Archived New hires coming while my hours cut

[OyeShopgirl]

Ah. A subject(s) near and dear to my heart ( and my bank account )...

As a not-nearly-veteran of Spot, but as a retail veteran ( Good God, somebody stop this crazy merry-go-round!!! ), I feel compelled to spill my five cents':

OK. Your hours are getting cut. You are a nearly exemplary employee in ( insert workcenter/department/area/specialty here ). However...

It's not Christmas anymore, and there is no Santa Claus, Virginia. No, your corporate masters are in a tizzy over ( the recent elections/this morning's Wall street Journal/ recent P & L reports/the weather/a certain "hipster" website's expose of your training, hiring practices and your opinions on unions/etc.... )...traffic in your store is down, and high-powered execs have to figure out how they're gping to afford all that yacht wax and cosmetic surgery.

In your department, say you have you, for instance ( since I don't know all the particulars ), working at $8.65 per hour.

In that same department, they have Ken and Kayley. Ken does the same job description as you do, only he only gets $8.45 an hour. Kayley does something very simmilar, is eager and willing to take on more responsibilities ( if, for nothing else, the sake of more hours and a possible promo no matter how far off that might be ), and only makes $ 8.32 per hour.

Who do you think the bean-counter/ruthless businessman/person just trying to save wherever they can will schedule?

( Not that your store leadership are ruthless minions...BUT...they get their commands/demands from somewhere, and the, ah, runoff always rolls downhill...)

 

[commiecorvus]

I think a monopoly only works if you are producing something that is unique or holding all the cards.
The two bookstores thought they had that and Amazon pretty much proved them wrong.
There is going to be changes in the way business is done and it is going to happen quickly.
If Spot relies on Uncle Wally's business plan they won't survive (in the long run).

 

[OyeShopgirl]

Ah. A subject(s) near and dear to my heart ( and my bank account )...

As a not-nearly-veteran of Spot, but as a retail veteran ( Good God, somebody stop this crazy merry-go-round!!! ), I feel compelled to spill my five cents':

OK. Your hours are getting cut. You are a nearly exemplary employee in ( insert workcenter/department/area/specialty here ). However...

It's not Christmas anymore, and there is no Santa Claus, Virginia. No, your corporate masters are in a tizzy over ( the recent elections/this morning's Wall street Journal/ recent P & L reports/the weather/a certain "hipster" website's expose of your training, hiring practices and your opinions on unions/etc.... )...traffic in your store is down, and high-powered execs have to figure out how they're gping to afford all that yacht wax and cosmetic surgery.

In your department, say you have you, for instance ( since I don't know all the particulars ), working at $8.65 per hour.

In that same department, they have Ken and Kayley. Ken does the same job description as you do, only he only gets $8.45 an hour. Kayley does something very simmilar, is eager and willing to take on more responsibilities ( if, for nothing else, the sake of more hours and a possible promo no matter how far off that might be ), and only makes $ 8.32 per hour.

Who do you think the bean-counter/ruthless businessman/person just trying to save wherever they can will schedule?

( Not that your store leadership are ruthless minions...BUT...they get their commands/demands from somewhere, and the, ah, runoff always rolls downhill...)

 

[OyeShopgirl]

Also, it is very interesting to see the discussion as to where it leads to big-box-businesses, well, doing business in the future...

As I have long said to my long-suffering friends and loved ones-okay. Fine. Cut hours. Cut wages.

Beyond a certain point, I have to truly ask these captains of industry; if a large portion of us are unemployed, underemployed, or employed at "starvation wages", how much money do you REALLY expect to make if so many of us simply can't buy "your" stuff? And if you insist on keeping us at minimal hours at minimal wages, how are the bulk of us supposed to be fit to show up for work AT ALL?

( Especially at such a "brand-conscious" employer, at which you are expected to have khakis pressed and red shirts clean, and we won't even talk about what a beauty/fashion/popularity contest it can be for female employees...)

 

[OyeShopgirl]

PS-Sorry about the apparent double post!!! Whoops...my apologies, crew....this is why red wine and rudimentary computer skills DO NOT MIX, kids!!!:wacko:

 

[Retail Girl]

Khakis pressed?! Oh, sheesh. If my store started requiring that, there'd be issues. I'm lucky if they aren't wrinkled! Forget pressed!

I will say...anyone remember Woolworth? They were huge in their day, too. It isn't conceivable that some day Walmart and/or Target would go the same way.

Henry Ford made cars knowing the best way to get people to buy them was to pay people enough to afford them. It served him well. I wish more people would take a page out of his play book.

