An asst mgr once told me that the store mgrs are SUPPOSED to reduce their payroll costs, every year.

From what mgmt at my store has said lately, I think this is still true.

If you have the same # of assoc's, and just give them a yearly increase, the payroll will go up.

So, every year a person stays, they're costing more money to employ; and the payroll has to go down.  I guess at some point, everyone should be working for free, or else the store mgr gets fired.

I think part of the equation is that if the sales are up, you're allowed more payroll.  Thank goodness for sales, or we'd all be unemployed!

 

Mad

From: mad martian forever

Sent: 7/17/2008 8:43 PM

Learning--I feel for you!  I can only hope yours is not as bad as our last one.  Of the 3 I've been through, it was by far, the worst.  I was embarrassed by how inept they were. Our next one will be in 2012, I think.  I prefer not to think about that too hard.   Mad it started out good,but now it is a mess.They don't know where anything is and they are redoing over and over.Nothing is completed. They start one area and then move on leaving a mess behind.

Isn't that the Walmart way???

anyone out there in a store where they are using a "scorecard"??? we started that at the store i am in and it really stinks. you never know what kind of hours you will get...no more same time schedules. i used to work midshift, now its 7-3,11-8,6:30-midnight,11-5 or whatever else they think they can torture us with. i guess WM assumes we don't have lives or families and therefore can work any crappy shift they give us. supposedly, home office is generating our schedules and they schedule based on hours but someone OBVIOUSLY doesn't know that you don't need 2 people working in the morning on the weekends and only one closer. what gets me is, i think the full time longer emplooyed associates should be given the morning hours and the part timers should get the closing hours so we can give the closers a short break from the mess the customers create in the evening. my asst. manager in apparel wants to hire a part time person to work 7-3 even tho i have voiced to her many many times that i would appreciate those hours as often as i could get them. i don't enjoy working so many varied hours and the crying kids, the non-parent supervised kids of all ages are really starting to wear me down. Where is the discipline these kids need??? i am not a babysitter nor am i the disciplinarian for these rotten kids. my child doesn't act like a heathen when we go out and i don't think other people should allow their children to act as such. if mine did act up, i left the store and took him home and put him to bed and the next time i went shopping....guess what??....HE DIDN'T GET TO GO ALONG!!!!!!!! i truely do wish there was another place for me to work, like Target,Mervyns, Kohls......but WM is the biggest thing this city has going for it. Until i move i am stuck.

But Walmart Slave you gotta think it is probably just as bad in any other retail job.  We have to be available for our customers.  I work in the photo lab and our assistant has to key in our schedule.  The computer schedules us really funny.  I get all 3pm to midnight.  The photo lab closes at 9pm.  One full timer we have does not have any hours at all.  Some mornings it does not have anyone in the lab until 10am or noon.  The photo lab opens at 9am.  If you want set hours then you need to leave retail and get an office job.  At Target or Mervyns the store still closes at 9 or 10pm you still don't get out untill midnight.   I do have a family and I can make arrangements when I need to be off early for childrens events.  I have been with Walmart for 13 years.

I have found that it's really easy to get a job in retail (compared to other types of jobs), but for me, it's been hard to find another kind of job.  After 16 years, it would be hard to find a job where I could make this much money--so for now--here I am at W*M.

That said, I often wonder if the company is trying to weed out the folks who want to have lives (families, hobbies, religion) or who have others who depend on them for care (family members of any age, friends, etc).  If we didn't have those obligations, then we wouldn't care as much if we got irregular hours.  If we lived to work, we'd be happy with almost anything.

I wish there was something I could say, that would make it better.  When I get really ticked off at work, I remind myself to be grateful that  I have a job.  It's what keeps me from having to live on the street.

