Target Is Slashing Full-Timers' Hours

[TwixVoy]

This is a follow up article to the one they posted last month. More at the link. Several of my former co-workers have told me about this. Has been going on company wide.

For those not familiar with retail here is how the system works. (FYI - I was personally a regular team member and then became a "specialist" myself before being promoted to management... so I know exactly how the system works. Very few specialists ever made it to management - most were kept at that level forever)

Basically "specialists" were the ONLY non-management people at Target stores guaranteed full time status. Only a select few at every Target store were allowed to obtain this position status. (yes, corporate actually imposed a quota that stores were allowed to have) It also typically took at least 2-3+ years to obtain this status.

These were the people who had to be 100% dedicated to the company and do crazy shit for years. Things like come in to work from 7PM-2AM and be willing to be back at work at 6AM. Learn every department. Demonstrate a happy cheerful attitude every day. Be recognized by guests (customers) as being very helpful regularly. Basically people who demonstrated they would do ANYTHING the company wanted, and do it with a smile.

What did they get after years of being loyal to the company and earning this status? A $1/hour raise AND a promise of full time hours and thus being able to get benefits. Because many specialists have been with the company for many years (at my store we had 3 who had been with the company over 10 years) they have accumulated enough raises to earn about $10-15/hour. Doesn't sound like much after 10 years on a job, but at retail this is considered exceptionally high pay for non-management.

When I left the company they had already started slashing these positions. (stores a few years ago, for example, might be allowed 5-6 specialists. When I left our store was down to only being allowed 3-4) This year they all got called in to the office at every store company wide and were told their position was gone. (very similar to the move circuit city pulled) The only difference.... at Target these people were offered a severance package last month. (a generous one weeks pay for every year they have been with the company) Now the ones who chose not to accept that package are having their hours slashed to less than 20 a week and told to train new part time minimum wage workers to do their job. Also many of these former specialists have been told they will no longer be eligible for raises forever. (basically trying to push them out the door)

http://consumerist.com/2010/03/target-is-slashing-full-timers-hours-at-my-store.html


"An anonymous Target employee writes in with a story that seconds what we were told back in February about the company reducing several thousand full-timers to part-time.

The tipster writes:

“
I am a Target employee and wanted to write a follow-up to this story.
I am not the original poster, however, I want to fill in a few details. For the last three weeks, almost every non-salaried person had their hours reduced, some by about 60%. This is the situation I'm currently in.

We have quite a few team members, like me, that are trained in every possible section of the store (sales floor, cashier, backroom, food court, carts, instock). We even closed a few nights as team leads. For a year I've been getting 40-45 hours. For the last 3 weeks, I have got 18 and was told it will not go back up anytime soon, if at all. There is no excuse for this since I can work in any part of the store and should have hours somewhere. Please note that there are at least 2-3 positions for each area of the store (3 in backroom, 2 sales floor, 2 instocks, etc).

Also, a lot of higher paid people have been disappearing. At least two I confirmed were fired, but for the most silly and minor reasons. Sorry for the lack of detail, but I don't want to be identified. A note about the specialists situation. They did in fact get rid of all specialists and will replace them with lower paid minimum wage workers (I checked the pay grade). For example, what a single $12-15 person did will now be split between 3 people for minimum wage. And I have a strong feeling, which is influenced by my store leader and hr, that they will probably get rid off by giving minimum amount of hours.
"

[HopeHoops]

1. Shit. They're learning from WalMart.

Bastards.

[DJ13]

2. very similar to the move circuit city pulled

...and it worked so well for them.

:eyes:

[Dappleganger]

3. There is NO such thing as company loyalty anymore.

Those days are gone, it's back to the days of slavery. They may say that they are loyal and give you an ipod, but will fire you and outsource your job faster than you can scoot to the unemployment line.

[Better Today]

4. One of my daughter's friends says Albertsons/SavOn are doing the same thing.

Apparently there are mass firings going on that no one can figure out why, but no surprise, only the part-timers are being kept, and only part-timers will be hired to replace.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. No one can figure out why?

We're in the middle of a serious recession. Why the fuck do you think?

[Better Today]

9. Poorly worded, I should have said, there seems to be no legitimate reasons.

[Warpy]

5. Health insurance!

Retail operates on tight margins, so they're the canary in the coalmine and they're warning us that no company can survive mandated employee health insurance premiums to the bloated insurance industry.

It's up to us to get the conservatives out of Congress so we can start opening Medicare to more people. That will take the pressure off businesses, especially retail, and they can stop mistreating their best employees simply because they can't afford to pay tribute to insurance giants.

[RubyDuby in GA]

6. After reading your posts about the inner workings of Target, I've really cut back on my shopping

at Target stores. I've noticed all the things that you have mentioned too (lack of merchandise on the floor, the usual people I've normally seen being gone now, etc.). I only go there for the most essential things now. After learning how vehemently anti-union they were, I try to get most of my things at Kroger's. A lot of people are getting mad at my local store because no matter what time of the day or night you are in there and no matter how backed up the front is, there are only two registers open.

I used to shop there at least once a week (usually more) and could easily drop $150 a trip.

[bridgit]

8. They're cutting bi-yearly product lines due to flattened or under performing profits too

Which sends a ripple out Target global back to vendors, transporting, cardboard, packing tape, etc