MEGATHREAD 2018-2019 Store Modernization Megathread

[graffiti]

I would hate to be under GM. It's the worst workcenter to be under.

I'm thinking of asking to switch to front end for this reason. I only work one day a week now but it's like a month's worth of changes happen in that week and it might be halfway through the shift before anyone bothers to tell me what I'm supposed to be doing. I know they're slowly ruining everyone's job but at least up front you're mostly just dealing with the problems of that day and not a week's worth of unfinished shit you weren't even involved in steamrolling you.

 

[Times Up]

I’m guessing the difference between the stores drowning and stores doing ok, is tl and etl involvement.
Each of our tls pushes some freight every day. The priority 3 tl pulls batches a lot since his people are scheduled too close to noon or later. Our gm and style etls are on the floor every day either setting something, pushing a few tubs of clearance, puts up white pc labels, or remerchandising something. Our front etl is schmoozing, hops on, immediately responds to the Serv desk, etc. the only time they spend offstage is around lunch time or when the SD needs help writing the schedule.

I wish all stores leadership would get busy!

That's how it "should" be.

However, Spot doesn't want it's leadership to lead by example, you know tasking. Just lead by walking around observing and telling TMs to either work faster or finish up your 4 hour shift is done.

 

[MajorChomp]

That's how it "should" be.

However, Spot doesn't want it's leadership to lead by example, you know tasking. Just lead by walking around observing and telling TMs to either work faster or finish up your 4 hour shift is done.

As a GMTL I work alongside with my team. Whether that’s me grabbing a Uboat of freight, helping with the auto pulls and pushing, setting end caps, price change activations, re-merchandising & re-ticketing Clearance end caps while pulling salvage and other parts of the workload. In some shape or form I’m still in the trenches with my team.

There are only two shifts out of the week that I’m actually in the office for a longer period. One of the shift is when I’m making the schedule which is usually a span of maybe 30-40mins.
The other shift is planning and mapping out next week’s workload (price change forecast/salesplanners/etc) and typing up any possible doc in workday.

Otherwise from that I’m primarily on the floor. That being said, I still hold my team accountable and still push them to get a certain amount of work done in X amount of time. I give them what I believe to be realistic goal times, and I know they are realistic because I’ve done it myself on numerous occasions.

I was never the type to just walk around observe, I firmly believe in leading by example plus my team respects me more because I’ve worked alongside with them and know how difficult certain things really are. Though I still do my observations while I’m working with them as needed.

 

[FlowTeamChick]

Quite a bit of quiet grumbling going on as TMs are moved into other positions - price change, HR support are the most recent I've heard from. Some TMs are getting shoved around to make it possible for certain others to still get the hours they'd been getting before modernization; at least one has told me they'll be leaving without two weeks notice if a new job comes through. One TM who was often able to pick up cashier shifts or stay later is usually told to leave at their scheduled out-time now. Another TM told me that they'd had a few calls lately saying they didn't need to come in for a scheduled shift after all. These aren't bad workers, but they're being forced into making decisions they'd rather not have to make. The fallout continues.

 

[band_rules16]

I would hate to be under GM. It's the worst workcenter to be under. Beauty is overstaffed, Style is fairly comfortable, and Tech gets to rely on Mobile and the GM Expert in toys for help. Even having to deal with both the RDC and FDC trailers, Market is also fairly comfortable, as it's been E2E the longest and gets a good chunk of hours to get things done.

Several of us GM people went to market specifically for this reason. Even Style has been doing better the last couple of months. But GM is a HUUUUUUGE mess. Some of it I do blame the ETL for, since she does next to nothing other than wandering around and ONLY talking to the male TLs she supervises. But if you don't schedule people, you'll constantly be behind on the truck and never catch up.

I went in last night for groceries and found out our SD was let go last week. I only work twice a week and it happened after I was there. Dang. I don't think our issues were his fault entirely, but wow. Just wow.

 

[Ashfromoldsite]

.. and hours.

There are days where we'll see a 2400 piece truck, 300 repacks, and only a TL and TM are scheduled for their departments. That's two people, with one of them scheduled under Inbound for the first 2 hours of the day. They have to do pulls, push their pulls, push their freight, do their backstock, zone their salesfloor aisles, purge their backroom aisles, do their price changes, their revisions, their signing, their salesplanners, etc.. for chemicals, pets, infant hardlines, paper, and seasonal. The TL is the one pushing most of the freight, simply because they're the only one who actually gets time to.

I would hate to be under GM. It's the worst workcenter to be under. Beauty is overstaffed, Style is fairly comfortable, and Tech gets to rely on Mobile and the GM Expert in toys for help. Even having to deal with both the RDC and FDC trailers, Market is also fairly comfortable, as it's been E2E the longest and gets a good chunk of hours to get things done.

My store doesn’t have Mobil staff anymore. We activate consumer cellular all day.

 

[jenna]

I am wondering how many tm's will quit once BTS season *really* hits. That's a lot of freight in a short amount of time...

