The specialist and pro positions are going away to be replaced with the position of area sales specialist. The number of associates in the new position will be reduced, the number of new specialists in a store will be determined by store volume. This will be a whole store position and those chosen must be able to sell in every specialty department. Order management will be done by a new position called product coordinator and there will be one per store, it will be a fulltime position for larger volume stores only.
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"Best of luck to them designing and selling kitchens!!!
They’ll crash & burn..."
Bahahaha this is so true!
I've never seen one, and there were many over 15 years, that could handle the frantic pace of what the real workers do on a daily basis. One trick ponies!
Best of luck to them designing and selling kitchens!!!
They’ll crash & burn...
Hmmm...about a month ago the brown noser appliance specialist was trying to train my department and I'm like why and go away now.
At my new job everyone works every area and it is marvelous but almost everyone has 15 to 30 years on staff. Everyone is happy at work. It's like paradise or stepping into a time machine. Family owned, of course.
Nonspecialized staffing only works with extremely low turnover.
I believe corporate really believes with the magical internet they won't need specialists on the floor. To a degree they're correct. But that's like 40 years away. Lol.
mo–ns will do anything to save a buck. Dissolving department boundaries will save millions in payroll in the offseason.
So I believe it is coming sooner than you think.
Ditto on the cross training...I never seen the store manager and asms so cold as the last week.... maybe their not getting big bonus... Or looking to the next change... and going humm...
One of my co-workers who is a specialist had her Vacation time denied for the first week in February. When she went to take it up with the store manager he said that there is a mandatory specialist meeting.
Our sales manager is encouraging all specialists to cross train. This sales manager came from home depot.
To tell the truth, you can make lots of money if you have no employees and I think that is where Lowe's is headed. Depot has 250 more stores than us and when was the last time you heard of a Depot store closing? Also, the PA announcements are supposed to generate confidence but instead they sustain false hope. Niblock was swept out and Marvin was swept in on the coat tails of D.E. Shaw and friends and as long as Shaw is happy and the shareholders are as well, that is all that matters. problem is, the bubble will burst when there is a disconnect between what Lowe's is touting and what is actually the case. And those LTR numbers! Yes, fiscal year (February) will be like witching hour and I would say don't count out any crazy idea from corporate. Hell, they just hired a lady from Taco Bell! Also, Depot's $218 a share is after many stock splits. Lowe's is $120. No splits.
How about get the ASM (lots of pay here) out of the zone office and on the floor to see what is really going on, before you want to cut CSA,s jobs.
this makes no sense whatsoever. How can you realistically expect a person to be highly knowledgeable in multiple departments to do the customer justice. As a specialist i have spent much time learning the products i sell, You do not develop expertise in a various area overnight. Some of us know a little of this and a little of that but that does rise to the level of SPECIALIST. And if someone had vast expertise in multitude of areas that person would be worth $50+ dollars an hour which we know doesn't exist at Lowe's . Other than saving payroll what does this accomplish? I realize that it is a dumb question because saving payroll is all that matters to the powers that be.
Gezz people., Marvin said he is transparent and if you looked at the the pod cast and the town hall.,.. right there....I qualify every customer, just like I use my smart model impact model...or my own.to qualify corporate..... coming down.... operating costs.. Sorry....
So basically, now if you’re a sales specialist you will yanked around all over the store. This will require people that are energetic, nimble, and that can manage stress real well. I don’t see a lot of our current specialists at least here at our store that will be able to squeeze into that mold.
We only have 3 that are affected by the spiff allowance being taken away. All are older and I imagine would have a tough time finding work.
We only have 3 that are affected by the spiff allowance being taken away. All are older and I imagine would have a tough time finding work.
im More curious to see how many people will leave after the spiff allowance is gone.
We work for mo–ns that have no clue what it is actually like on the front lines. PERIOD. As long as our supreme leader (pun intended) continues to operate like Home Depot's way of doing things is the pinnacle retail model we are all screwed. They should be following the Costco model who truly is kicking a– and actually treats their employees with respect plus pays well while doing it.
I am an appliance specialist in a high volume store and can count the number of 15 minute breaks I had in all of 2019 on one hand with fingers to spare. I am also one of those mo–ns that often comes in on my day off (off the clock) to deal with customer care issues that I cant even trust my own management chain to take care of (many of which management handed off to me because they don't know how to fix themselves). If they expect me to do more than I am already doing they are on an acid trip. I am running myself ragged just trying to keep up with all of the customer care issues that have been brought on by our new third party / cross dock delivery service. Have reported these issues up the management chain and all I got in return was the sound sound of crickets chirping. Six plus months of this sh– and NOTHING has changed and our customers are feeling it. The process at Lowe's is broken and with little to no hope of salvation on the horizon.
At this point nothing Lowe's corporate does will surprise me. Their goal is obviously to continue to squeeze payroll and do everything they can to artificially boost stock price. I predict the reckoning will not occur till we start to see a trend of declining store sales. Don't think it will happen? Spend a few minutes on the internet and see what happened at JCPenny while our CEO was at the helm. It has already started to happen at our store this last quarter primarily due to lack of RDC/ADC inventory and order cancellations due to inventory and/or delivery issues. Also doesn't help when they are cutting 500 hours a week in staffing (while at the same time playing over the intercom advertisements of what a great company Lowe's is to work for). What a totally sick joke. Fifteen years of my life wasted, time to look for the exit door. :(
Our walls and windows specialist was made a head cashier; I understand it was a mutual thing. Now responsibility for everything is being handled by the two remaining part-timers. Already they are overwhelmed by the cpo, ims, isst, following up on all the orders.
I’m one of the few who could work in any department and do well. But I could never do all at once, and would never be happy trying.
at this point as a specialist, im hoping to be let go. severance, good bye.
What about department managers? Are their positions being reduced as well?
Lowes is a garbage company which currently is run by a garbage man. Only good for supplemental income. Start searching now. Definitely not a company for the Pro shopper dedpite the false advertising.
Sincerely ,
10 years wasted
This is a Bunch of fear mongering where is the proof
very unlikely theyd use specialist in the title! lol. gets a little hairy legally in that respect...so a corporation pretends they eliminated a position altogether and then they create a position with slightly different job descriptions and duties.
so dept. manager reduced to service/support manager and then inflated to dept. supervisor.
next time you think this stuff up.....remember that.
seriously....and to not have it seemlessly work over all stores?? product coordinator only in big stores??? lie would make more sense if every store had at least 1.....
now since i cover the entire area do i get paid more since its a brand new applied for position?? arent we now getting into the hairy situation of no actually savings.
at best theyd just reduce the number of specialist by attrition alone...or just eliminate, say, live nursery specialist and leave it at that.
Where is this info coming From
I’m a designer as well and I can’t tell you how unprofessional lowes has become. It’s near impossible to complete any design work in a timely fashion with so many interruptions from appliance and plumbing customers.
In our market we specialists have been training thought the store. I'm a kitchen designer, I don't have time to run around the store but management doesn't care. Now I know why.