Archived Some Things I'd Like To Say To My Very Young ETL-HR

[greydot]

we've always had an HRTL. some higher volumes even have two.

 

[Retail Girl]

Our ETL-HR has no math skills, apparently. She asked me to pull a double on Friday. I told her I would be into overtime, but she could go double check. She went and checked the schedule, and told me if I came in an hour and a half later on Saturday, I'd be fine. Ha. I checked my hours at lunch the next day, and they also had to cut me an hour and a half early. Good for me, but I doubt the rest of the store was okay with that. I made it quite clear it was my catch and the ETL-HR's fault.

 

[StateofTarget]

Our ETL-HR has no math skills, apparently. She asked me to pull a double on Friday. I told her I would be into overtime, but she could go double check. She went and checked the schedule, and told me if I came in an hour and a half later on Saturday, I'd be fine. Ha. I checked my hours at lunch the next day, and they also had to cut me an hour and a half early. Good for me, but I doubt the rest of the store was okay with that. I made it quite clear it was my catch and the ETL-HR's fault.

Her mistake was checking the schedule on MAX and not your timesheet on MAX.

Because of schedule edits and times when TMs ACTUALLY clocked out, you can't go by the schedule to know how many hours a TM actually works. She should have looked at the timesheet and viewed your actual punches.... that's why she got it wrong.

 

[TargetOldTimer]

we've always had an HRTL. some higher volumes even have two.

We are a high A volume and have 2, but neither is a Team Lead. Level 9, just like signing.

 

[greydot]

We are a high A volume and have 2, but neither is a Team Lead. Level 9, just like signing.

two TLs, two TMs, and 2-3 clerical. didn't know that HRTM was level 9. HR was trying to recruit me for a while but by the paygrades it turned out to be a demotion. are they different for different stores, or maybe they made a mistake?

 

[JustJoe]

I still find it amazing that Target has an in-store HR staff of its size.

For example: Wal-Mart has a Personnel Manager (Pay Grade 7) and a Training Coordinator (Pay Grade 5). On the Sam's Club side of their business they have a Personnel/Training Coordinator (Pay Grade 7) that fulfills both roles (fewer employees).

All of those positions are hourly and report to the Operations Manager. Other than conducting orientations, the only training that they are responsible for providing is online. They process timesheet corrections, distribute benefits info, and create job requisitions.

Individual employees are responsible for maintaining their own career information in the "career preference" system. You can apply for a position at any time by expressing interest in it. For hourly leadership positions you are required to take an assessment before you are entered into the applicant pool. Personnel sets up interviews, but all interview-related paperwork is retrieved by the associate/manager conducting the interview. It is entirely possible (but not best practice) to conduct the entire hiring process paperless.

Personally, I see no need for a majority of the in-store HR team. Two hourlies is enough.

 

[StateofTarget]

I still find it amazing that Target has an in-store HR staff of its size.

For example: Wal-Mart has a Personnel Manager (Pay Grade 7) and a Training Coordinator (Pay Grade 5). On the Sam's Club side of their business they have a Personnel/Training Coordinator (Pay Grade 7) that fulfills both roles (fewer employees).

All of those positions are hourly and report to the Operations Manager. Other than conducting orientations, the only training that they are responsible for providing is online. They process timesheet corrections, distribute benefits info, and create job requisitions.

Individual employees are responsible for maintaining their own career information in the "career preference" system. You can apply for a position at any time by expressing interest in it. For hourly leadership positions you are required to take an assessment before you are entered into the applicant pool. Personnel sets up interviews, but all interview-related paperwork is retrieved by the associate/manager conducting the interview. It is entirely possible (but not best practice) to conduct the entire hiring process paperless.

Personally, I see no need for a majority of the in-store HR team. Two hourlies is enough.

This goes way way way way way back in Target history.

Back in the day, the ETL-HR wasn't even called the ETL-HR. The position was called ETL-TR. (ETL-Team Relations)

Around the time the ETL-TR was put in the stores happened to be around the time lots of retail stores at other companies were having union votes. Target was scared to death of this, so they decided the best way to prevent target TMs from forming a union was to put an ETL-TR in the building to address any "issues".

