It will be interesting to see the actual numbers of people leaving their jobs. I really think whole foods expected more employees to reapply for their jobs, or try to be team members.
I have been a loyal and hard working team member (department buyer) for 6 years and was pretty much guaranteed my job if i reapplied, but the severance package was just too good. Here is what my store lost that I know of for sure: both store artists, demo team member and coordinator, 5 of the seven front end supervisors, 3 of the 5 grocery buyers (one who was VERY good at his job and had been there for a long time), both whole body buyers, both seafood buyers. All took the severance and left. It has been almost a week now and I'm actually thankful that Whole Foods gave me this chance to get a sweet severance and find another job before things became unbearable. So many people in higher positions have been saying that they wish they had gotten offered severance. I do feel bad for the team members left behind. It will be a stressful holiday season for sure if they don't get many good applicants for the vacant positions.