To Whom It May Concern:
I am a current Lowe’s associate who has worked for the company for some time. I’ve worked in many different positions, including management, and I have some things I’d like to say to the company leadership. I regret that I am forced to say them in this way and on this site, however it has been made bluntly clear to me through my recent interactions with multiple levels of Lowe’s leadership that critical feedback is not welcome in any way. But I have had many conversations with current Lowe’s associates in many positions, including store management at all levels and in several districts over the past year and I feel compelled to voice their and my opinions.
First, it has become blatantly clear that this company has no regard for associate needs as far as scheduling. Your current scheduling system is a nightmare. And no, telling us that Customer Centric scheduling is the norm for the industry is of no help whatsoever. I wanted to make that clear because you like to trot out that excuse. Whether this system is the norm for the industry or not is no excuse for bad scheduling. The fact that other retailers use the same awful system is not a justification for treating your associates like cattle.
But the fact that Customer Centric scheduling is horrible for associates lives and morale isn’t the only reason you should be embarrassed by this system or the decision to use it. Are you blind to the fact that this system doesn’t work? I’ve seen the reporting on this system. I’ve seen the effectiveness scores that the scheduling associates are given and use with it. I can tell you from years of using scheduling systems that your reporting is useless. The fact that Kronos may find the posted schedule “effective” or not does not change the fact that it doesn’t actually work. These are computer programs. They only do what you tell them. If you give them bad parameters and bad data then you get bad reporting.
The real test of a scheduling system is where the rubber hits the road, ie. does it provide effective scheduling for maximizing customer service? That’s the test that matters. And a blind mole rat could tell you that it doesn’t. If anyone in senior leadership spent more than a token day in a store, you would be disabused of your fantasies that coverage in the stores are anything close to adequate. Let me put it a bit more bluntly for those who have a hard time understanding this. YOU’RE LOSING MONEY and the pathetic scheduling system is largely to blame. If you had watched as many customers walk out of the stores as I have, then you would realize that. But working in your own little bubble has either made you unaware of these facts or you simply don’t care. I’m not sure which is the case or which is worse.
You should also realize this since your customer service scores are in the toilet and scheduling has a lot to do with it. There’s a reason that you can’t reach your goals on LTR. Hasn’t it occurred to you that the reason that your map is consistently red every week on the Lowe Down is because there’s a lack of associates on the sales floor and decaying morale? Watching you post these terrible results week after week doesn’t motivate anyone. It just makes you look oblivious.
I would also encourage senior leadership to actually visit the stores. And when I say visit, I don’t mean that you should announce a visit three weeks in advance so that district staff can transfer half the associates to the stores to clean them up. You need to see the stores as they really are. Your staff recently visited several stores in the northeast and I can tell you that they spent days and hundreds of man hours getting these stores cleaned up. They were actually a complete wreck before you showed up. What you are seeing is nowhere near the reality of what’s going on in your stores. I think you know that because why would you announce a visit weeks in advance? You want to live in a fantasy. But the realty is very different.
Stores are understaffed and basic tasks are being left undone. The IRP process is taking all day in some cases, if it’s done at all. In a lot of stores it’s being pencil whipped most of the time. Freight sits for days in receiving and can get so bad that it’s being left in piles on the sales floor. Your assembly areas are over run with it most days of the week.
Basic cleaning is a farce. Nothing is being cleaned, swept or wiped down. Remember the precious COVID sanitizing that was supposed to be done each day and night? Most stores stoped doing it last year. Yeah, they had the sanitizer, there was simply no time or associates to get it done.
Need I go on?
The simple fact is that Lowe’s is in disarray. Many valuable associates have left or are on their way out. Other retailers are stealing them away for better pay and less stress. Customer satisfaction is dropping, not improving and the response to this from company leadership is to demand results without giving an ounce of support.
This has got to stop. This company used to be worth something. People used to be proud to work here. Quite honestly, I’m embarrassed by what Lowe’s has become. You may be raking in record sales but that’s because of stimulus checks more than anything our current leadership has provided. You’d better have some kind of plan for afterwards because if you don’t, this company is going to be hard pressed to deliver anything close to what’s Wall Street has expected over the last year and a half.
I hope someone has the openness to read this and listen. I don’t write this out of hate or anger, just exasperation at the current state of this company. I work here after all! I want Lowe’s to be the employer it used to be. I want the sense of teamwork we used to have. I want to walk into the store without a sense of dread that seems to permeate the walls now. But most of all I want someone at the top of this company to listen! Listen and take the criticisms for what they are, an honest attempt to make Lowe’s a better place to work and shop. I can only hope that you take the five minutes to read this, I ready do. And if you do, ask yourself a basic question, “Why do you keep hearing this same feedback over and over again from the store level? Is it because the associates don’t want to work or because the problems are real?”
Thank You