Archived Bye Bye MAX FSTL.... Hello MY TIME........

[Retail Girl]

It's coming to my store May 10th.

I'm a team member who works in toys/sporting goods/electronics (usually covering breaks but I've done shifts). How bad are my hours going to get?

Depends on how "open" your availability is.

I am completely open every day, from open at 8AM until close at 11PM.

Technically Open availability is 12am - 12am not 8am - 11pm.

I would imagine my time would not consider 8-11 "open availability"

True, but that's about what my availability is (7am to midnight) with half day on Sunday and myTime happily gives me no less than full time hours each week.

 

[salesfloor10]

It's coming to my store May 10th.

I'm a team member who works in toys/sporting goods/electronics (usually covering breaks but I've done shifts). How bad are my hours going to get?

Depends on how "open" your availability is.

I am completely open every day, from open at 8AM until close at 11PM.

You should poll first over those with less availability.

One observation though. My Time likes to schedule people for shorter shifts to avoid having to give lunches. It seems more for shifts later in the day. Closers scheduled at 5 instead of 4.

I'm a sales floor TL and that's already how I write the schedule in MAX, with the way hours are some weeks. Weekends there's some 10-2 shifts, weekdays it's often 3-7:30 or 4-8:30, but people who depend on Target as a second job and can only work 5:30-10 sometimes don't get the hours they want. We don't roll myTime until June I guess, but having to write a guest driven 85% schedule for the next six weeks or so still sounds as miserable as every Wednesday or Thursday that I write schedule now.

 

[neversaynever]

Well, I got my first MyTime schedule - i'm up 5 hours from this week. If it will keep me at this level with the availability I have on there, then I can deal with it.

Yesterday was rough though - for awhile both GSTLs were on the lanes (during their overlap time), and 2 other TLs, and 2 TMs on backup. We lost a bunch of free hours and so we were at 1/2 of the cashiers we normally would have had during the day. That was a Max schedule though, and I know there were also other factors coming into play when it was done.

As a further aside, I worked with my afternoon GSTL for close to 3 hours and she never acknowledged me at all.... no hi, no nothing, despite being in/around my register multiple times. Gotta love that Spot communication level and other crap.

 

[3LetterDevil]

You should poll first over those with less availability.

One observation though. My Time likes to schedule people for shorter shifts to avoid having to give lunches. It seems more for shifts later in the day. Closers scheduled at 5 instead of 4.

This is true....apparently, it decided that ALL of our techs needed to work EVERY weekend and only the TL got anything longer than a 4.5 hr shift during the week. The problem was, since it couldn't schedule us more than 6 days in a row, there were quite a few "available" shifts where only 1 tech (or, in 1 case, NO tech) was scheduled. Needless to say, that didn't fly

 

[Retail Girl]

That is so odd...myTime has been doling out the long shifts left and right to our TMs.

 

[neversaynever]

We all have short ones - I wonder if you have less employees for the slots?? I personally think we are over staffed on the lanes at least.

For me personally, i'd rather have the short shifts. It works better for my homelife - but not everyone has that luxury or issue either. At some point our newest GSTL (new to our store) will be doing the schedules, because the other one is having to step down (he obviously has seniority from his old store?). He is a bit more "human" than our current one... i'm curious to see what that brings to the dynamics of the front end. I already wayyy like working with him better, it just remains to see how it goes.

On the plus side, I could view my schedule from home today.... never have I been so excited to see it!!! No more multiple trips to check it, or waiting until I work next to see what it shows!!! I'm off Thursday, Friday and Saturday - but I'll know what i'm working!!

 

[Retail Girl]

It only shows the current week and the next week, so you'll have to wait until Sunday for the next schedule...or go in.

Yes, myTime forced us to do a lot of hiring, because of all of the slots we couldn't fill, even with the longer shifts. So we'll see how it works out in the coming weeks.

 

[neversaynever]

I have to admit... it was awesome to listen to my GSTL this morning complain about the schedule. It was nothing about guests, and all about tasks. Sorry that MyTime didn't think you needed someone to set the new movies on Monday night.... there is a TON of that in our store I have a feeling (and my HRTM said it too). But the favorites were named... I need so and so for XYZ at this time, and so and so for ABC... and why didn't it give me a service desk person after this time? We have been wayyyyy over staffed I have felt at times. I've asked to go home even. There were 2 of us until 11, then 3 - we could have used 3 of us from about 10 on, but 2 weeks ago we would have had 5-6 of us (free hours).


