate teams and decided that some of us don’t deserve jobs anymore.
I’m hoping I’m wrong. Maybe this is a normal staff meeting and Joan is just really bad at conveying an appropriate tone via email.
Why is this the only thread I can find online about this and why is this not on Reddit lol. I shouldn’t be laughing but I have no other option. Terrible way to leave us all dreading this.
If the Thursday meeting is about IB and potential changes, why does the entire staff need to work remotely?
If other Aldi countries are also having this meeting on Thursday i wonder if it is related to the GS/IB/ABA buying strategy. It must be something that will affect all countries.
I’ve heard that other countries also have an all department Buying meeting on Thursday. No clue what that means
Finance department also have an in person meeting on Thursday afternoon. Looking at what has happened in Aldi US the outsourcing to India may be starting.
Disrupting an entire workweek with the scariest email I’ve ever seen is crazy work. Is psychological warfare one of the moments that matter to our people?
How do they think they can add all these new stores and not have the National Buying Department. Do the higher ups not realize how much we do??? I can't believe that they set up these meetings with no context 4 days before the actual meeting and let us all freak out about what is happening.
On Friday, Jason Hart (CEO) announced that 2025 will be a record-breaking year. However, on Monday, the buying team was informed that they must work from home on Thursday to accommodate meetings. We are now scheduled for several unclear meetings on Thursday morning and into the afternoon. If the rumors about layoffs are true, it is absolutely unacceptable that Aldi engages in such business practices.
lol @ the big announcement from Jason on MyAldi. He failed to mention this in the 5-year growth plan. How do we have money to buy a bunch of real estate and renovate the Batavia office, but apparently no money for cost of living raises at the beginning of the year? And now potential layoffs? Interesting.
There’s no way this is good news, right? The complete hiring freeze in Buying for the past several months is not making me confident. I’m thinking best case scenario we’re not getting fired right away and/or there may be opportunities to transfer to other departments.
Everyone is saying layoffs. I am beyond frustrated with Aldi. First removal of DEI from all websites and now this??? Absolutely insane
I think we just need to stay calm and not over react. Alerting us 4 days in advance for a layoff seems super unprofessional so I think we all need to keep calm.
Someone told me this is how finance dept found out 😭
Has anyone heard anything?