Some of the employee comments:
Is there any explanation as to why this holiday was so awful? I held off on making this post right before Christmas, with the hope that things would get better..but after experiencing the hellscape of Monday and Tuesdays sales (we did 85k+ in sales with 7 booksellers scheduled for the entire day on Monday) as well as seeing tons of posts of people all complaining about the same things I realized others might feel the same and I had to ask. What the he-l happened this year that has left so many of us burned out and frustrated, with even 20+ year veterans saying it's the worst Xmas they've ever seen?
I'd like to say that when I first joined BN some years back, I loved the job but quickly gained the feeling that I had joined a sinking ship. Old timers were all jaded and talking about all the company's missteps, news articles were all wondering the bleak future of the company, and sales were dropping every year. Managers used to go around and send people home constantly as we just weren't making enough money to keep people for their shifts. When Daunt took over things did turn around and he made a lot of really good decisions. We got rid of secret shoppers, they dropped the insane emphasis on membership sales, ordering and returns made more sense and were less wasteful, and stores were given significantly more control. Sales boomed, staffing was better, employees were happier, and I had a generally very optimistic view towards the company because of all these positive changes and felt us to be in the strongest position I had ever known.
Sadly, it feels like this holiday has completely eroded away all that goodwill and optimism I had - in large part because it feels like things did a complete 180 and reverted to how they were pre-Daunt. Nonsensical ordering, the worst case of understaffing I've ever seen, stores losing control. Sales were still good, but they could've been SO much more if we could've actually had the time and bodies to get product out onto the floor, not to mention people to help customers find products and a full set of cashiers firing at all times (I'm not even on the floor much and there was at least 20+ customers I personally saw who complained about lines, angrily put product down, and walked out. Sh---y, sure, but a lost sale regardless).
I'm not surprised at executives being disconnected from the store level, and I'm not surprised at a corporation being greedy and trying to squeeze out as much profit as possible by understaffing even to the detriment of their employees. But I am surprised at just how different this holiday felt compared to the previous couple years and how hard the direction seemed to change.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m exhausted. Today was nonstop. Between being understaffed due to hours being cut (thanks, Corporate overlords for that bit of genius) and the 50% sale, we were slammed. The store looks like a bo-b went off. Whole sections are decimated. I don’t know when we will be able to get the store back into shape. I mean, we barely had the manpower for customers, much less gardening or any other projects. How was everyone else’s day?
All I can say is that the company is not in any way the “Daunt” way since October. The direction the company is taking is not looking good for front line employees. Older stores are being subjected to deplorable work conditions with the company not willing to invest in the stores basic operating needs. It is back to no Store control over anything. It is really very sad seeing it go back to what led it to the brink. “You reap what you sow”. I am certain most upper level management wouldn’t have any of their family members working in the stores being neglected.
I’ve been thinking the same thing about a lot of the stuff they’ve been passing down - that it feels like pre-Daunt.
I was so happy when Daunt took over. Stores got autonomy. “Make the stores your own.” “Cater to YOUR customer.” Then, at some point in the last year, all of that went away. “Set up this display. No, not that way, only this way.” We seem to be going back to uniformity. I don’t know where the disconnect is, but Daunt needs to address it.
I think they thought when Daunt took over as CEO that things would change. The problem was when he said the stores should act independently concerning their personal needs, all of the old Riggio managers are still in place so it went backwards.