 

[Barcode]

People think being Wal-Mart wouldn't be a bad thing? Okay well... At least people who work at Wal-Mart have come to grips with things being how it is. Spot would continue to keep pushing us to give great guest service and drive checkout is fast, and eventually its going to reach a breaking point. Not to mention with all the Vibe crap and team well being. Eventually work conditions at Target are going to sink to such a low that people are just going to snap. I started in '09, and I've already seen stores take significant cuts (mainly the specialist gutting), its ridiculous how much cost cutting they have been doing each and EVERY year.

 

[commiecorvus]

And to my main point in the long run this is going to kill Spot (or in the very least cripple him), as well as the entire country.
You think I'm I'm being an extremist?
The economy took a .01% dip last month that no one expected and that was with the best Wall Street figures and housing market in years.
Why?
Because, the common folk (namely us) aren't spending money at places like Target.
Robert Reich wrote a great article on this in Huffington Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/consumer-confidence-down_b_2580709.html

Profits are the highest share of the U.S. economy on record. Wages are the lowest. But this imbalance can't and won't last.

Spot can keep cutting our hours, keep hiring people and slotting them in at lower pay rates, keep on aping Uncle Wally, but it will bite them in the ass.

 

[targetgirl123456]

Consider yourself lucky if your getting 20 hours a week because as a PERMANENT TM, For the month of January I have been getting between 10 and 14 hours a week now, only 2 days a week lately, UNLESS I scrounge to somehow find a shift available on the swap shift board (which they are usually taken every time I get a chance to check it.

This week I have literly a whole entire week off, Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and Friday off

For me it's depressing. I asked them why hours were cut for many people and they say schedules are just tight this month but idk about that...

 

[petersays1]

Consider yourself lucky if your getting 20 hours a week because as a PERMANENT TM, For the month of January I have been getting between 10 and 14 hours a week now, only 2 days a week lately, UNLESS I scrounge to somehow find a shift available on the swap shift board (which they are usually taken every time I get a chance to check it.

This week I have literly a whole entire week off, Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and Friday off

For me it's depressing. I asked them why hours were cut for many people and they say schedules are just tight this month but idk about that...

Those two thousand extra stores they made might be the tip off.

 

[shorty unloader]

@ ncc1701:

Unfortunately this is very common company wide. Post-Christmas to March payroll SUCKS BIG TIME. Plus, this past Christmas time, a lot of stores didn't make the sales as predicted.

Everyone who mentioned it before is right, stores will try to cut hours from TMs who try/need full-time benefits. This is a very easy cost-effective measure as of late for Target.

Another thing is headcounts and turnover. Stores are mandated by Corporate to have a certain number of TMs on staff. By Corporate's idea, it doesn't matter if 10 Fulltime employees all working close to 40 hours can cover lanes for a week. Headcount requires that there be 20-25 TMs to cover the lanes.

In my opinion and number of others, this is how Target (probably underhandedly) tries to create turnover. Stores cut hours dramatically causing several TMs to look elsewhere for better hours and wages. Then the stores hire new people to replace those TMs. This leads to the question....Why would Target want to pay you $9.50 an hour when they can pay a new hire to do the same job at starting wage of like $7.25. That is why so many Target-lifers have been pushed out.

We never have more than 20 people during a dayside shift in my store. Ever. We're lucky if we have 20. And our o/n log ETL's/TL's have been on a spree of terming people and giving out write ups for stupid things that aren't write up worthy the past week or so. I've started looking elsewhere for better job opportunities because I know I have zero chance of moving up the bullseye food chain in my store. Our leadership has picked their favorites and it certainly feels like they're trying to push some of us out the door to keep cutting our payroll. For o/n unloads we have less than 15-18 tm's any given night - we're all down to 2 shifts a week. Even the people who are cross trained and certified for plan-o, backroom, and pfresh.

 

[pfreshdude]

People think being Wal-Mart wouldn't be a bad thing? Okay well... At least people who work at Wal-Mart have come to grips with things being how it is. Spot would continue to keep pushing us to give great guest service and drive checkout is fast, and eventually its going to reach a breaking point. Not to mention with all the Vibe crap and team well being. Eventually work conditions at Target are going to sink to such a low that people are just going to snap. I started in '09, and I've already seen stores take significant cuts (mainly the specialist gutting), its ridiculous how much cost cutting they have been doing each and EVERY year.

Ya I started towards the end of 2010 and even since then we have cut a ton of hours.

 

[targetgirl123456]

It feels like I have vacation days or i'm laid off having 5 days in a row off from work.