3.3.3. Employees' Knowledge and Experience

Employees affected the amount of waste. The complexity of the daily work at the FV department required skilful employees, and it was in this department that the management often placed the most experienced and committed employees. The role of employees was central, since most of the decisions were made and executed by employees. Their ability was affected by their knowledge, experience, time, and well-defined and established daily working routines. The employees' mandate and assignment of responsibility also influenced how they solved certain tasks during the day. For instance, if the employees noticed that they had too much packaged lettuce that was about to reach the best before date, they could independently decide to change the exposure and pricing of the lettuce in order to increase sales. The employees also played a central role in the daily work at the department since it required constant supervision. They had to refill products that had run out, rearrange display units and shelves to make them look neat and tidy, and be available to customers. The employees often noticed changes in orderliness and a mismatch between orders and actual need after a period when a non-regular member of staff had been working. The employees explained several trade-off situations, for example, between maximising sales volumes and efforts to reduce food waste. The employees were updated and aware of how much waste the FV department generated. Waste figures of each department were discussed once a week at internal meetings and each department had internal waste goals. The employees regularly participated in training and group meetings arranged by the central organisation of the retail chain.
