CNN is now reporting on stores!

[FredPanda3]

Unfortunately, most companies now have no clue how to retain employees.
I've trained new team members and watched as they job abandon within days of finishing their training. The whispers I've heard...too much work for what they get paid. I guess they expect an easy job.

I don't know why stores like Target try to push that commission mentality. As a shopper, I do not want sales people up my butt as I'm shopping. Greet me and go about your business; if I need you, I will let you know. I will avoid stores with salespeople that will jump on you as soon as you walk in and start rattling off the specials and hover around you. I don't know anyone who likes or wants that in their shopping experience, that crap is for rich people shopping at high-end stores. I thought the "mirrors on the fitting room" thing where TMs were supposed to start fitting rooms for guests and write their names on the mirrors was ridiculous. Target guests do not expect or want that from TMs, trust me.

Speaking of which, Nordstrom may expect less task-wise but if I'm being totally honest, customer service is probably my least favorite aspect of retail. LOL. I'm a tasker and like to keep busy. I don't mind helping guests when they ask me, but I would never want to work at a job where focusing solely on guests is all that you do all day. I would go nuts with boredom, because even in those types of stores, a lot of customers just want to be left alone to shop. And I definitely would never want to work on any type of commission basis, way too unpredictable.

ETA: Also, I suspect that the lax and carefree attitude of the past is why, when I was first hired, there were many carts of unsorted reshop and full racks of go backs at the fitting room, and the salesfloor was half empty and stuff was in the wrong place. As a newbie, it drove me nuts that people were standing around chatting or moving in slow motion when there was obviously so much work to do.

Nordstrom stores still have a lot of teams that aren't customer facing (logistics, stockroom, overnights) and they have some customer facing roles that aren't sales/commission based, I worked on their service experience team after leaving Target , and got paid more to do much less (wasn't commission based though). Don't need to get too far into the tasks there, but it's more of a support role, taking reshop to their respective departments (not putting it away, just taking it there) working at the OPU desk, sometimes being assigned to help areas with their reshop if they need help...

My store pre-modernization was much more organized and put together than it was afterwards, because we had teams to take care of everything. We kept more reshop in the FR back then, that is true, but we also had an assigned FR person back then. I agree with you that we kept less reshop at the service desk and at the FR, although we never had carts full and I never saw it get crazy like that except around the holidays, but I really think that was the one positive of modernization.

 

[Aredhel]

If the conditions in back rooms could somehow be linked to impeachment it would be cnn gold. Seriously I hope they pursue the issues and I hope people continue to speak up and call Corporate to task for the shabby way they are treating tms.

 

[redeye58]

I worked on commission in sales decades ago but wouldn't do it in today's 'rental' mentality.
Seeing how guests 'borrow' merch for a particular use, then return it for a full refund would be Armageddon to commissions.

 

[CrosstrainInsane]

If you have the hours to have them stay, you had the hours in the first place.

Um not true most of the time. I write the schedule for my team and help write for most work centers. We don’t bank hours and if we do, it’s 50 at most. Even I have two TMs that are amazing and know that if I schedule them 4 hours, it’s because I didn’t have the hours to schedule them full shifts. But they know I will most likely want them to stay. And they do. They know I hate I have to do that but it’s the reality and I’m lucky to have them. So no, just because I asked them to extend does NOT mean I had those hours when we wrote the schedule. And yes I look at the scheduling dashboard board to check allocated hours for each work center.

 

[Black Sheep 214]

When I wrote the schedule I used every hour that I had, the only exception being if I was told told hold back a certain number of hours to onboard a new hire. Otherwise, if I had them, my team got them. That’s not to say that Store Leadership didn’t hold back hours that were supposed to go to my workcenter, or give them to another workcenter, because I saw that happen all too frequently.🙄

 

[happygoth]

Leadership has to make the schedule look good "on paper", because they will often be told to cut scheduled hours if they go over their allotment for that week. But they know full well that if there are callouts or more hours open up somehow, they will be able to ask people to stay or call in TMs to fill those hours.

 

[Louiethe3]

Well just checked Kronos to see if the new schedule was out, it wasn't, but instead 1.5 hours got shaved off each of my days. I can't work extra at my other job because my I still have the same days off.

 

[Tessa120]

Well, for all those writing the schedule, where do the hours that magically appear when you want someone to stay late come from? If they aren't there in the first place, how do you suddenly have more to give when it's convenient for you?

 

[Yetive]

From sick calls usually. At my store, any leader just adding out of thin air is going to hear about it.

 

[Backtohardlines]

From sick calls usually. At my store, any leader just adding out of thin air is going to hear about it.

