When New Zealand food retailer Dave Chambers arrived in Sydney earlier this year to take the helm of Woolworths Supermarkets he was shocked by what he saw in stores. Shelves were low on stock, the trolleys had seen better days, floors were in disrepair and customers were forced to queue at the checkouts. "Customers were saying service wasn't good enough and availability wasn't good enough," recalled Chambers, who replaced Tjeerd Jegen as director of supermarkets in February. Woolworths had been reducing staff hours to achieve its profit guidance and the lack of staff had taken a toll on on-shelf availability and checkout queues. And while...
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