I'm just wondering if anyone has had GFK ask if you'd mind if a newer auditor shadowed you during one of your audits. I sent a long email to the scheduler with my concerns on this. When you're someone who has performed their announced audits a long time and do it well you've developed techniques to do the audit through experience. It just seems really unfair then that this newer auditor will come in get to learn your techniques right off the bat and likely steal shops from you in the near future. I was very honest and open with the scheduler about my concerns and that I want to help and I do understand the need for this type of training because learning how to do these audits yourself is really not easy. But I want to make sure I'm not helping in a way that is going to hurt me either. So what I personally asked was that if shadowing is going to become a thing now I think auditors who are doing it should get a bonus for the shop they are being shadowed at, and in the future any auditor that has been around awhile and has proven they do good audits should be given priority for the shops when they are eligible for them.

Interested in what other auditors for GFK think. Please don't respond if you've done it and don't like the audit; I am well aware there is a large group of you whom hate these audits....I do not they're my favorite audit to do actually! I'm really interested in what other established GFK auditors think of this and if any of you have also been asked to have someone shadow you.

Sounds slightly weird to have a potential "competitor" learn from a more experienced auditor, no?

Does GfK offer a greater pay rate for you to have a shadower (is that a word)?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2017 08:46PM by shoptastic.

The scheduler did not imply that there would be extra pay. All that was asked was "would you be okay with a new auditor shadowing you on one of your locations for July?". Like I said I was very open and honest in a long email back to the scheduler. I asked if this is going to be a thing for 1. extra pay when I shadow and 2. priority to pick up shops over newer auditors if this is now going to be a thing

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2017 08:51PM by 1JJ.

@1JJ wrote:

The scheduler did not imply that there would be extra pay. All that was asked was "would you be okay with a new auditor shadowing you on one of your locations for July?". Like I said I was very open and honest in a long email back to the scheduler. I asked if this is going to be a thing for 1. extra pay when I shadow and 2. priority to pick up shops over newer auditors if this is now going to be a thing

I've never done an audit for them, due to physical health issues, so don't know much about it, OP.

I was just putting that out there as food for thought. Do you feel there are any "trade secrets" you learned (through hard work) that would be unfair to just give away to a newbie? If so, I would think extra pay would be fair to you.

@1JJ What you expressed is a very reasonable concern and you offered a very constructive response!

Essentially, GFK is requesting you to do double duty as a GFK mystery shopper and as a GFK trainer for no additional pay. Then if you add "training a potential 'competitor'", ugh and ugh.

Either GFK just fell off the turnip truck or they think you did. No thank you!

Kudos to you, 1JJ!

(heart)

You potentially could be training your own replacement.

As a trainer in the merchandising world, I agree that a bonus is in order.
Another important factor is you're on site time will definitely increase with every question asked.

When Maritz started their blue station audits they had a Maritz employee train us. We got paid to meet at a certain station and he trained us on how to do the audits. I wouldn't want to train a shadow.

One of my regular locations is suddenly not on the schedule this month. I'm sure someone agreed to complete for less. I know they will not complete as fast as I can, so I will probably get it back. I won't train someone to replace me.

They should have offered you a hefty free and why in the world would they want someone to shadow you unless they intended on giving them audits in your area in the future? Does it seem reasonable that a new auditor would drive from somewhere an hour or possibly more to come shadow you? It seems like having someone shadowing you would slow you down immensely and make your job harder to do

What a thread! I hope that the experience auditors will be secure in their jobs.


1. Many years ago, I "shadowed" an experienced employee before being given my own area of work. I learned a great deal! Mostly, I learned that I completely sucked in that job and that I was never going to be competition for anyone in that line of work. I am okay with this. I do other work. They are okay with this, and they have plenty of the big bucks because they were so good in the job.

2. I have no idea what GFK or the client have in mind. Does anyone wonder if the experienced auditors are potential trainers for a formal training program? Might you be the one whose work is gold standard? Are you the next Auditor Extraordinaire? Will you be demonstrating the how to and fielding questions from fledgling auditors in the high-tech, mass education training session?

3. Does anyone want to break up the audits into smaller segments? If so, will additional auditors be needed?

5. In one current job I am not shadowed, but occasionally I provide a pretend version of how the work might happen for a newbie. This is okay. Other long-timers do the same thing. Our jobs are secure. It is just something to do once in awhile to give a newbie a chance to experience the work and get feedback before doing the actual job by themselves.

5. Like the others said, I might wonder if my work was being questioned or if I was training a replacement.

6. Once, I whined somewhere in the forum that someone should test certain shop guidelines before sending a shopper into a potential disaster. Will the shadow auditors report back about how they, as newbies, understand the task as written or demonstrated? As experienced auditors, have you adapted to any written or on-site little things that no longer bother you but might seem big to a newbie?

My thought is if you are tempted there should be an additional bonus added to the base fee of the audit plus a large fee for training. There is absolutely no way the audit won't take much longer than if you were alone. For four or five years I've had ongoing audits that required intense training for three days. For one audit each year a trainer travels here to shadow me. Each audit normally takes me anywhere from 75 to 90 minutes. The day I'm shadowed it will easily jump to 2 to 2 1/2 hours, 40% to 60% more time.

I wouldn't even answer the email because they would be asking me to train my replacement. Unless they say the trainee is from another state, even then, no. And the flat fee wouldn't apply, obviously, because it could take more than two days in one store.

They asked me to train some "girls" when I was doing cosmetic resets. They lied and said a bunch of crap the regional manager believed (because she was desperate) and I quit.

Since this is independent contractor work, lesson learned, it could turn to crap in a hand-basket in the blink of an eye. I don't/won't train anyone, absolutely never as an I.C.

The OP would be fine from the "replacement" standpoint if the audits still require a rotation. At one time the same auditor could only go every other month. He or she should know if it goes begging on their off month. If the OP is also doing the audits at the base rate now, I'm not sure what the point would be in bringing in a replacement. If they are doing them for a big bonus, then yeah, the plan could be for the newbie to take over.