Same here. Most of the time, leaders can replace call outs or NCNS or have tms stay. But any one adding hours just because...oh hell to the no!!!

 

[balthrop]

If the conditions in back rooms could somehow be linked to impeachment it would be cnn gold. Seriously I hope they pursue the issues and I hope people continue to speak up and call Corporate to task for the shabby way they are treating tms.

you could link it to the person in the white house or rather the over all family and their thoughts and the actions they have taken in the past against labor. but to the actual charges of impeachment that would be a very very long stretch.

 

[CrosstrainInsane]

Yeah some people obviously have no clue how scheduling/payroll works...
Not only do we get hours that “magically appear” from call offs or nc/ns, there is also flex payroll. So we aren’t only adding “when it’s convenient.” I can’t imagine there is any leader that would handicap their own team just because they don’t feel like using on their allocated payroll...

 

[Fyi]

Well, for all those writing the schedule, where do the hours that magically appear when you want someone to stay late come from? If they aren't there in the first place, how do you suddenly have more to give when it's convenient for you?

Call outs and flex.

Back in the day of 7000+ hours a schedule we used to bank a small amount for training and if we didn’t use it we would load up the last week.

In extreme circumstances your DTL can approve extra hours but normally you’d have to pay those back and under post the next schedule.

 

[Targetedbullseye]

Well, for all those writing the schedule, where do the hours that magically appear when you want someone to stay late come from? If they aren't there in the first place, how do you suddenly have more to give when it's convenient for you?

And from people quitting. If target had any common sense they would hold managers responsible for the high turnover rate and get back to respecting long term employees. It has to be costing them even more now that wages are close for team members.

 

[Black Sheep 214]

I don’t know where my store leadership found those extra hours, but every time we had a big visit coming those hours suddenly appeared as if by magic. Then the last week of the month hours were cut to the bone to make payroll...🙄

 

[Kartman]

That's how they do it, at the end of the month. It ain't rocket science.

 

[tellmeaboutatime]

Same here. Most of the time, leaders can replace call outs or NCNS or have tms stay. But any one adding hours just because...oh hell to the no!!!

Oh come on! Theres a visit tomorrow? Call everyone in right away, overtime for everyone. Next week we'll cut to the bone to pay for it. Happens
ALL THE TIME

 

[dannyy315]

Some conservative blog sites are turning this into “see? This is what happens when you ask for $15/hr”

If the conditions in back rooms could somehow be linked to impeachment it would be cnn gold. Seriously I hope they pursue the issues and I hope people continue to speak up and call Corporate to task for the shabby way they are treating tms.

They’d be all over a story with the headline “Trump Tower raises wages. But some employees say their hours were cut, leaving them struggling.”

And I’m no fan of Trump. But CNN just seems so disconnected from ordinary Americans sometimes.

 

[jackandcat]

In my state (Washington), the statewide minimum wage jumps up to $13.50/hour on January 1st, 2020. In the city limits of Seattle, the minimum wage already is $16.00. Cost of living is high around here but the economy is booming. I have no idea how Target will keep its existing team members from jumping ship, as it's going to get harder to get qualified new hires. Maybe the point is to turn over the experienced TMs in favor of newbies?

 

[flow4areasonuno]

Maybe the point is to turn over the experienced TMs in favor of newbies?

Probably, but I doubt it would work with the economy as good as you say. "F this, I can make more money for less across the street"

 

[Captain Orca]

We had TM's in p fresh who would push their carts, refrig and frozen right up until their check out time, leave the cart on the floor and go punch out! Nice.

 

[glo]

A lot of people now are promised 30-40 during the interview and job offer. That's why they expect it.

It used to be true. I would always tell people that during my interviews. Then modernization started, I lost my veterans because hours went down and workloads drastically changed. Letting TMs know where we stood with sales became such a big deal at my store which was funny because my dept was up something like 15% but my TMs were quickly losing their hours.

 

[happygoth]

We had TM's in p fresh who would push their carts, refrig and frozen right up until their check out time, leave the cart on the floor and go punch out! Nice.

It's bad enough when they do it in Softlines, but cold food? That's ridiculous.

If I were a TL I would make note of every TM cart left on the floor and look at the cameras to see who the culprits were - then the verbals and coaching would commence.

 

[dannyy315]

I saw an article saying “Target accidentally makes the case against a $15 minimum wage”.

Um, no. If Target has record profits, but employees are getting smaller paychecks with higher wages, the issue isn’t the wages.

 

[Ringwraith917]

$15 /hr would be fine, if they quit hiring lots of people to do a little work each, and had fewer people do more work. The "increased automation" replaces some whole people. Thats bound to happen, but the people left should still be getting their normal hours.