This s---s for all involved in this at the stores I deal with. Most of the ASMs and associates at those stores have been very friendly to deal with. It s---s this happens but of course I am sure this will help upper mgmt bonuses for coming up with this great idea that will "better benefit the customer." The people with the experience were just treated like another number and "wished well in their future en devours." And all their knowledge, experience and loyalty did not factor in at all. I really hate big businesses sometimes because of the way their workers are treated. It is because of the people doing the actual work that allows for the companies to prosper or fail. If there was any justice, layoffs would start at the corp level. Laying off 1 of them could save at least 10 jobs at the store level. An electronics retailer that competed with best buy did something along the same lines 9 years ago, eliminating highly paid and experienced employees and look where they ended up.
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Wow our store manager allowed us to ask as many questions as we wanted. He either don't care or didn't do his job and read up on what is going on.
I work in the Whiteville, NC location--store 2869. Today, we allegedly lost one of our most valuable Assistant Store Managers--while it's not "official" all signs point to it, as he was not here today for the ASM meeting. The Department Managers were later called in to the meeting today, to where the Store Manager gave a brief preface that he was told by corporate to read this piece of paper explaining that the Department Manager position was being dissolved, that if the DM's chose to continue working with Lowe's that they must opt in for a chance at a service manager position, to which only five would be hired on as. From there they would have one year if they did not land the service manager position to find another position in our store, lest they lose their job at the end of the year. This was also the case for our OPE specialist as his job has faced the same dissolution. The meeting was very concise, and not a single department manager was allowed to ask a question, as the Store Manager said he would not be taking questions, nor answering them.
Overwhelmingly, the morale of the store shifted dramatically after the meeting and it was just miserable to be in the store today. This was all because of a promise that the CFO could not keep to stockholders--and even with this re-structuring the majority of us doubt that there will be a meteoric rise in stock price because of these measures. Our little store has seen a generous up-tick in business since Hurricane Matthew, which is the basis of us having a near unheard of $25 million dollar year in business, whereas our store typically hovers in the low $20 million(s) in yearly revenue.
It is disappointing to hear all the stories of the department managers I have spoken with today, regarding their climb to the position, the amount of time invested and hard work to climb this ladder. Granted, there are some that need this wake up call, that are not a good return of investment for the company's dollar, but there are many who make our store great. For the first time, I am truly disappointed with this company, and question my own integrity for staying and trying to climb the ladder. This is eliminating the dream of advancement, and replacing it with a culture of fear--fear that your job is always at stake now, This is ultimately proving that now more than ever, you are just a number in this store, and in any Lowe's store--no matter how much you've contributed or improved your particular department or area.
The one thing, that I've collectively gathered from talking to my fellow associates is the pretense that perhaps we will finally be rid of a very ineffective HR Manager, who tends to play favorites and doesn't aid in the process of advancing associates who truly deserve it. This also leads us to the hope that our very crude and poorly performing Store Manager will be gone soon as well. We've learned that our store is a sort of two year training ground for Store Managers, and hopefully soon, his time here will be up, and we can move forward with more sincere, involved and effective leadership.
Luckily, I am not a department manager, but now, talking among the other sales specialists in my store, we now fear that we are next on the chopping block--that the department managers who have lost their title may resort to any means necessary to come after our positions, being they are the next pay grade down. We also fear that in this new culture that corporate is manufacturing that the role of sales specialist may be dumbed down to something any floor associate could do, or is expected to do. This is a potentially poor decision that not every one is suited for or able to do--to properly serve our customers, something that is instilled and trained into us upon hiring or promotion as a sales specialist.
I do not relish the fact that I'm going to have to train a bevy of newly hired part timers in the next year and more, nor do I enjoy the fact that I am going to lose so many talented and amazing people to make room for them.
Lowe's has a motto--"Never stop improving." I really don't see this as living up to that motto, nor establishing an environment for the employee where they want to improve them self. Why try to advance in the company when it can all be taken away?
I wish nothing but the best for all the one's that have been let go or put in a impossibly difficult place today. My sympathies and prayers to you all.
Original poster - I have nothing to do with Lowe's but I have been checking your thread in-between checking my old company's thread, since I heard Lowe's is laying off too.
Funny you should mention Circuit City (the one that competed with Best Buy) as I was just reading about them on Wikipedia while doing other research. I remember fully-well back around 2007 when Circuit City decided (and had nationwide media attention) to lay off all their more experienced & higher paid sales people. It was all to increase profits without any care about delivering service or having knowledgeable sales staff. I as well as many other Americans, quit shopping there in protest. The plan backfired and the company sales plummeted until they filed for bankruptcy in 2009. In reality, the people they layed off didn't make that much more than the inexperienced newbies they hired to replace them (a few $ per hour). Was it really worth it?
After what I've been reading, I may stop shopping at my local Lowe's store, which I go to at least twice per month. Maybe I'm done with both Lowe's and Home Depot. We have other options in the Kansas City area, thankfully, including local family-owned businesses.
Good luck to all who lose their jobs in this corporate weasel layoff cycle.
this is typical of this type of business. if i had to guess, i would think that the corporate morons that hatched this program had worked for bob nardelli at home depot, that was the regime that almost destroyed the depot. that company is just now starting to show signs of recovery at the store level. while i have to admit, at lowes, there are some worthless employees or some that are maybe just too settled in their positions and don't want to help their whole department by getting out from behind their desks, the majority want to do a good job and do believe in giving good customer service. the specialists can't seem to remember that they need to face the shelves, downstock, maybe sweep the floors once in awhile and say hello to all customers. if the store looks like hell and the missing stock is in the overheads, the customer will go elsewhere to do their shopping. the upper level corporate people would be better serving the customers by instituting customer focused training and having managers reinforcing that training on a daily basis and worrying less about the race for the cup. it would be nice to see the corporate people get out in the stores nation wide to work with the employees and get a real feel for what happens at the store level...they would be shocked and worn out if they worked in the departments and worked all of the schedules that store level employees work...but i won't hold my breath.