Our other TLs??? AWESOME about showing up for back-up. Awesome. I need to do a vibe card for them.... to be honest, i've liked these two days of work on MyTime wayyy more than I have any prior. I can't explain it, but overall it was a team effort to get our guests taken care of.....


And I can't remember - does mashing on the additional cashier button get recorded on a sheet or something? Or is it just an announcement.


Oh drat on the schedule.... well, maybe I'll stop there tomorrow and see what is up.

 

[Retail Girl]

Yeah, myTime cut our guest service person after like 8pm, not taking into consideration all of the cleaning and organizing that gets done then. My store finally figured out how to override that stupidity.

 

[RhettB]

And I can't remember - does mashing on the additional cashier button get recorded on a sheet or something? Or is it just an announcement.

I am not sure about now, but the reporting we had before MyPerformance used to track these, as well as the registers they came from. It was used as a tool to see how well the GSA or GSTL were moving guests around.

 

[lovecats]

Our LOD last night was saying that somehow she accidentally deleted the schedule on MyTime. But then she got to put it in how she wants it. To kind of quote Tory from Mythbusters, "Not a lot going on up top but gosh, she's cute!".

 

[sigma7]

Apparently there are ways to inadvertently crash myTime...for the entire company. There is also a simple mistake you can make that will cause the schedule not to generate for the entire store.

 

[Retail Girl]

Wow. Nothing should be able to do that...that's a serious flaw.

 

[commiecorvus]

Wow. Nothing should be able to do that...that's a serious flaw.

Handy though if you're not happy with the schedule and you want to rebuild it.

 

[ZombiePanties31]

I'm worried about this MyTime thing. Our hours are already bad. I have only 16 hours this week, and next week it's even fewer. This isn't February, and I have completely open availability. I feel like I should have more than that.

 

[3LetterDevil]

That is so odd...myTime has been doling out the long shifts left and right to our TMs.

Apparently, you can change some setting that will adjust the "average shift time" or something??? They've now done that.

 

[ClearanceMaster]

Yes mytime, our busiest hour is 2-3. So lets put 4 tms on the salesfloor then.. but nobody in the morning. Its ok, price, plano, instocks, and flow can help in the morning.. but im not going to give you any extra time to do your tasks, and if you have to stay late, its your fault..

The system is flawed. Ive begun to pad my hours slightly because we are forecasted at 7000 tickets.. so it gives us 70 hours.. then when that week comes there is actually 8000 tickets plus "2000" seasonal salvage eaches. And my team likes to work ahead so they are not rushing at the end of the day to finish.. so heres a couple extra hours each day guys.. because lets be realistic.. guests come first.. so since process teams are helping out more.. we might as well get more hours than our workload says.. and if I get questioned on it.. labels, remerchandising, smart huddles, the workload jumping because it didnt sell at a pitiful 15% off.. and fast service for the first 2 hours arent forecasted in my workload mr STL.. so in order for us not to be overspending, i need it.

Take that Mytime. *Obscene hand gesture*

 

[ClearanceMaster]

I am all for a system telling us which part of the day is our busiest and what shifts we should schedule.. that is not the issue.what I do not like is the "dont touch it" mentality. Im sorry but if my worst cashier is scheduled 8-430 and my best is scheduled 10-2.. I am going to swap them if it is in Their availability. We told our hr this right up front. The general shift can stay but the talent chosen for that position will be my choice. And if a tl is scheduled opening shifts now.. MyTime can give them a couple closings? Then my etl thinks bringing a task driven team In later In the day is a good choice when they complain that they use the hours max forecasts and not some stupid forecasting tool that shoots low and then blows up a week later. HECK NO. The meeting we had was pretty tense. Im anticipating the first schedule.. Heads Will Roll if they do not let us have some say.

The system should be pulling fairly, which is the reason you should not be touching it. Just because someone is a better performer does not guarantee them hours. If your worst cashier is open availability and wants 40 hours, and your best is only available 8-4:30 M-F and limited on weekends and also requesting 40, and the hours are limited, it is fair for your worst to get the 8-4:30 and your best to get 10-2! Your worse should be working more to be fair, and you should be spending time either improving them or getting rid of them.

TL's can be on set schedules, so that is not the issue. And you should have a guest driven team at all times, but specifically during the middle of the day. When the most guests are in the store, that is when you want to have to most bodies representing service.

So its fair for a computer system to prioritize open availability over performance. My team gets hours because they perform well. I dont judge them because they have to pick up their daughter at 330 and cant stay..So lets all do a mediocre job because it just doesnt matter anymore as long as you are available more..

there is no reason for the best performer to get 4 hours and the worst performer to get 8 if they are both available for either shift. Even if their avilability is less... if the shifts are within their availability im switching it. Forget mytime. I have a heart and a conscience.. mytime does not.

