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- Home Depot now requires corporate employees to spend one day each quarter working in a retail store.
- The move revives a long-standing practice that was suspended during the pandemic.
- Software developers on social media reacted especially favorably to the move.
The next orange-aproned employee who helps you match a paint swatch at Home Depot might spend their typical work days programming hex code colors for the retailer's app.
Beginning in the fourth quarter of this year, Home Depot will require corporate employees to spend a day each quarter working in a retail store to better understand what customer-facing roles entail.
"It's critical that we all spend time in the aisles engaging directly with customers and understanding the unique opportunities and challenges that our frontline associates face every day," a Home Depot spokesperson told Business Insider. "We've had many similar programs in the past, and this newly launched effort is the latest such program."
The policy applies to corporate employees, including senior management and remote workers. According to a memo from CEO Ted Decker, employees must complete an eight-hour shift four times a year, Bloomberg reported.
The spokesperson said the move revives a long-standing practice suspended during the pandemic as safety concerns and operational challenges took priority.
Software developers on social media reacted favorably to the move, saying it would give programmers a better understanding of how actual users — rather than imaginary — interact with the apps and software they build.
"More firms ought to give their developers systematic exposure to the business end of things," programmer Eric S. Raymond posted on X in response to the news.
Home Depot isn't the only company using the undercover boss strategy.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made headlines last year when he revealed his takeaways from driving for the service the year before.
"It showed me, literally, that we as a company culturally were very much focused on the rider and the eater product because we used them ourselves — we took a lot of pride in it all the time," he told a conference hosted by General Electric. "But we didn't take pride in the driver product because very few of us drove."
If you are a Home Depot worker who wants to share your perspective, please contact Dominick via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Responses will be kept confidential, and Business Insider strongly recommends using a personal email and a non-work device when reaching out