 

[Rarejem]

Short rant. We recently got the Big Speech: We schedule to business needs, so you need to complete your work in the amount of time you are scheduled. Okay. Today I had a 5 hour shift and 6 uboats stacked more than 6 feet each that didn't include the 12 full to the brim repack boxes, 2 flats with freight too large for the uboat, and a pull with more than 100 eaches. 1/2 an hour before my shift is over I'm asked if I can stay longer so I can finish my work. Part of me wants to say yes, of course, since I could use the hours. The other part of me wants to scream no f*ing way. If you can't schedule to the actual needs of the business and cut hours to the bone that you expect us to bark for, then it's your turn to worry about your job.

 

[Tessa120]

So what did you decide?

 

[seasonaldude]

I'm thinking of asking to switch to front end for this reason. I only work one day a week now but it's like a month's worth of changes happen in that week and it might be halfway through the shift before anyone bothers to tell me what I'm supposed to be doing. I know they're slowly ruining everyone's job but at least up front you're mostly just dealing with the problems of that day and not a week's worth of unfinished shit you weren't even involved in steamrolling you.

Be careful what you wish for. The front end doesn't just deal with one workcenter's shit, they end up dealing with the whole store's shit.

 

[Rarejem]

So what did you decide?

I did not stay. I decided that when people stay, it enables them to continue this pattern. Of course, my not staying will not change that because others always will stay. They will never know that their scheduling does not really meet the needs of the business for that reason. Passive aggressive, I suppose, but I felt that I left with my integrity intact.

 

[Ashfromoldsite]

I did not stay. I decided that when people stay, it enables them to continue this pattern. Of course, my not staying will not change that because others always will stay. They will never know that their scheduling does not really meet the needs of the business for that reason. Passive aggressive, I suppose, but I felt that I left with my integrity intact.

They will have to continue the pattern regardless because that’s all the payroll hq gives.
All of you that think SD bank tons of hours to fill their pockets are wrong. They only have to make payroll by a dollar to get their bonus.
If the store doesn’t spend it, they don’t get it back. They won’t get as much the same month next year.
There are circumstances where they may bank for a snow storm or hurricane, etc. But they only bank what they’ve needed in the past to save their ass in a previous storm. It’s not “hundreds of hours a week”.

 

[qmosqueen]

 

[ShortTM]

That's how it "should" be.

However, Spot doesn't want it's leadership to lead by example, you know tasking. Just lead by walking around observing and telling TMs to either work faster or finish up your 4 hour shift is done.

That's exactly what I noticed today. We had about 5 TMs clearing out seasonal and starting BTS and for the first few hours the TL was just observing. Maybe doing a small task here and there to prevent TMs from running back and forth to the backroom

 

[Rock Lobster]

I am wondering how many tm's will quit once BTS season *really* hits. That's a lot of freight in a short amount of time...

Yeah, all these tweets and posts with perfectly zoned stores and empty backrooms is really cute, but we ran into Q4 with this system not that long ago and almost every store in the company went into a panic as the freight fell behind. We are literally doing the exactly same thing into this BTS, with no better ideas on how to handle the increased workload. Anybody that actually has to plan and deal with working the freight knows there are going to be major problems coming up just around the corner. So far the direction is to schedule open to close coverage for BTS, but guess what.... if you put 100 hours a week into BTS and its all when the store is open, that freight isn't getting done! Follow the guide, it caused group wide support help a few months ago, but certainly doing the exact same thing again will be better because?

 

[Rarejem]

They will have to continue the pattern regardless because that’s all the payroll hq gives.
All of you that think SD bank tons of hours to fill their pockets are wrong. They only have to make payroll by a dollar to get their bonus.
If the store doesn’t spend it, they don’t get it back. They won’t get as much the same month next year.
There are circumstances where they may bank for a snow storm or hurricane, etc. But they only bank what they’ve needed in the past to save their ass in a previous storm. It’s not “hundreds of hours a week”.

I was asked what my decision was. I have never said that I think they are banking hours nor did I even imply that. What I think is that those that are creating the schedules (and I guess those that are budgeting for payroll allocations) to meet the needs of the business need to have a realistic picture of how those business needs will be met and communicate those needs to headquarters. I'm not sure why "hundreds of hours a week" is in quotes (or even why you thought my post was about banking hours) so I can't respond to that.

 

[vngoghlvr]

I asked to stay later today to try and get caught up on my clearance and they said yes. I was surprised. I was venting to another TL about how two of my furniture aisles were not set correctly, I'm missing displays, and the old plano TL and PMT left one up that we don't sell anymore. I consulted another longtime plano TM who told me how to look everything up, print labels, signs, the planograms, etc... so I can start trying to fix it and hopefully locate the displays I need. The TL I was telling this to told me to not worry about it and just focus on my routine. Um, ok. So I should just push freight and do autofills and ignore shitty furniture sales because it's a mess. How does that make any sense? They want me to take ownership and I'm trying but there is no support at all. As frustrated as I am with the process, I love my department. I want it to look good and I take pride in my work, but the lack of support from management is slowly stripping that away from me.