 

Mad

 

That seems to be the way it is, you can have a family or you can work at Walmart.  I am very lucky to be in the area I am.  My manager can give me days off when I need them for doctors appointments or anything I need.  When we put our days in the computer and they are approved by our assistant the days don't get blocked out in the office so when that week comes up to be scheduled it is not indicating that you are unavailable for that day.  He puts it in later so you get paid for your vacation or personal day.  Management threatens people with not getting 40 hours if you need  to have a specific day off but I see people with limited availability getting 40 hours all the time. 

40 hours???  Some of you are still getting them?  The only people that seem to be getting their full 40 are dept. managers...including the inept ones!  The rest of us have been cut at least 6 hours a week for the last 6 weeks...and it is our busiest time of the year!  ...and THEY can't understand why things aren't getting done! Go figure...LS

I would not start to worry about layoffs if your department is meeting or exceeding sales goals. I work in grocery and our sales have gone up as of last friday meeting with co-manager

I do not live to make the customers life easier. I had a life before WM and I don't think anyone appreciates the effort being expended by the associates. We never hear good feedback only negative, its always someone doing something wrong never anyone doing an outstanding job and making sure their dept. is neat and clean. We have been told that WM policy now is that NO one will be getting an exceeds/outstanding on their eval. only "meets". Well, when you have had  great evals for  your entire WM "career" then getting a meets is a direct slap in the face. How would you feel if you got exceeds for 10 years and then all of sudden you get slammed with meets???? Meets on everything, your customer service, your dress, your hygiene???? It really made me mad when my hygiene was a meets, what the heck did I do?? Quit taking a shower? Quit washing my hair or brushing my teeth?? The AM told more than one associate they got meets on the dress code cuz they don't wear a pantsuit and heels!  Now ,if you can show me in the dress code policy where it says you have to wear a pantsuit and heels to put up returns and clean up after unappreciative customers I would love to see it. I do have a family and I don't appreciate the fact that WM seems to think that your family doesn't matter. Our store manager turned down a LOA request for an associate who was told his infant son only had 2 weeks to live. They coached him for missing too much work when his son was going to San Antonio (a 3 hour drive on a good day, and thats one way) for his chemo. Another associate was told no LOA when she was told her 4 year old son was dying of brain cancer, what kind of cruel, heartless woman ( our store manager) doesn't allow a parent to be with their dying kid???? Sometimes too much power goes to a persons head and their heart flies out the window. What are we supposed to do when things like this happen??? Who do we turn to for help and support??? Then you hear about people who get a 6 month LOA because they have to go to jail for smacking a cop during a druken night out, or and associate who has to take a LOA every time there is a holiday because something else has happened to her mother. Amazing how when there is a lot of work to be done her mother gets ill yet again. This associate is supposedly on her last leg with WM cuz she has missed too many days, but here we go again with the LOA. I think its her 4th or 5th LOA this year.

Anyhow, as for moving on from retail.........I enjoy working, have done it since I was 13 and I have been working for 41 years now, if you had ever been to Del Rio you would know that if you aren't bilingual your options are limited. WM is the biggest thing going for this city.

Yeah, it is frustrating to see how differently mgmt treats different assoc's.  To keep from going crazy, I focus on feeling good about the job I'm doing, and try to avoid thinking about how unfair things are sometimes.   I know that mgmt uses infractions to get rid of people that they want to get rid of; not to make sure that everyone toes the line.

So, my job is to minimize the infractions.  I am 20 cents away from being capped.  I have 3 weeks of vacation, and I want to stay employed.

 

Mad

I thought there was a federal law-Family Medical Leave Act?- they gotta give leave for immediate family as lon as you supply documentation-the don't have to pay you tho' unless you have personal time coming.

Welcome to the site, lojiboo!

Yes, they do have to give you an LOA, if it quailifies as one.  Unfortunately, like everything else when you're dealing with humans, it all depends on who you talk to, as to whether your leave is granted.

I was working PT at W*M one year, and asked for a 2 month leave, because I had another job, and it was Christmas time.  They told me to quit.  Seven months later, they asked me to come back, full time, with a raise over what I was making at the other store.

Go figure.

 

Mad