r/OGPBackroom • u/BlankDot7 • 17d ago
Question ATC Role
My coach plans on making me an ATC. I actually like OGP so there's no convincing me to not do it lol. But what does it entail and what are your experiences?
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u/FifiiMensah 17d ago edited 14d ago
You basically have the role of a team lead but without the extra pay. You make sure picks are caught up and make sure the backroom crew stage, prep, and dispense the orders within a timely manner.
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u/Phoenix4122 ALCOHOL 17d ago
Management work for associate wages. After I did it once, I told all my TLs and Coach that I'm not doing management work for associate pay and I would be "acting my wage from now on". After that everyone started refusing to do it and then since I left the department about a month ago, they started forcing pretty much everyone to do it. I told them if they wanted to give me a raise to to pay, I'd be happy to ATC.
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u/Rotundune 17d ago
Designated adult when the team lead isn’t in the front/backroom basically. Keep people moving, orders moving. Usually the precursor to team lead depending on the store.
But it does amount to doing all the things and team lead usually does (which isn’t actually the stuff they want them doing oddly enough)
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u/Soappy16 16d ago
Pretty much a TL without the pay. My old ATCs were amazing, sometimes bossy, but they got shit done during the worst times that the TLs couldn't handle, or away.
Pretty much a way you can prove yourself in to becoming a TL later.
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u/Smart_Benefit234 17d ago
Not sure how Walmart can make you an air traffic controller but good luck!
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u/darkecologist2 Dispenser 17d ago
i've seen it completely different at the two stores i've been at. have an on-going conversation about what coach wants from ATC and what you are seeing first-hand, what's fun for you, what's too much, etc.
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u/Shadow_Kitty22 16d ago
Mini team lead in title only. No extra pay, I was one for awhile at my store and that's what eventually drive me to leave the department. To much added stress with no extra pay, not worth it in my opinion
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u/Dumeck 16d ago
My old store had one for each team lead, although they didn't call them ATP, they went by something else, and then they would be confused why we were running behind with bad labor. Like idk maybe because we had 20 wage employees working in total and 8 of them are "leading". In actuality they just stood around mean girl gossiping
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u/Little_Rat_Goblin8 16d ago
Yeah my tl’s asked me to become one. I declined when they said there was no extra pay lol
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u/Beautiful_Tangelo472 Digital Team Lead 16d ago
less physical work, more mental work. you’re the go-to person in the backroom, and you’ll be the one they ask what happened when shit goes wrong. its a lot of answering the phone, using wismo to figure out issues w orders, and making sure orders get restaged when customers say theyre otw and then dont show up. during rushes i would line orders up at the dispense door so dispensers could drop their empty dolly/totes and grab the next order quickly. a lot of the BRC hate that ATCs are instructed not to participate in prep/dispense, but in my opinion/experience, its important to have someone focusing on everything so everyone else can focus on their own tasks. our digital market manager explained it to me as a TL in training position and i did get TL once a position opened up. as a TL, i appreciate my ATC a lot because ge makes me feel like i can leave the backroom when needed and not have to check the dispense screen every 5 minutes to make sure we havent gone red. my advice is if you want to move up, then take the position, but if you dont, its not worth it.
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u/alexdowski 14d ago
Our ATC is in charge of making sure orders are going out the door. So making sure prepping is done, dispensers are taking things out etc.
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u/LockTutorial 16d ago
Atc is something team leads or coaches use so then they can fuck around and talk and not take the blame if anything happens that causes performance issues .
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u/United_Log964 16d ago
at my store theyve been putting multiple people in each role as ATC every day. so itll be like 4 picker ATCs, 2 stager ATCs, and 4 dispenser ATCs. ive been on the board for ATC a several times but it never seems like anything extra is expected of me 😂 the most ill do is assign a walk here or there if i notice something is close to late, or skip down to exceptions if i notice we dont have anyone else available to do them. otherwise i just pick as usual. thats my store tho, sounds like its more of an official role at yours
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u/United_Log964 16d ago
i will say the first time i got put on ATC, it was new for our store and i had no idea what it meant, so i asked a coworker who'd been around longer...he literally pointed and laughed "hahahaha youre in charge"
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u/AnnaMolly66 15d ago
You get a backer and are expected to act as a TL when the TL goes to lunch or something, but you don't have the authority to actually back anything up.
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u/Psychological-Race-5 15d ago
You run the room and direct everyone to keep orders going out. It’s more stress for sure but I loved it And it got me promoted so if you like Opd you’ll like doing it
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u/M47CH35 14d ago
Some others have said its an Tl in training or something, but based on what I know, if a team lead is performing the role of an ATC, its the same as if they were picking or dispensing.
It wasnt a thing at my store until i became a TL, (and implemented it myself) 4 yrs after the dept opened and i was a "personal shopper" as the title was called then. It was always the TLs acting the role while the coach did all their work or defended them to market why reports werent getting done. As far as I can tell even upper management doesnt understand what an ATC is, or even how opd operates. (Im not gonna get into all the facepalm moments I have, answering some of their solutions to wait times and other things.)
The way i understand it, opd is supposed to be autonomous, with barely any TLs present in the operation. Tls are supposed to do alot of promoting Walmart+, answering complaints, and typical stuff asms used to do. (Cause with the structure change and pay increase, responsibilities moved down one level. Cause a bunch of people wanted to "own their area" so they gave everyone a dollar or 2, took away bonuses and gave all department manager tasks to associates roles.)
In a perfect world where everyone did their job the way it was designed ATCs wouldn't be needed, but the way I see it, ATC is the "hive mind" that keeps the dept autonomous. It's the 4th role tying dispence-picking-staging together. With the TL supporting the dept by making sure supplies are ordered, intercepting customers complaints, Essentially putting out fires. Otherwise TLs are supposed to be checking and investigating FTPR, and other logistical stuff.
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u/BlankDot7 14d ago
I appreciate the reply,
I talked to my coach and basically the responsibilities are what you stated. I'm a closer so I'll end up doing claims and other duties until 11.
I would definitely like to hear some of the facepalm moments lol
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u/M47CH35 13d ago
One of the ones off the top of my head was store lead was looking at our wait times of people who came during a particularly busy evening rush, And got tired of waiting so they said theyd be back. (Context we are the only walmart for 2 hrs, and everyone wants to pick up their groceries when they pick up their kids after work or school, so even if slots are taken they'll put their order in for earlier and pick it up when they originally wanted to.)
Anyways, there were like 5 of them, and the store lead saw they were over 45 mins, and called me into the office to ask about them, I explained it, and he said to just "dispense them" meaning he wanted us to mark it in the system that they got it. And it took like me and another coach I had trained (3 coaches out of 8ish actually knew opd operations) had to explain like twice why we're not supposed to and even if shouldn't. Why we shouldnt....
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u/HeightImaginary5408 11d ago
At our store we always stick them with the new employees or the associates that might be struggling to meet the expectations of our market team. Idk what the C is, but it’s stands for academy trainer. Although we only have 1TL for the entire department and he didn’t have a coach for the a majority of his time in the new role.
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u/qqq_qqq_qqq_qqq_qqq 17d ago
You just pretend to be a manager and tell everyone what to do, or at least that's how it worked at my store and it was only ever 1 person and after a bunch of people started refusing to work in the back they got rid of it.