 

[Tessa120]

Looking at the poll results so far, I'd love to hear from the 25% of people, the 1 in 4 of people posting, who think that modernization is great.

 

[REDcardJJ]

my team is performing better than ever as Guest Advocates

 

[Ashfromoldsite]

I was asked what my decision was. I have never said that I think they are banking hours nor did I even imply that. What I think is that those that are creating the schedules (and I guess those that are budgeting for payroll allocations) to meet the needs of the business need to have a realistic picture of how those business needs will be met and communicate those needs to headquarters. I'm not sure why "hundreds of hours a week" is in quotes (or even why you thought my post was about banking hours) so I can't respond to that.

I never said you said those things. My first comment responded to you, the rest of my comment was about things I read on here often.

 

[GozerZuul]

Quite a bit of quiet grumbling going on as TMs are moved into other positions - price change, HR support are the most recent I've heard from. Some TMs are getting shoved around to make it possible for certain others to still get the hours they'd been getting before modernization; at least one has told me they'll be leaving without two weeks notice if a new job comes through. One TM who was often able to pick up cashier shifts or stay later is usually told to leave at their scheduled out-time now. Another TM told me that they'd had a few calls lately saying they didn't need to come in for a scheduled shift after all. These aren't bad workers, but they're being forced into making decisions they'd rather not have to make. The fallout continues.

as a former flow dude, this is the truth. i seen new hires get the hours. i seen people who previously were top ranked workers drop entire shifts off like they were nothing. its been a month and a half. i no longer beg for hours, ask permission to take a piss, etc. in the end targets new way of doing things is turning new workers into children with no brains or adaption strategies in mind and making the older workers/good workers who dont rely on being given instructions or overview every fucking second feel like their losing. i heard a few more drop off with only plano team lead left from when i started 4 years ago. the whole store has restaffed. hell i get into discussions with coworkers who left target years ago at this point for walmart and all they said was "target has always been looking for a buyer". its been a different company every time, but their gonna probably end up being amazons brick and mortar eventually.

 

[happygoth]

as a former flow dude, this is the truth. i seen new hires get the hours. i seen people who previously were top ranked workers drop entire shifts off like they were nothing. its been a month and a half. i no longer beg for hours, ask permission to take a piss, etc. in the end targets new way of doing things is turning new workers into children with no brains or adaption strategies in mind and making the older workers/good workers who dont rely on being given instructions or overview every fucking second feel like their losing. i heard a few more drop off with only plano team lead left from when i started 4 years ago. the whole store has restaffed. hell i get into discussions with coworkers who left target years ago at this point for walmart and all they said was "target has always been looking for a buyer". its been a different company every time, but their gonna probably end up being amazons brick and mortar eventually.

My former TL told me that when they make the schedule, they have to give all team members in an area similar hours or else corporate questions things. So if you have TMs who are hard workers, pick up extra shifts, rarely-to-never call out, they still can only be scheduled roughly the same hours as the TMs who call out, give away shifts, don't work as hard, etc. This absolutely makes no sense to me.

The culture of begging for more hours and/or scanning the swap shift schedule every day was weird to me, but I've always worked full-time in the past. Having a part-time job took some getting used to, especially since from everything I've been told by TLs and TMs, I've more than proven myself to be a good, reliable worker. Seeing other TMs who were hired after me or who are not as hard-working and reliable get the same or more hours is a bit deflating.

 

[Llamanatee]

My former TL told me that when they make the schedule, they have to give all team members in an area similar hours or else corporate questions things. So if you have TMs who are hard workers, pick up extra shifts, rarely-to-never call out, they still can only be scheduled roughly the same hours as the TMs who call out, give away shifts, don't work as hard, etc. This absolutely makes no sense to me.

Yep, this started about 4 years ago. I was 8 years in and had always gotten close to 40 hours. I was practically a team lead without the title. I was told that all that meant nothing and I would be scheduled equally with those who weren't as dedicated, self sufficient, or capable of a lot of the same things. My hours began to drop and as of the end of last year I was at 31, if I remember correctly.

Now I have a limited availability due to other life events, but I imagine if I still had an open availability I should be working about the same amount as I do now since I get the same amount of hours as those with an open schedule.

I'm hoping to build my pension up a little more before I call it quits.

 

[REDcardJJ]

you can’t use the schedule to manage performance. (less hours for bad performance, etc)

 

[happygoth]

you can’t use the schedule to manage performance. (less hours for bad performance, etc)

I disagree (somewhat). Good workers have earned the right to get more hours. There is nothing wrong with telling your team that the way to get hours is to work for them. Why is Susie Snowflake, who calls out and does little when she's here, getting 22 hours while I have 18? I have open availability and can work any area in Softlines - take a four hour shift away from her (she will probably give it away or call out anyway) and give it to me.

Bad TMs should be documented, I agree, but the two don't have to be mutually exclusive - give the slackers less hours and follow protocol to performance them out.