Archived AE14 Reviews

[Guest]

The reviews are rigged. I just wish Target would be honest about it. I've had two team leads tell me that during my wonderful journey at Target. One of those team leads was the team lead in my department. Why would they lie? What do they have to gain? It makes sense because ETLs and the STL want as much of their piece of the pie as possible. I have become very wise during my time at Target and I have learned a lot of how things go at the store I work. Greed is real and according to Wall Street and Target, greed is good. ETLs and the STL know that their piece of the pie will shrink if they are giving good size raises to team members than deserve rather than what they usually do which is either give everyone a small raise or give a few team members decent raises and give everyone else a small raise. I can give you countless examples of how those reviews are rigged. I went like 3 years in a row with perfect attendance yet I never once got an O for attendance. Explain that to me. Perfect attendance is perfect attendance meaning that I should have gotten an O. Not an IE which I usually get. It's a joke. I just wish the bosses at Target could be mature and honest about the reviews.

 

[BRguy]

I guess it really depends on the store. I've received one O and many EXs. I never had anything lower than an EX. Each store and each district is different from one another.

 

[tellmeaboutatime]

Reviews are a big fat joke. TLs take the time to write their reviews while their outcome has already been decided. Why not have the ETL simply write the review? We simply do not have the time to play this stupid game. As far as TM reviews? Sure you have your discussion on who gets what however it is totally true that there is a cap on how many "O"s "EX"s are given out. Also if you have too many "IE"s someone is going to get lucky and get a bump up into the next category. Then you get about 10 minutes to write each of their reviews. Sure that is really going to recap their performance for the entire year. After all that fun you have to figure out how to deliver the shit sandwich that is their "raise". It goes something like this, 'so in conclusion you meet all and sometimes exceeded our expectations. For that we are scoring you an "E" for meeting expectations. You get a .10 cent raise. Because you work 30 hours per week (just enough to NOT receive benefits) you will be receiving an extra $3 per week!!! If you improve your performance and take on some extra responsibility you could possibly be an "EX" next year and bump that all the way up to .15 cents a week, but only if we have enough "EX" s to give out. Last year I actually had to give someone .03 cents. That is just fucked up.

 

[Rarejem]

I guess it really depends on the store. I've received one O and many EXs. I never had anything lower than an EX. Each store and each district is different from one another.

No, they're not. The process is the same at every store. You've been a good tm AND lucky.

 

[IHeartCarts]

are those raises accurate?

 

[buteeinnm]

Ive been maxed out on pay for the last five years, and have received zero for a raise, despite a very decent review, you would think they could give an extra personal holiday or something, but nothing? But since when have they ever been fair about things, it is what it is.

 

[sigma7]

To get a raise when you are capped, you have to get an EX or an O. But even then, the raises related to those scores are a lower percentage compared to what a non capped tm with the same score would receive.

 

[Rarejem]

To get a raise when you are capped, you have to get an EX or an O. But even then, the raises related to those scores are a lower percentage compared to what a non capped tm with the same score would receive.

I am capped. I think I got 2% last year. I had an EX - it would have been an O but I got an IE for how I dressed. (Always neat, pressed, clean and fashionable, but everyone wears red and khaki so expectations cannot be exceeded. Uh huh.)

 

[redeye58]

Ditto.
Unsure about this yr since they're pushing down the number of EXs.

 

[Guest]

Like I said earlier, the ETLs, TLs, or STL should just go up to you and say "can I have 5 minutes of your time". In that 5 minutes, you should be told two things: if you are getting a raise and how much of a raise. That should be it. I honestly do not care about the lies you are going to tell me about my performance. They are lies because the reviews that you write are rigged so you get to get your bonus for not giving too much money on raises. The reviews are so unethical and deceitful. Just be honest about your treachery and greed. You are greedy so therefore you are going to screw over the less fortunate which are the hard working team members that are the heart and soul of the store and which are the reason why you get all of the bonuses that you do just so you can keep your piece of the pie. Good day sir.

 

[commiecorvus]

Like I said earlier, the ETLs, TLs, or STL should just go up to you and say "can I have 5 minutes of your time". In that 5 minutes, you should be told two things: if you are getting a raise and how much of a raise. That should be it. I honestly do not care about the lies you are going to tell me about my performance. They are lies because the reviews that you write are rigged so you get to get your bonus for not giving too much money on raises. The reviews are so unethical and deceitful. Just be honest about your treachery and greed. You are greedy so therefore you are going to screw over the less fortunate which are the hard working team members that are the heart and soul of the store and which are the reason why you get all of the bonuses that you do just so you can keep your piece of the pie. Good day sir.

