Ok..so in the last six months what has your new hire turn over rate been like. At out club almost all of them leave right away. Some stay a few weeks but most of them leave too. Long term associates are mostly looking for other jobs. There is a rumor that most of our managers are looking for other jobs currently.
So if your club seems to be similar to mine in the retention rate please let me know why you think it is that new hires wont stay and long timers are trying to leave.
They realize the block schedule is not working! They will be going back to the red prairie schedule! They do need a night crew! Day time stocking is a joke, we are always out of merchandise, shelves empty like we are going out business!
I don't think it was the block scheduling that was forcing people out. I believe it is the management or lack- there- of- management. Turn-over has been horrendous this past year. Members want to see the old faces.....they are not happy seeing newbies. They know that the old-timers cared. The newbies are just there to fill a spot on the schedule. The old-timers were invested in the company. Invested in the members...it's all about the members...or did the company forget? Just like they forgot about the "sun -down-rule" or "ten-foot-rule" or even perhaps, the "no fraternizing" rule, where managers are not allowed to sleep with the hourly. Ugh...I could on and on and on.....
Shoot me a message on Twitter @twoballcompound
I’d be happy to discuss elsewhere. Got any ideas?
That's more like what I've been looking for, so thank you for that. I wish I could state the same about our market adapting as you say yours has, but it hasn't. I can think of only a couple locations that appear to be handling it well - all things considered - but most are not. Like you, I am hourly and also briefly had a year-long taste of the management hamster wheel in the past. Even though it is not part of my current job description, I am most certainly interested in trying to help solve these issues at my club because management doesn't seem to know how to put their best foot forward or where to begin. That may seem a little harsh to say on my part, but from all appearances, it's the painful truth. To be perfectly honest, I'd like to discuss this with you somewhere other than here. People have urged me to stop personalizing all these issues and let management figure them out. Just do your job, collect your check, and don't get all stressed out about it. I've tried going down that road and I never get very far. I guess I just care too much because it's a challenge and I still want my club to function the best it can, in spite of all the hurdles we have yet to find a way to clear. Let me know if you would be open to sharing more of your input with me elsewhere. Thanks again.
@twoballcompound When we had overnights we had about 13 people each night($100 million Club) so 104 hours per night, plus 6 closing floor partners. Add in the early floor partners and some mid shifts and we can estimate 22 people on average per day that worked the floor. So with ON crew we had 104(13x8) non-member man hours to stock the building. Now we have about 66 non-member hours per day(22x3). To some posters I’ve seen on here(supposing you as well), that’s a done deal. Basically 40 hours short everyday, not possible, thought up by id–ts. Everyone seems to forget that the processes changed too.
F/C shouldn’t get stocked while you’re closed, stock it while you’re open. For my club that’s 20-24 man hours eliminated from the overnight count so now we’re down to 84. Any mixed pallets plus apparel should be done while you’re open. Apparel was 8 hours per night for us and mixed on any given day would be at least 6-8(McClanes/OTC/HBA/48/37). We also leave electronics down and have someone work it while we’re slow to save a couple more hours. So now 84-8-6-2=68 hours that transferred from overnight productivity to opening/closing productivity. We’ve also adapted and can generally have the racetrack done before we actually close as well as water/paper(have nightly reserves in receiving) and there you go.
We absolutely have problems. We’ve had growing pains and the limited time to run receiving definitely hits hard on many days. However, we stopped complaining early and adapted, as did most of our market(minus the 2 aforementioned clubs) because we know at the end of the day our job is to get the work done. We absolutely have more lifts on the floor while we’re open than we used too, not ideal but if it’s necessary then it’s necessary. I’m not saying I’m behind the changes because quite frankly I miss my overnight schedule and it’s not a popular program with associates which hurts morale, but the clubs that adapted are doing just fine. Every club I’ve been to in my market that the program “wasn’t working” were just trying to do 8 hours of work in 3 hours rather than adapting properly to the changes. I have to assume it’s the same across the company.
To your other points:
If you’re actually looking for answers and not just looking for a place to complain, I’d be happy to continue the discussion. Give me a rundown of your club and I’d be happy to give notes where I see them.