 

[Rock Lobster]

So its fair for a computer system to prioritize open availability over performance. My team gets hours because they perform well. I dont judge them because they have to pick up their daughter at 330 and cant stay..So lets all do a mediocre job because it just doesnt matter anymore as long as you are available more..

there is no reason for the best performer to get 4 hours and the worst performer to get 8 if they are both available for either shift. Even if their avilability is less... if the shifts are within their availability im switching it. Forget mytime. I have a heart and a conscience.. mytime does not.

You are using the schedule to reward performance and punish those that are not meeting expectations. That is totally wrong! The schedule should be fair and consistent based upon availabilities like I said. Your team should all be performing, and if they are not, you should be either trying to improve them or get rid of them if they cannot execute their core roles.

Instead of managing talent, you are simply not scheduling your team fairly and getting stronger performers more hours than your weaker ones. It really is not that hard of a concept, and has been taught since before MyTime...

 

[BullseyeBabe]

First to be fair I have got to admit I get really good hours. I'm global, and a really hard worker with open availability. I appreciate my hours but I wish someone would do something about the poor performers. Train then, transfer them, coach them or get rid of them. I'm specifically talking about intelligent capable people who just are unwilling to put forth the effort it takes to do their job. We have to stay until all areas of our store are complete. So those of us that really try to finish everything so we can leave at a decent time always have got to go to the other areas of the store to help those people finish. Often it's because they really haven't been working with a sense of urgency. I especially resent the people sent to the other areas at the end of the night who just stand around and talk for the last half hour or hour while I handful of us run around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to get everything finished so we can all go home!

 

[BullseyeBabe]

Whew! Sorry I sort of lost it for a minute there!

 

[ClearanceMaster]

So its fair for a computer system to prioritize open availability over performance. My team gets hours because they perform well. I dont judge them because they have to pick up their daughter at 330 and cant stay..So lets all do a mediocre job because it just doesnt matter anymore as long as you are available more..

there is no reason for the best performer to get 4 hours and the worst performer to get 8 if they are both available for either shift. Even if their avilability is less... if the shifts are within their availability im switching it. Forget mytime. I have a heart and a conscience.. mytime does not.

You are using the schedule to reward performance and punish those that are not meeting expectations. That is totally wrong! The schedule should be fair and consistent based upon availabilities like I said. Your team should all be performing, and if they are not, you should be either trying to improve them or get rid of them if they cannot execute their core roles.

Instead of managing talent, you are simply not scheduling your team fairly and getting stronger performers more hours than your weaker ones. It really is not that hard of a concept, and has been taught since before MyTime...

You are writing a schedule based on filling the hours. I am writing a schedule to fill the hours and drive results. Better performers should work peak hours plain and simple. I cant just fire someone who isnt outstanding.


what makes that person deserve more hours? you want me to schedule an ok performing open availability person all the morning hours.. but my great performing morning availability person shouldnt get morning hours because they dont have open availability? Not a chance. Continue to do what you do. You dont have to agree with me. Its ok.

Two cashiers have open availability
I notice that the shift will make them the only cashier on the schedule.
cashier a is faster.. cashier b is not as fast but still green in speed.
I am going to schedule cashier a in place of b. I can give cashier b another shift that mytime generated.
If you and mytime had your way it would be 50/50 the store would be in backup all morning.
even though cashier b is perfect happy working the late shift later in the evening and actually prefers it.. but still keeps open availability because its retail...
I cant get rid of cashier b. They are green in speed.

 

[Rock Lobster]

So its fair for a computer system to prioritize open availability over performance. My team gets hours because they perform well. I dont judge them because they have to pick up their daughter at 330 and cant stay..So lets all do a mediocre job because it just doesnt matter anymore as long as you are available more..

there is no reason for the best performer to get 4 hours and the worst performer to get 8 if they are both available for either shift. Even if their avilability is less... if the shifts are within their availability im switching it. Forget mytime. I have a heart and a conscience.. mytime does not.

You are using the schedule to reward performance and punish those that are not meeting expectations. That is totally wrong! The schedule should be fair and consistent based upon availabilities like I said. Your team should all be performing, and if they are not, you should be either trying to improve them or get rid of them if they cannot execute their core roles.

Instead of managing talent, you are simply not scheduling your team fairly and getting stronger performers more hours than your weaker ones. It really is not that hard of a concept, and has been taught since before MyTime...

