Most senior management members, supervisors and productivity directors don’t like to hear this, but I will say it anyway. Produce managers are understaffed and overworked. That’s a fact. But is anyone listening?

Just before Thanksgiving last year, I was invited to take part in a produce manager training seminar. The marketing vice president not only wanted the seminar for training, but also for motivational purposes. It was primarily to energize everyone prior to the upcoming holiday season to aggressively boost sales.Insufficient labor in retail produce departments, especially during the holiday seasons, can have a bad effect on morale and result in poor sales.

We began our seminar training in one of the stores where the produce managers toured the department and studied all the various displays. Everyone followed us from one display to another as we explained how and why specific items were to be set according to the company’s merchandising program. The group showed enormous interest in learning all about holiday display strategies in the produce department.

Afterwards, we all gathered into a meeting room where we discussed the holiday items and displays. The company president joined the marketing vice president in the meeting, which I felt was a demonstration of the needed support for the produce managers and the merchandising plans.

During my closing comments to the group of produce managers, I reviewed and summarized some of the primary topics for the holiday selling period. All plans were in place and everyone was eager to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

In the midst of all the hoopla and high fives of motivation, I dared to ask one of my favorite questions: “Now that we have our plans in place, how much added labor will you be getting to assist with all of the merchandising areas we showed you today?” All the produce managers in the room erupted in laughter.

The laughter is a normal reaction to express that extra labor is a joke and wishful thinking. Most produce managers hardly ever get those extra labor hours that are necessary to keep pace with increased sales, whether it’s during the holiday season or any other time of the year.

The main reason I bring up that question at meetings is to try to send a message to senior management that produce managers need an extra hand or two during busier sales periods, especially holidays. Without it, the staff becomes overworked, stressed and burned out. The sad part of this dilemma is that the sales will likewise suffer in the process. This is unfortunate for the simple reason that produce returns the dollars back into the system more rapidly than other departments. And fast cash pays the bills fast.

With produce sales consistently increasing year after year in the industry, the required labor does not keep pace. The most unpopular subject in weekly staff meetings is labor and productivity. We’ve all had that sudden depression set in when hearing the boss instruct the operating crew in a demanding voice to cut and control the labor for the week.

That cut-the-labor command by the boss always reminds me of one of those Three Stooges skits. The boss yells at Moe to get the job done. Then Moe turns around and yells at Larry to get the job done. Larry turns around and yells at Curley to get the job done. When Curley turns around, there’s nobody there. The result is that Curley alone has to get the job accomplished.

Labor control works the same way as the Stooges parody. Upper management sends it all the way down to the produce manager at the store level. No one in the management level gets his or her hours cut along the way, rather it trickles down to the sales floor where all the action takes place.

In almost every single produce department I step into, the most common produce manager complaint is that the department is understaffed and the time to accomplish all the work is spread extremely thin.

Operating a produce department these days with all of the new programs involves of a long list of tasks. Being understaffed and making every effort to handle all the jobs in a department only harms sales.

A produce manager’s duties are numerous and essential to a profitable operation. The work list is far too long to include in this article. If you want to know what they are, call me. But be prepared to pack a lunch, as the list is overwhelming and will take time to explain.

In the end, most of the labor and productivity that is ever successfully achieved eventually begins to erode when the sales and gross profit also disintegrate.

Senior management often uses a hackneyed motivational phrase at the end of meetings. One I’ve heard repetitiously to employees is, “Be pleasant, smile and be proud.”

Try telling that to a hard-working, understaffed and burned out produce manager.