I'd agree with this up to the point that you bundled the TLs into it.
They are hourly wage earners like the rest of you, they just get to be the bearer of the bad tidings.
To lump them in is shooting the messenger and sometimes they try to fight for fair evaluations.
They don't have anything to gain by giving you a crap evaluation.
The ETLS and STL on the other hand have everything to gain.

 

[NOP]

I'd agree with this up to the point that you bundled the TLs into it.
They are hourly wage earners like the rest of you, they just get to be the bearer of the bad tidings.
To lump them in is shooting the messenger and sometimes they try to fight for fair evaluations.
They don't have anything to gain by giving you a crap evaluation.
The ETLS and STL on the other hand have everything to gain.

What Commie said...when your TL is surprised by what is written on the review and the scores you got while discussing, that's a dead giveaway.

TL gives me their personal review of what they felt I should have had, in addition to the "official" review.

 

[InStalker]

Last year, my TL from the previous year (the year for which I was being reviewed) had quit just before Christmas. So, I had a new TL whom hadn't been anywhere close to my direct supervisor. He worked early mornings and I rarely ever saw him up to this point. He didn't even know who I was until he took over my department. This was the guy who ended up writing my review for the year that he never supervised me. I ended up receiving straight E's across the board for an overall score of, you guessed it, an E.

I expressed to him quite vehemently - even vulgarly, at times - that it was a completely unfair review and merely reflected the fact that he was making the safe choice by not deviating from the middle and so he couldn't possibly be giving me a "bad" review in his mind. Of course there was no way he could give me an accurate review. He wasn't even trained in my department yet and was wholly unfamiliar with the process.

During the course of the review "reading", he told me the number of times I called in the previous year and the number of times I was late, neither of which were even close to being excessive. He acknowledged that by telling me that it wasn't a problem and he was only required by HR to tell everyone what their attendance was. He then went on to tell me that he challenged the ETLs on my E rating and they said they wouldn't bump me up to an EX because my Instocks scores were red. That is, they turned red the month before I got my review (April) because corporate changed the goal for the green Instocks metric from 10% to 7%. The previous year - again, the year for which I should have been reviewed - I was green YTD. This fact merelly got a shrug and a "I don't know what to tell you" (seriously) from him.

Needless to say, I refused to sign my review. He told me he would make some changes to better reflect my performance but I would not be getting a better grade anyway. A month later when I finally got my "revised" review, the only changes were made to the text of the review. Still E's all the way down. The kicker is the text he added which was that my attendance could use some improvement.

 

[TGTlifer]

HR sent out an email stating that we were over budget for our initial scores. I flat out said that I would not lower any scores, the team members were given what they deserve and that she needed to let our DTL know we would not be lowering scores just to fit into the budget. They need to figure something else out for the scoring so that we don't have to fight over this every year. It drives me insane. My STL fights every year to get us what we deserve not what the budget dictates. She always sends the scores over budget and we usually get more than initially given.

By the way @InStalker it doesn't matter if you don't sign the review. You are given a score and arguing about it won't ever do anything, I'm sure you figured that out though.

 

[InStalker]

Oh, I absolutely knew that at the outset. It was merely an act of protest.

 

[InStalker]

The funny thing is that the TL that gave me my interview asked me then why I was fighting for my score so hard. "Is it for the pay or just so you can get an EX?". I just laughed and said maybe the most obvious and simple thing there was to say, "Because it's fair and you know it." He just didn't understand why a person could be so upset by being told they did a sub-par job (in my eyes) when there was empirical evidence to the contrary.

 

[commiecorvus]

The funny thing is that the TL that gave me my interview asked me then why I was fighting for my score so hard. "Is it for the pay or just so you can get an EX?". I just laughed and said maybe the most obvious and simple thing there was to say, "Because it's fair and you know it." He just didn't understand why a person could be so upset by being told they did a sub-par job (in my eyes) when there was empirical evidence to the contrary.

The sad thing @InStalker is that Spot is being careful to cultivate people who don't understand why you were appalled by the cavalier way they handled your evaluation.
Honor and justice isn't as important as profit and getting those green reports.

I feel bad for the TL because he was trying to be 'in charge' and I'm sure you were making him nervous as hell but you know what he should have just been honest.

 

[InStalker]

Absolutely. That's why the Open Door policy is a joke. There is no sympathy or empathy there when talking to an ETL. As soon as the conversation begins, they abandon all of that and focus strictly on the scripts they were trained to follow rather than allow human compassion to take the reins and have an honest talk about your problems.

