Thread regarding Sears layoffs

I'm a new hire.. I have fallen in love with the dysfunction, I go to work every day to watch the fire burn.

I'm gonna go down with the ship, most fun I've ever had in my life.

The only way to advance as a store associate is to leave. It used to be that you would take a lead position or be in charge of a department to get a raise. But the last six people in our store who took lead positions (which we have very few left) or took resposibility for a department were let go. There position was eliminated. One person who had been with the company for over 10 years took a lead position and was in the position for a month when they eliminated the position and let her go. They could not rehire her at the same salary but a different position so the offered her to start again at minimum wage. She said no

@cjc Yes you are right. I don't have the solution to everything or know how every department works. I can only speak to what I see in my department. I am just saying we have a much better chance at advancement than our store associates have, and we should remember that.

Saying that you just have to move around at HE isn't always possible. I've seen managers happy to let people get promoted to other positions, only to have that squashed by the director.

I've seen it happen to others and it's happened to me. My own situation was just my director talking to the hiring manager and making it known that they didn't want me to leave.

For others I specifically witnessed that when the employee tried to apply out, they were deemed critical to the BU and were not allowed to transfer. When that employee asked what steps would be taken for someone to be trained so they could get promoted, they were basically told "We will get to it as soon as we can"

I believe that employee lost out on 3 positions before they ultimately were laid off.

The only people who were let out of my old dept were people the director wanted to get rid of.

Not exactly sure how to respond this....it is a tale of two companies, and I always say that. There are those who have done okay and those that havent.

I guess that is how corporate life is. If you are concerned about security, I would get out of retail. I have come to the conclusion that in these years in retail, you never know the future and have learned to live with that. I read the Walmart and Lowes the layoff too, and even though those are wonderfully run companies, they talk about the same issues we do. For the person who worked for seven years without a raise, dont get yourself into that situation. If you worked at HE, you just needed to move around in order to get a promotion and then the possibility of a raise. As a manager, I work with my associates to help them further their careers and be able to move up so they can get raises. If in the stores I get it as there arent the steps up other than ASM and Store Manager where you have the opportunity to get a raise. I am guessing you were at HE.

Theres no chance of a turnaround. The company has way too much debt. We dont know when chapter 11 or 7 will happen but its coming

I couldn't agree more. Eddie has no magical "transformation" up his sleeves. He's a venture capitalist vulture who is systematically strippng the company of any and all assets. Over the past 7 years I have swallowed so much BS, doing the jobs of 3 to 4 people, getting no raises, no recognition, while watching the cancer that is Eddie and Leena eat the body from the inside out. I was finally axed this week along with a handful of other executives. It's tragic to watch and should be criminal. The "leaders" of this company have no soul, no ethics, no morality whatsoever. Get out while you can. "Ask not for whom the bell tolls....."