Basically, when the ETL-TR was put in stores, they told all the TMs that the ETL-TR was *not* a manager. (this is why the ETL-HR didn't do LOD shifts until recently... they wanted TMs to believe the ETL-TR was not like a regular manager) I still remember the meeting we had when we got our ETL-TR. Basically, it was a bunch of BS, but everyone ate it up. Our STL had a meeting with groups of TMs until they talked to the every TM in the store. The whole spiel was that the ETL-TR was "there for us" and would be our go to person if we had a problem with any other ETL or the company.

The idea was that instead of looking to a union to solve problems, TMs would look to the ETL-TR.

Long story short, the ETL-TR ended up being a wolf in sheeps clothing. Lots of TMs fell for the "the ETL-TR is on your side and not a manager" BS. The ETL-TR basically found ways to term TMs who they thought would potentially join a union or otherwise rock the boat.... but they did it discretely.

So what happened in recent years? Basically, the ETL-TR transformed into the ETL-HR once the company realized that the risk of TMs forming a union was very low. Eventually, they realized the ETL-HR wasn't serving much of a purpose anymore, so the ETL-HR was given LOD shifts and treated like a regular ETL.... it wasn't important to make TMs think they could trust the ETL-HR anymore because the ETL-HR was no longer actively trying to look for possible TMs that would join a union.

So, does Target actually need an ETL-HR in every store anymore? Not really. The original purpose has long sense gone away. I think the ETL-HR will stay for many more years though. The position has evolved to take over too many responsibilities that they originally never had. It would just further handicap the stores to take out yet another leader from the building. But do they need them for actual HR functions? Nope. Most of the ETL-HRs work could easily be outsourced, given to other ETLs to share, or turned totally over to the HR business partner for serious issues.

 

[StateofTarget]

Another fun fact about the ETL-TR for anyone who wasn't around back then.

For about 2-3 years after they brought the ETL-TRs into the stores, the ETL-TRs literally did nothing other than sit around and talk to TMs. Whenever TMs would clock in, they would stand there and say something like "Hey John! Nice to see you today. Hope you are doing well. Did you see the game last night? If you have anything you need to talk to me about, please let me know". Basically a bunch of BS to make TMs feel like they were their friend so they would open up to them. The biggest thing the ETL-TR tried to do was downplay being a manager and convince TMs they were like their personal friend. The ETL-TR would even spend the day walking around the sales floor having 20 minute personal conversations with every TM they saw.

You would be amazed how many TMs fell for it. Lots of TMs told them sh** no one in their right mind would tell a regular ETL. (i.e. "I really hate the company." "Me and Sarah can't stand the ETL-HL so we usually ignore him when we can get away with it.") Of course, the ETL-TR used all of this against people. You would be amazed once the ETL-TR came into the store how many TMs that were previously considered to be doing a good job were suddenly termed for reasons like "poor performance" after running their mouth to the ETL-TR.

Hilariously, the ETL-TR would go along with it to get people to talk to them more. So, for example, if someone was clocking out (they also stood around the timeclock when people clocked out) and they said something like "Oh man. The ETL-GE was on me so much today" the ETL-TR would say something like "Oh yea I know... the ETL-GE can be such a pain! Have you had any other problems with her?" and TMs would sit there and start saying how much they hated certain ETLs! Of course, suddenly those TMs were termed for various reasons.

It was really amazing how well the ETL-TRs did this.

 

[Retail Girl]

Her mistake was checking the schedule on MAX and not your timesheet on MAX.

Because of schedule edits and times when TMs ACTUALLY clocked out, you can't go by the schedule to know how many hours a TM actually works. She should have looked at the timesheet and viewed your actual punches.... that's why she got it wrong.

If that was it, she really screwed up, because I had already been let go a half hour early one night and 15 minutes early another night that week.

 

[cihyfthedoor]

One thing my young Fresh-Off-The-Campus ETL-HR chick could have done with knowing at the beginning was to stop wearing skirts while bending over tables and desks at 90° angles so often. She doesn't do it anymore, so maybe someone told her.

Hey, not that I was complaining or anything, but as someone who was supposed to be the flag-bearer for HR, I think it sent the wrong message, you know. And it's not like it was a sting/trap, because she's dumber than bricks (or was at the time anyway).