 

[Guest]

InStalker, amazing post. You are 100 percent on the Open Door policy. It is beyond laughable. You are so right on how they basically follow a script and don't have any compassion for team members. You are better off just keeping quiet. Voicing your concerns, questions, and comments is just not possible at Target or at least the store that I work at. I have done that numerous times and I have gotten no sympathy or empathy or positive feedback. What usually has happened is I'm called into the wonderful claustrophobic HR ETL office and they are 2 to 3 ETLS that basically gang up on me and start character assassinating me and telling lies about me. It's just not worth it in my opinion. Unless you are severely injured or dying or that an actual crime is happening or a team member is hurt/dying, you should just keep quiet. I know it's hard but you just got to bite your tongue. I wish I would have known that a long time ago. I wouldn't have burned any bridges at Target.

 

[RhettB]

I once used the open door policy. The next day I was confronted by an ETL, coincidentally the one that I spoke in confidence with to the ETL-HR about. Since then I have trusted no ETL ever.

 

[InStalker]

@RhettB : Same thing happened to me a few months ago. An ETL asked me to shoot mini seasonal to fill it even though it was MPG already. I told him that I could generate some SPTM instead but that it would most likely pull more than he knew what to do with. In the middle of the conversation, I stopped to ask a guest CIHYFS and the ETL started walking away. Then he turned back while I was still talking to the guest, pointed at me and, in a VERY stern voice, said, "Fine. Do it your way. But YOU get to work it out to the floor by yourself!"

Being the only person on Instocks that day (and everyday, really), I knew this wasn't going to be possible. So, I went to talk to my ETL-Log and told her what happened and explained that not only did I not have the time to do what the other ETL told me to do, but that it was very clear that he was simply being vindictive. She jumped right to his defense by telling me, "Oh, I'm sure he was doing that." I assured her that he was and she wasn't even there and took his side anyway. Later that day, he came up to me to scold me for not getting all the work done he had asked me to. I reiterated that I had already told him that there wasn't enough time in my day to get it done. Then he scolded me for talking to another ETL and how he felt like I was undermining him. Apparently, this scenario didn't fall under the "Open Door Policy". What a load of shit. It was the most insane conversation I had ever had with an ETL. At one point, he literally scoffed at me for using the word 'egregious' while arguing with him. Oh my god, my hate for that guy is bubbling up again just thinking about this...

 

[babytrees]

I have learned which ETL's are the best to have an open door conversation and they do not include the HR or STL. Not 100% sure on the ETL AP but felt the need to make her aware of some bullying that one of our AP is doing over the walkie.

 

[Guest]

I think the main reason why the open door policy is a joke because if you have a confrontation with an ETL or STL, you could possibly defy them which would take away from the small amount of power they have over you. At my time at Target, I've noticed that the ETLs have a lot of control over you if you act like you care. If you let it be known that nothing bothers you or that you don't really care, then their power over you is highly decreased. You have to not care but at the same time, acting like you care the bare minimum amount. For example, you just act like you are there to do your job and never go to ETLs about problems.

 

[InStalker]

During a one-on-one Best Team Survey chat session with my STL, he asked me at the end if I had anything else I wanted to talk about. I told him that I had noticed that the ETLs and TLs had a bad habit of scolding, reprimanding, and thus, humiliating TMs over the walkie and I felt it was extremely unprofessional and rude.

He said, "You know, I know exactly what you mean. I've noticed that too and it's something I've had talks with my ETLs about and I'm guilty of it, too; and they are always quick to bring it to my attention when I do it. (Laughs) But you know, sometimes I do it on purpose. Because I've found that if someone is humiliated, they will remember it that much more the next time and they are less likely to make that same mistake again."

All I could do was nod in faux-agreement and excuse myself as quickly as possible before my head melted. What do you even say to someone who thinks like that?

My STL is such a piece of shit.

 

[commiecorvus]

During a one-on-one Best Team Survey chat session with my STL, he asked me at the end if I had anything else I wanted to talk about. I told him that I had noticed that the ETLs and TLs had a bad habit of scolding, reprimanding, and thus, humiliating TMs over the walkie and I felt it was extremely unprofessional and rude.

He said, "You know, I know exactly what you mean. I've noticed that too and it's something I've had talks with my ETLs about and I'm guilty of it, too; and they are always quick to bring it to my attention when I do it. (Laughs) But you know, sometimes I do it on purpose. Because I've found that if someone is humiliated, they will remember it that much more the next time and they are less likely to make that same mistake again."

All I could do was nod in faux-agreement and excuse myself as quickly as possible before my head melted. What do you even say to someone who thinks like that?

My STL is such a piece of shit.

Worst. Boss. Ever.