You are writing a schedule based on filling the hours. I am writing a schedule to fill the hours and drive results. Better performers should work peak hours plain and simple. I cant just fire someone who isnt outstanding.


what makes that person deserve more hours? you want me to schedule an ok performing open availability person all the morning hours.. but my great performing morning availability person shouldnt get morning hours because they dont have open availability? Not a chance. Continue to do what you do. You dont have to agree with me. Its ok.

Two cashiers have open availability
I notice that the shift will make them the only cashier on the schedule.
cashier a is faster.. cashier b is not as fast but still green in speed.
I am going to schedule cashier a in place of b. I can give cashier b another shift that mytime generated.
If you and mytime had your way it would be 50/50 the store would be in backup all morning.
even though cashier b is perfect happy working the late shift later in the evening and actually prefers it.. but still keeps open availability because its retail...
I cant get rid of cashier b. They are green in speed.

I am writing the schedule without any sort of biasedness! Performance should have nothing to do with schedule writing. There is nothing outside of availability that should "make a person deserve more hours"...

You are showing favoritism. If both cashiers have open availability, they should have similar looking schedules (even amounts of open, mid, and close) and similar hours for the given week. Not only do you create unfair work life balances but different work scenarios (what if it is harder to get REDcards at night than during the day, and so cashier A who is working all mornings looks better than cashier B?)...

The fact of the matter is that this is precisely the reason MyTime is supposed to limit the edits being made. TLs are not executing the schedule in an unbiased way, and Target would rather settle for a computer writing it without any performance details being involved than trusting TLs to do so like that!

 

[ClearanceMaster]

So its fair for a computer system to prioritize open availability over performance. My team gets hours because they perform well. I dont judge them because they have to pick up their daughter at 330 and cant stay..So lets all do a mediocre job because it just doesnt matter anymore as long as you are available more..

there is no reason for the best performer to get 4 hours and the worst performer to get 8 if they are both available for either shift. Even if their avilability is less... if the shifts are within their availability im switching it. Forget mytime. I have a heart and a conscience.. mytime does not.

You are using the schedule to reward performance and punish those that are not meeting expectations. That is totally wrong! The schedule should be fair and consistent based upon availabilities like I said. Your team should all be performing, and if they are not, you should be either trying to improve them or get rid of them if they cannot execute their core roles.

Instead of managing talent, you are simply not scheduling your team fairly and getting stronger performers more hours than your weaker ones. It really is not that hard of a concept, and has been taught since before MyTime...

You are writing a schedule based on filling the hours. I am writing a schedule to fill the hours and drive results. Better performers should work peak hours plain and simple. I cant just fire someone who isnt outstanding.


what makes that person deserve more hours? you want me to schedule an ok performing open availability person all the morning hours.. but my great performing morning availability person shouldnt get morning hours because they dont have open availability? Not a chance. Continue to do what you do. You dont have to agree with me. Its ok.

Two cashiers have open availability
I notice that the shift will make them the only cashier on the schedule.
cashier a is faster.. cashier b is not as fast but still green in speed.
I am going to schedule cashier a in place of b. I can give cashier b another shift that mytime generated.
If you and mytime had your way it would be 50/50 the store would be in backup all morning.
even though cashier b is perfect happy working the late shift later in the evening and actually prefers it.. but still keeps open availability because its retail...
I cant get rid of cashier b. They are green in speed.

I am writing the schedule without any sort of biasedness! Performance should have nothing to do with schedule writing. There is nothing outside of availability that should "make a person deserve more hours"...

You are showing favoritism. If both cashiers have open availability, they should have similar looking schedules (even amounts of open, mid, and close) and similar hours for the given week. Not only do you create unfair work life balances but different work scenarios (what if it is harder to get REDcards at night than during the day, and so cashier A who is working all mornings looks better than cashier B?)...

The fact of the matter is that this is precisely the reason MyTime is supposed to limit the edits being made. TLs are not executing the schedule in an unbiased way, and Target would rather settle for a computer writing it without any performance details being involved than trusting TLs to do so like that!

Favoritism is not strategically scheduling them different hours of the day when they will perform their best.
favoritism is scheduling them based on the fact they have open availability.

 

[Rock Lobster]

Favoritism is not strategically scheduling them different hours of the day when they will perform their best.
favoritism is scheduling them based on the fact they have open availability.

Yes that is favoritism, scheduling on performance. You are giving hours (mornings) to TMs who perform well. You are taking TM's with the same availability (or more open availability) and who are not as strong as performers and giving them other shifts. Furthermore, you taking TMs who have different availabilities (ones who are less open) and giving them those hours based on performance. The schedule is based upon availability, not performance. This is a total lack of demonstrating accountability and integrity to not see this.