I've heard there are currently ongoing layoffs throughout the company, not just the stores, but since my department has not seen any cuts yet, I can't know for sure. Can anybody confirm if this is true? Considering the supply chain issues we've been having, I would not be surprised to learn this is happening.
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Layoffs at the support center yesterday. Around 30 people across departments. They called it restructuring.
May 10 2022: Irving based arts-and-crafts retailer Michael's is reportedly laying off more than 200 workers in Fort Worth. Reports say the company has notified the Texas Workforce Commission of the decision which affects the workforce at its distribution center on Westport Parkway near Alliance Airport.
The Real story is that building had 600 team members for ecom. Those are just the final 200. Also 2 other e-commerce DCS were shut down also. Michaels unethically allows the local HR manager to classify hires as “seasonal” to avoid paying benefits and to be able to layoff without any legal notifications or justification. They extends the “seasonal period” six months. To avoid any disclosure to the Texas workforce commission. Anyone who don’t like has the seasonal assignment automatically ended at random times. That legal loophole is designed for the Nov and Dec Christmas season in retail. Not for Michaels to layoff off thousands of people in secret. The 200 they are laying off are long tenured team members who transferred in from other dcs to train and run the e-com operation. Nobody is buying their things so they are laying off the last of the team.
I hope michaels collapses. They got rid of me for being tardy. I worked there for 7 years, made thousands of dollars for the company just in custom framing, I took whatever they threw at me. My team loved me, my customers loved me, too bad the company that was supposed to take care of me, didn't love me. Like when I got kicked out of my hotel room during my managers training because the company credit card got declined! What a joke. Michaels literally hates their employees. People only keep working there because they are desperate and don't know what else to do.
Haslet (Fort worth) Texas Distribution Center is the latest to have secret mass layoffs. Last week. They haven’t had consistent work for 2 years. The company is out of stock on everything. It all comes from China. When they moved to sourcing from China in 2008 almost instantly we started having shipping delays. It was never a smooth operation. Management turned over so much nobody ever recognized the mistake made. It was the decision of one executive. Philo Pappas. Who they all let source 100% through China to save cost. Constant Transportation delays were blamed on the carriers. Then they sold the company when the profits looked good. For awhile. Now it’s too late. The company is filling eCommerce orders out of the stores and has to shut down the distribution centers. After the CEO chuck Rubin and EVP Dennis Muhally Left. The senior mgmt who understood how to fix the situation all left too. They were some of the brightest people I’ve ever met. Black stone project teams initially created the company as we know it. Some of the Michaels management hired back then stayed around. They were all Six Sigma heavy duty operations types. As the skill level decreased of the leadership team. Those key leaders started having friction. Then one by one they went to better companies. Now we are stuck with some of the d-mbest, least qualified leaders in the retail industry and the company is imploding. Nobody knows it because Apollo took it private. This is a catastrophe. It is like watching the movie Idiocracy. They are too stupid to understand the supply chain they created cannot be fixed. The way they allocate inventory in JDA is deeply flawed. And sourcing from China only worked for a 3 year period until major issues started appearing. As Chuck Rubin took over they tried to fix the broken system. The board resisted. They hired a jr exec from Sams club as their latest Patsy. who mistakenly believed charging outrageous prices to ‘makers’ would spur growth of bulk case qty purchases. Like soccer moms would all be manufacturing Penny Blossoms and buying over priced Chinese garbage to make expensive Etsy products. They shut down their actual wholesale company Darice. After buying it as a competitor. Because it cut into the margin of their retail business. then thought customers would buy from a local store for wholesale orders. At retail prices. That strategy has been a laughable failure. Now it’s too late. Get out while you can. find a job at another company fast. Recession is coming. These guys will ruin you life and put your family on the street to cover their mistake.
E-commerce DCs are all shutting down. Hundreds of layoffs at a time at each location. They kept it quiet. The company is near bankruptcy. Expect store closings soon