UNDERCOVER BOSS: Sharon Leite, chief executive officer of The Vitamin Shoppe, got an unvarnished view of what her employees think of the business – the good and the not-so-good – when she donned a wig and fake glasses, pretended to be former gift shop manager seeking a new job, and visited three Vitamin Shoppe stores and a distribution center, all for her central role in an episode of “Undercover Boss.”
“I don’t want to give too much away, but I learned a lot from our health enthusiast associates during this unique experience,” Leite told WWD.
“While I was undercover, we had to deal with things like systems outages that made serving customers a challenge in stores, to issues with our robots in our distribution centers.
“I also connected with associates on a human level and gained some real insights into some of the difficult life challenges that our people have to juggle every day, such as personal loss. We took this opportunity not only to reward the show’s featured associates for the incredible work they do while also balancing the many stresses that life can throw at any of us, but also to make real investments in our systems and processes across many aspects of our workplaces.”
Leite said going undercover was “truly eye-opening and incredibly valuable, and one of the most engaging, inspiring and humbling experiences of my life.”
The “Undercover Boss” episode is scheduled to air Jan. 21 , 2022, at 8 p.m. EST, on the CBS Television Network and will stream live and on demand on Paramount+. According to The Vitamin Shoppe, the episode was unscripted.