My Two Cents On The Best BuyThing:

Today was a big announcement day for Best Buy employees in general, as this past Tuesday and Thursday were huge, and for some life altering announcement days for others. Breaking it down, the current operating model has provided for way too many chiefs, and not enough indians, leaving the chiefs doing indian jobs for chief pay.

Example:

Rebekah was the sales supervisor for the Digital Imaging, Wireless, and Car Electronics departments in the Avon Best Buy store. On paper, this position was in charge of two to three full time employees, and about eight to ten part time employees. Rebekah was one of four sales supervisors within the store, and there were even five more supervisors within the store, who were paid at an hourly rate, usually equaling minimally about 30k per supervisor, per year (after bonuses and all that jazz). In addition to the plethora of supervisors in the mix, there were also five salary managers.

Problem:

As costs and prices of high ticket items lead to margin dropping, mixed in with the oh so excellent economy, this operating model was not allowing stores to adequately staff departments, therefore not allowing business to grow. As business didn't grow, labor was cut. Supervisors turned in to overpaid sales associates, eating up all of the labor budgets. Managers found themselves in the role of sales associates on many occasions. Instead of being paid to lead, teach, train, analyze and plan, store leadership had defaulted into the same roles that the company could pay sales associates $8-$10 to do, in addition to the roles that they had anyway. Rebekah even found herself to be an overpaid camera sales associate, eating up the given labor budget for all of that department and 1/3 of the Car Electronics department every week.

The Solution:

The company empowered a group of General Managers from various stores across the country to come up with a fix for this. This new plan was to cut the amount of leadership, to allow for more sales people on the floor, thus allowing the leadership to be in an actual position of leadership, instead of just thrown into the mix of those in the sales role. Other departments were affected as well. Positions were eliminated. Of the sales supervisors that were eliminated, there is an already ongoing selection process to fairly determine who will get the newly created supervision spots, that has to do strictly with performance, and evaluation ratings. They're not just making this one a free for all, that everyone can apply for, and only favorites win. In the sales departments, those left without a chair when the music stops still get to keep a full time sales position, with nine months of their current pay before they have to take a pay cut. Others who have lost their position altogether, with no new position eligibility, will be offered severance packages. Other full time and part time employees are not affected by this one. We still get to keep our jobs. Larger stores are going through some departmental structure changes, but these cuts were not really aimed at regular, non-leadership employees.

This is HUGE. It is not sugar coated. It is blunt, to the point, and drastic. The information was passed down from the powers that be in the corporate office to our district staff this past Tuesday. General managers got to break the news to their employees on Thursday. Everyone else was told today.

My reaction:
As a business model, I think this makes sense. A huge part of why I left my sales supervisor position back in march of last year was because I thought it was a joke, and I knew it would eventually be eliminated. I am glad that General Managers who are out working in the trenches every day were asked to actively participate in the planning of this one, and not just some overpaid financial analysts who read numbers, charts and eat expensive lunches, and really have no clue what actually goes on in a store.

On the personal level, I really feel for the supervisors who are losing jobs because of this. Some people have worked for years to get to where they were, and have built their lives, and families lives around these positions that they are going to be losing. To those people, I wish you the best. The new business model does allow for more supervisor positions as the sore revenue increases, so I really hope that many of them can get their jobs back as the economy rebounds and new positions arise.

I hope that those who have not been eliminated permanently can at least hold an appreciation that they are able to still keep a full time position, and the option for benefits. Sometime around November 16th of this past year, I had to sit through a meeting letting me know that my position with the company had been eliminated. The company was doing me the "favor" of not letting me go completely, and it was up to me to find a job back in a store in an ASAP manner. The company had a hiring freeze going on, the holidays were in full swing, and a few other positions had been cut as well. Needless to say, nothing full time was available, and anything that might have opened was filled by the store at which it was open at. Being at the district level, and no longer in a store, I became invisible. Though I consider myself very lucky that Mike took me in to Sandusky, and I didn't just get thrown into a part time position in a store where I wouldn't be appreciated, I am struggling with not having a full time job. I have been actively searching the company's job opening site for six months now. Even though it will still be a huge hit for some, I hope that they can learn to appreciate it until something better does open up.

Even though I am in the place I am right now, I am very glad I didn't just decide to stick it out with my sales supervisor job. I am very fortunate to be where I am in life, and to be looking at having a job in healthcare within the next six months. I am so glad that I did not personally have to dodge a bullet on this one. My thoughts are with those who were and will be truely hit by this one, and their families. I really hope that things will work out for the best for all of you.