-Often inadequate computers and POS (point of sale).
-Outdated cash registers.
-Overuse of paper, instead of digital records.
-Shoddy "back of house" environment.
-Lack of investment in infrastructure by Corporate.
-Cheapened quality of products.
-Layoffs despite years of contribution.
-Hired for full time, yet many companies don't want to pay for 40 hours, so they reduce it to 32 or 35 hours.
-Human Resources departments that fail to uphold the rights of employees.
-Suddenly reduced work hours (even thought management disciplines employees for tardiness).
-The "sending home early" of employees, to conserve payroll.
-Companies prefer part-time help, to avoid paying healthcare, without care to clients or employees.
-Inferior employee training.
-You sell millions of dollars for corporate profits, while you get meager compensation, in comparison. e.g.: you sell $100,000, yet you only get $500.
-Company-mandated removal/"weeding out" of employees with seniority, due to the cost of paying them (even though they haven't done anything wrong).
-If you sell something successfully, the company might not make enough product or its allocated improperly.
-Upper management's squandering of profits--that the lower levels produced--often impacts lower levels only.
-Upper management's "new ideas" (gambles) waste resources.
-They rarely ask for input from front-line employees or longtime employees to make sound decisions.
-The lower levels produce profit: shipping, selling, customer service, fixing problems, maintaining stores, seeking new clients, propagating the "brand image". The upper levels create an illusion of profit by cutting human costs.
-Corporate offices absorb the profit margins produced by stores through their high expenses: couriers, messengers, car services, parties, support staff, expense accounts, travel, fashion shows, launch parties, furnishings, marketing materials, corporate retreats, and "research" costs.
-The seeming inability to allow money for employee birthday cakes in the Petty Cash budget.
-When corporate entities waste funds and diminish their wherewithal, they cut back from the lower levels (the people making the profits) before they cut back from themselves.
-Standing on your feet all day.
-Nowhere to easily gift wrap customer purchases.
-Corporate arrogance/disregard for front-line employees. (Even witness a "store visit" or "walk through" where they ignore the sales & customer service & maintenance staff?)
-Companies give away merchandise to celebrities & VIPs--and to pacify complaining customers--yet punish theft or overuse of "employee discount" by workers.
-Rudeness inflicted by customers.
-Lack of back-up from store management (often afraid of offending anybody) against such customers.
-Holiday hours.
-Working during holidays and weekends.
-Seeing how often the corporate office is closed--especially during bad weather (while stores are forced to stay open) or to observe a holiday.
-Here's a memo: "In response to many inquiries about the blizzard, we are stating that--as is our policy--stores will be open tomorrow. If you have any problems tomorrow, please call us." A paragraph later, it says "Due to the severe storm conditions tomorrow, the corporate offices will be closed." What a double standard! Additionally, how could anyone "call them" if they're closed?
-Getting only 2 weeks off per year (perhaps only as your time accrues with the company).
-Being discouraged from taking your full legal lunch breaks.
-Management breeding competition, instead of teamwork.
-Poorly designed stores and layouts, without asking for input from the sales teams that occupy them and work there.
-Thoughtlessly positioned stores, with "off site" stock rooms, inconvenient storage, tight quarters for employees/shipping.
-Poorly laid product development/depth, without asking for input from sales team or store management. That's often why new merchandise fails.
-As you try to make sales, the company fails to produce enough depth/range of key products. Especially annoying if they allocated resources from key products to some trifle "new idea" that failed anyway.
-Ever-increasing monthly goals are the sarcastic "rewards" of attaining or exceeding your numbers.
-Your monthly goals don't take into consideration last years's special events which boosted those numbers. e.g.: If you had an event, last June, but don't have one this June, then the goal shouldn't be carelessly raised.
-Goals are seemingly set randomly, without rhyme or reason.
-When stores are closed for weather/renovation but the goals aren't reduced to accommodate that.
-When a store is closed (above), and thus doesn't reach its goal, so Corporate lumps the unachieved amount onto the NEXT month's goal!
-Pushed to open new credit card accounts, then Corporate abuses the clients' contact information (ruining the rapport you had with the trusting client), or allow hackers to steal it.
-Suddenly changing the rules (that worked successfully), to create excuses to terminate employees.
-Incompetent Allocations Departments that send products to the wrong locations.
-Uncaring Allocations/Merchandising Teams that send products to locations without regard to "customer demand" or what sells best in a certain district.
-Uncaring Visual Merchandising directives that position products in unflattering areas of stores... or routinely put new/expensive merchandise closest to the exits--practically as an incentive for shoplifters.
-Overtly open-ended Return Policies that practically invite customers to abuse them.
-When your sales numbers are far above LY (last year)--despite low client traffic--yet you fall short of the actual goal and still don't get paid any commission/bonus.
-Companies penalize associates via deliberately-negative Performance Reviews or petty "write-ups" (written correctives) to avoid giving pay raises at the end of the year.
-Excessive time being allowed to transpire before employees are reimbursed for Petty Cash expenses.
-Corporate payroll that "accidentally" forgets to pay monthly bonuses, and makes employees wait an entire pay period.