@gcq I played that game for awhile but being a manager in this company will k–l you. I stayed long enough to make sure I’d survive the pay drop and then got out of there. Just an hourly now that gets “picked” to go to other clubs a lot. I imagine you’re also stuck in the blame game rather than putting in effort to fix things? I learned a long time ago that this company doesn’t care about your objections to their programs unless you are executing it correctly first.
I know this site has become the place to complain but most of the complaints here are just whining, reminds me of my kids when they were younger. If you can’t stand this company, move on, it’s not worth the stress and heartache to continue being somewhere you despise so much.
@zly - Using "increases" and Sam$hare as evidence of Block Scheduling being a benefit to the clubs you're referring to, is far too vague and in no way identifies what ways it's really helping from an operational standpoint. From where I'm sitting, I have seen absolutely zero evidence that it is more productive than the overnight shift it replaced. Quite the opposite, in fact. If you're making the argument that this process has been better wherever it is that you happen to be, please illustrate how things are being done in whatever market that is, that have allowed 14 of 16 clubs to function better than they did prior to the change. Not one single person has come in here and supplied any information on how clubs have managed to operate successfully. Just stating that there are "increases" and better Sam$hare doesn't really say anything. I'm looking for something that summarizes a system that generates the same level of productivity between the hours of 8:30 PM to 11:30 PM and 4:00 AM - 7:00 AM. How are they doing it? What processes have they been following to make it work successfully? How many people are they being permitted to schedule? How are they dividing responsiblities and appropriating associates to the different areas in the most productive way possible? How are they able to do in six hours, with fewer people, what the night crew was able to do - uninterrupted - in eight, with more people? How have they been able to move incoming freight throughout the building without having to use more people, keep turning over the steel so that incoming freight can quickly replace outgoing (dropped) freight, and keep the dock area a consistently empty (or at least mostly-empty) slab of cement on a constant basis?
I look forward to (but do not expect) an informative response....
@twoballcompound Why so angry bud? Out of 16 clubs in our market, only 2 are doing poorly and it’s 100% because the managers refuse to fix their problems(I know because I was sent to help them for a few days). The other 14 clubs are all doing just as well or better than the first half of the year. Increases all around and better SamShares. Maybe stop whining about how you’re clearly the expert because in your little bubble things aren’t working. Fix it. Or leave.
Block scheduling did, and continues to do, exactly what it was designed to do. Anyone who believes or tries to tell you that it was implemented to benefit the operational aspect of the stores themselves, is either a liar or an ignoramus. Reduction in payroll and cost of benefits is/was the absolute goal and it was, and continues to be, brilliantly played. Almost six months have passed since they unveiled it and we still have not sufficiently replaced all the experience and work ethic we lost when those who decided not to stay on board, walked. In terms of the turnover, I would estimate that 90% of the people we've hired and succeeded in actually getting on the floor, have also left us. Combine that with the rate of new hires that leave during the limbo stage between accepting the job offer and scheduling the orientation, and the rate becomes insane. The really unnerving part is when one realizes that this is far from an isolated situation with one or two clubs and may actually be playing out this way at the vast majority of the 599 clubs. You would think that this would raise an eyebrow with at least one person higher up on the corporate chain but everyone at the market level appears to want to sweep it under the rug and deny that it's a systematic problem that cannot be addressed without HO going back to the drawing board and correcting their horrible and irresponsible misjudgment. Block scheduling will continue to fail miserably on the operational side because in order for it to work, the numbers of people and hours have to be increased and the quality of the types of people hired has to drastically improve. Neither one will occur. Corporate won't allocate the cost involved and people who are capable of that kind of productivity very rarely apply for work at this company.
Seems to be the same now as six months before block scheduling. Those that get paid more stay like tire/battery, bakery, meat cutters, and fresh, but cashiers, cart associates, and merchandisers have a high turn over. Desk and door greeters stay, but at our club, these are older, long term men and women, who make decent money. We use to have a high turn over for cos, now they don't even talk about leaving.
You really have to ask.. block scheduling.. totally did a number on long termers and new hires figure this out after they start and have to do 4/5 different jobs . Oh and let's not forget working every weekend because I know it's retail but no one has a life outside the club