Pros

The biggest pro would be living the Weight Watchers Service Vision which is: Members will feel cared for, part of the group, well informed and motivated to succeed. Meeting leaders take this very seriouly and are very passionate about helping members lose weight, get healthy, change behaviors, and set and reach goals. If you ask anyone why they work for Weight Watchers they will say something like, well I don't do it for the money.. I do it to help people the way my leader helped me.

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Cons

Once a member turns into an employee, the service vision no longer applies.

We no longer are cared for, made to feel like we are part of the group, we are definitely not well informed and we are not motivated to succeed at anything.

It's amazing to me that we make barely above minimum wage and yet are expected to add more and more tasks to our daily routine without any regard for how changes will affect the meeting room or the members. We are expected to work constantly to keep members coming to meetings regardless of weather, season or economy. We are given a "retention score" (the number of members management feels should be in our meeting every week vs. the number that attend each week). We are not allowed to see our retention score because it is a confidential report. No one can give us the formula or even explain it in a way we can understand. Leaders are taken out of meetings for a low retention score that is not even understood. It is considered by employees to be the magic way to cut back meetings for leaders who are receiving benefits.

We know our members. We know who they are, when they will be on vacation, when they have their most challenging situations. We know when a member of their family is sick or has died. We cry with them, we laugh with them and we give them the best of ourselves. Unfortunately, upper management only deals in bottom line. They don't really care about the member, only about how much money the member will spend, which ultimately means how much money and stock will be in their pockets at the end of the day.

Also, leaders are all paid on the same scale regardless of whether they have years of experience or were trained yesterday.

Middle management are rarely seen. Communication from them is usually limited to a 5 or 6 word email followed by an exclamation point.

David Kirchoff only speaks in well-rehearsed statements. He holds meetings he calls Town Hall Meetings where he can get together with employees and explain policy and answer questions. No need to attend, his rehearsed answers are already posted on the staff website.

We are an unhappy group, always wondering if we will lose meetings and benefits tomorrow based on a phoney formula that no one can explain.

I believe David believes he earns his $2 million a year salary. But what he fails to remember is that he is earning that on the backs of employees earning just above minimum wage. We are his most valuable asset and resourse, because if we don't live the service vision there won't be members in the meeting rooms and there will be no way he could earn anything. He's a lucky man because as I stated above, most of us work for Weight Watchers to give back the help and love we were given by our leaders as members.

Advice to Senior Management

Put away the excel worksheets and the stupid Town Hall Meetings and Focus Groups. Your service providers know what members want, but no one in management really values our opinions or ideas. We know when members are upset. We hear from them what they want. Remember this is not Pepsico. We don't sell a product from a cold vending machine. We sell a service. We sell our love. We sell our compassion. We sell our empathy. We sell our smiles and our tears. If our members wanted weight loss from a cold uncaring box, they'd be at Walmart. Put the focus back on the service. Treat your service providers with respect. Treat them like they have brains. They may lack your flashy business degree, but they have something you could never hope to have. They have street smarts and the ability to give themselves every day to every member. The service vision should not die once a member becomes an employee.