-Companies that demand profits to be made on time, but avoid paying commissions to employees until a month (or two) after the pay-period! So, you get your July bonus in September.
-Companies that offer bi-weekly pay, so that they can hold onto the funds longer.
-Deliberately contradicting directives from senior management (to hide illegal business practices). e.g.: "In addition to other directions you may receive from me today..." e.g.: Corporate Policy says don't ring up backorder sales unless clients take it with them, yet a phone call to store managers tells them to ring up everything--even future sales/items not arriving till next month... to boost the month's numbers.
-The proliferation of incompetent upper middle managers, who make unsound/emotional decisions, act as "yes men" to senior management, and can't lead or solve problems.
-No oversight of senior management's performance or favoritism.
-When Corporate makes mistakes or carelessly create oversight, they dump the responsibility of cleaning up the errors onto the front-line employees.
-As "Inventory time" nears, corporate/warehouses dump loads of unrequested merchandise upon stores, so they don't have to count them.
-When you try to sell a product, and the company outsources its production to a foreign/cheaper maker, thus reducing customer satisfaction/sales.
-When you try to sell a product, but the company erroneously didn't buy/make enough of it.
-When the company does massive advertising of a product--and it causes high demand--but Corporate isn't prepared with enough product and then can't get it in time.
-When Corporate hasn't allocated products that are going to be advertised or given public awareness, e.g.: worn on a red carpet, given an award, reviewed on a TV show, endorsed by a celebrity. Due to their error, you cannot satisfy customers.
-When you try to sell a product, and the company discontinues it, despite great customer demand.
-When you try to sell a successful product, but the company suddenly wants you to push something else that is inferior.
-When you try to sell a produce, the company's factory may report that it can't produce anymore because it's making merchandise for another (outsourced) company (which is profitable for the company but not for its own salespeople).
-Poorly designed Window Displays (via directive) that discourages shoppers due to its cheapness, thoughtlessness or appearance.
-Local ads designed by faraway Corporate, which doesn't relate to the local target audience, thus discouraging sales.
-A suddenly-created "Sale", right after a prior "Sale", that worsens the trust between clients and sales associates.
-Mandated prices that make a low-level item from a premiere collection cost more than the best item from a regular collection (even though it's far better).
-The treatment of employees as "harvest workers", dismissed at a whim, furloughed, disregarded because of a high "unemployment rate" (lots of replacements available).
-The hiring of a majority of young inexperienced employees (even at luxury level), due to how little they cost. Thus, no true concern for Customer Experience.
-Being shouted at and harassed by unruly slovenly customers... often because someone at Corporate or (remote) Customer Service has avoided accountability with them... or because bad products or services (beyond your control) got f*cked up for the customer.
-Top sellers in city flagship stores are merely "cashiers", not skilled sales associates. Yet, they get all the credit and rewards.
-So often, store managers are either "darlings" (favored by upper management) who don't "lift a finger", or they are overworked dogs, toiling for 14 days straight and doing the shipping, receiving, restocking, paperwork, staff hiring, training, price tagging, inventory, problem-solving and working all the vacant shifts caused by staff that quit.
-Even if you finally reach your goal--to QUALIFY you to earn a higher percent commission, you might only get 2% of what you sell. That means if you sell $2,000 of merchandise, you only get $40. A waiter might make more than you while serving dinner. A parking valet might make more in an hour. Is that fair?
-In 1951, panelists on the new TV show, "What's My Line" (they guessed people's professions) got $300 per week. In 2016, luxury retail salespeople earn weekly pay of only $500. !!! Look how far (or how little) we've come!
Like a crazed stagecoach driver--whipping the team to go harder, even though the horseshoes are worn out, the wheels are outdated and the reins are broken. Does it make sense to work there?
Then again, part of the issue might be that American retail has sought to hire cheaply-paid young "wannabe professionals" for top ranks. Instead of the venerable experienced team that other companies use (or that Retail used to include)...
...companies now hire young, inexperienced "hipster" kids. These images are of actual people working in Manhattan.
Store Manager
Human Resources Manager
Merchandise Buyer
E-commerce Manager
General Manager of a flagship store
National Visual Director
Northeast District Manager
National Payroll Manager
Retail Management Development Coach
Store Manager
Do you think any of them actually have real experience? Knowledge of the field? A solid resume? Many look like they merely graduated a few years ago, so their resumes cannot be substantial. How could they hold such high-ranking jobs, when they barely finished having their college parties?
Does this guy (below), who's a store manager, look like he can settle a dispute between clients? Or vendors? Or employees?
When you pay for cheap things, you get cheap quality. That's why such employees do poorly at their jobs, and they negatively impact entire districts/regions, while making life hectic, stressful, and miserable for hundreds of retail employees. All of that is easily avoidable, and that is the pivotal point of their sins.
When the spectrum of American retail suffers from all of those handicaps, does it make sense to work for it? How can you strive to make money for your headquarters, while being penalized for so many things that go wrong (which are beyond your control) and which prevent you from achieving your goals?
Please refer to my previous blog entries:
http://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2012/12/0-false-18-pt-18-pt-0-0-false-false.html
http://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2014/06/this-job-sucks-to-put-it-mildly.html
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