Undercover Boss

I love watching this show (I've seen UK, US and Canadian versions) where the boss goes undercover and gets bossed around by their staff to find out how to improve the company. Sometimes staff get fired afterwards when they do naughty things, and other get rewarded. I've seen many bosses cry and be humbled as they cleaned toilets for a day, and worked without a break, or in dangerous conditions. I do cry when I see a boss buy a home for their staff; there were two shows I saw this happen, one person was living in a shelter,and another had been homeless and was getting back on his feet. It does make you realize that these companies pay minimum wage and don't see the effect it has.


As a result, many implemented changes and I just wish more company bosses would watch this and think about the effects of cuts and remember staff are human beings.

The latest I saw was on Nestle Toll House and the disguise was good as she dyed her hair and changed how she looked. The boss had implemented a 45 second rule to serve each customer, but she couldn't do it herself. The member of staff also told her that corporate would watch her on video live and then call her up (not knowing it was the boss herself) if she did something that she wanted to know more about. It made all her staff anxious, and she felt so bad that people didn't like her, were afraid of her and basically had little respect for her.

Often people aren't aware of the impact they have unless they are in the other persons shoes, and I think it's something we can remember in our everyday life too. 

kingcool52 said:

I love this show although to be honest I haven't seen it recently. It is great how the boss goes undercover and then tries to find out about their business and I think that it is a really good business strategy to find out your companies weaknesses and strengths. The best bit of the show though is how at the end the boss ends up helping some of the employees that are having personal trouble or not having as good a time at their job. 


It's great that the boss is put into the shoes of their staff so they can experience first hand what troubles their employees face when working for that company. The thing that bothers me though is how they always manage to get with the employees that are having personal trouble, is it fixed? Do they interview the employees beforehand?

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I also wonder how they pick the employees, and who does it. Not all have personal issues, but I imagine there is some envy for those who get helped out. In one show I think it was Shoppers World, they chose an older employee, but then the assistant manager chased someone who was shoplifting, and she ended up getting included with an incentive bonus as she told the boss (undercover) that she was pepper sprayed once which is why she has to be careful approaching thieves. He had cut back and took away all security guards, and immediately reinstated them. That was an eye opening show as he really changed so many things.

I used to work in marketing and many of the managers had never been 'out in the field' as we called it therefore would ask unreasonable things of the staff. The company did recommend that all staff do some time out in the field so they had a better awareness of what was feasible and what wasn't. That's how a good company works. Theories don't always work out, and sitting in an office doesn't allow them to see that, and staff rather than protest put up with things or lie and tell them what they want to hear.


An example was when we were organizing a drink sampling promotion, the company would provide a dozen complimentary branded glasses only, and I said it wasn't enough for a sports bar. The other managers said it was okay and that the venue would wash them and then you could use them to sample straight away. As the target was 100 samples per venue in half an hour that was impossible with a dozen glasses and I told them so as venues don't wash glasses as soon as you finish drinking.. In the end I had to work around it and 'acquire' some for the teams so they could do their job.