We are extremely short staffed in my department so I get 25-35 hrs a week but in some other departments there are people getting scheduled as little as 8hours a week two 4hr shifts on the weekend... we just hired more team members in my department and I am very worried my hours will be cut drastically. This is my only job and it would be very hard to get another because of where I live. It would be one thing if there was adequate time to do things, but people are having to do 8hours worth of work in 4 hours. This is not efficient because they aren’t actually accomplishing the tasks in half the time. People are stressed so they cut corners, they aren’t as thorough, they leave things for the next shift, they end up doing 4hours of shitty work that someone else has to spend time fixing. Target needs to learn that happy well taken care of workers are far more productive than stressed angry workers.
MEGATHREAD 2018-2019 Store Modernization Megathread
- Thread starter thistle
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Also none of this modernization stuff has been explained to me or the rest of my team mates. All we know is that the front of house people are guest advocates that add an unnecessary step to the help process making guests more angry and that we have a whole other clipboard of duties that were not explained so we don’t know what half of them are.
My store is just getting around to training people on answering the phones. Still nothing on labels or pricing. I've managed to stay caught up, but I'm never going to get my area in tip top shape if they keep pulling me to push another department because they only scheduled that DBO for one day this week. It's like they want us to fail.
They skipped the whole phone answering here. I still hear some DBOs and inbound TMS say .... I don't answer phones or ring on the register.
PackAndCry
Furniture, Call Button One
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I've heard a rumor that, if you scan an item in Audit, you get sent more, whether you research it to zero or not. So... that's not encouraging.
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Personally I don't mind register work as long as I'm not there all day. As for phones? No. I am not answering phones. This is not a call center. I can barely do my work while helping people actually in the store--and I'm constantly getting grilled about getting all my work done. Phone people inevitably take way longer, too...
On another note...I was told today that we need to be doing our reshop. As in, not only zoning and doing reshop found in our own department while we zone...but also periodically make trips to customer service, drop off reshop we've found that doesn't belong to our department. Then we need to pick up reshop from THERE that does belong to us, and push that.
Oh, and audit. I've been told it's easy, but I've not been shown how.
And doing our own pulls, on top of all that.
For the astute, that's push, pull, backstock, get rid of your garbage, use the cardboard baler, reshop, help floor guests, phones, help phone guests, backup cashiering, auditing, zoning...
This isn't even touching the supposed pog/pricing. I haven't been taught that yet either.
How am I meant to get all this done in a 5-6 hour shift, AND make sure multiple Uboats' worth of product is pushed? I already get hassled about not finishing, and I know it's only going to get worse.
Ugh.
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Our routine is to get reshop after our huddle when our shift starts. What a group of us have been doing is setting up a 3 tier or an abandoned cart between decorative home, bedding, toys, and sporting goods and we all add reshop for other departments found in our zones. One of us deposits that cart at guest services when we leave, usually the last one scheduled. That way we aren't running back and forth, especially since we aren't right by the registers. I will say there is more of a teamwork vibe developing at my store, whether it's from the goodness of our hearts or a mutual disgust with Target. The early crew willingly hands over zebras when our group starts so we can do our autofills and tasks. Then we give them back while we push and zone. Then we get them back when they leave so we can audit, do exf, price change, etc... I have found that I can usually get all my price change done on Saturdays as long as the front end isn't having a buttload of callouts.
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There's no such thing here. Nothing's handed over--it's a free-for-all, you're on your own here. With as many people as have quit, everyone's pretty nervous.
It would be nice to have things the way you seem to.
It's taken about a month to get to that point. I rarely interacted with backroom, flow, or inbound TMs with my previous job, but now we are all getting to know each other and starting to work together as a group.
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Exactly! And I’m not sure if you do or not but I also work the truck unload as well which takes roughly 2 hours. So I’m expected to Unload, pull auto fill, push auto fill and truck freight, zone, help guest, do abandons/reshop, answer phones, help at the register, help OPU’s, backstock, audit, price change, signing, trash and defects... bruh... I honestly don’t think LeBron James on 6 bumps of coke and 2 Red Bull’s with an extra set of hands can do all of that in 6-8 hours...
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[QUOTE="flow4areasonuno, post: 527316, member:/]
On another note...I was told today that we need to be doing our reshop. As in, not only zoning and doing reshop found in our own department while we zone...but also periodically make trips to customer service, drop off reshop we've found that doesn't belong to our department. Then we need to pick up reshop from THERE that does belong to us, and push that.[/QUOTE]
This isn’t new? It’s always been like that at my store, even before modernization.
On another note...I was told today that we need to be doing our reshop. As in, not only zoning and doing reshop found in our own department while we zone...but also periodically make trips to customer service, drop off reshop we've found that doesn't belong to our department. Then we need to pick up reshop from THERE that does belong to us, and push that.[/QUOTE]
This isn’t new? It’s always been like that at my store, even before modernization.
REDcardJJ
Team Leader
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you are actively making more work for other team members, especially Guest Services, by not answering the phone
happygoth
reshop till I drop
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If everyone in a department that has an assigned phone line in the new app (please let this be true) was logged on and answered the phone, the system would work much, much more efficiently. Presumably, you would be the one to have to pick up a call if your department was paged from Guest Services or Softlines, or whomever else is answering the phone, so if you answer the phone when it rings, you are just cutting out the middleman. And then maybe I wouldn't have to page people two-three times to get them to pick up a call in their area, which is even MORE annoying and disruptive than answering the phone itself.
I just don't get how people think it makes sense to have one department answer the phones for everyone, especially when the vast majority of calls are for other areas or people. Softlines gets the least amount of calls. I completely agree that making one area, be that Softlines, Guest Services, Electronics, Beauty, Market, etc, answer all calls coming into the store is not fair. If what I read on here is truly coming down the pike, then every TM should be logged into their area's phone app, and they should be answering their zebra when it rings, PERIOD. I have as much work in Softlines (if not more) as any other department.
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Don’t forget revisions!
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Does anyone have the "new and improved" checkout register software yet, or is it being tested and fine-tuned to minimize computer "bugs"?
EXF = old OUTs = fills the floor from the backroom
Audit = old Research = orders product from the DC, updates counts/OHs to account for mispicks, stolen items, items not *actually* OH
SFQ = # of units on the salesfloor of a specific product
Capacity = # of units that fit in the designated shelf space
Correct?
Rock Lobster
Executive Team Leader
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Yeah, I am getting pretty fed up by the crazy direction each year. Its not that the idea is inherently bad, but that I'm tired of going through the cycle. We get told that we are to focus on zone/presentation/service before freight or operations... great, and then we hit BTS, all the stores fall behind and we have a huge emergency with stores asking for support help across districts and groups. Then, we get told to do everything we can to stay afloat and end up going back to working on freight mostly. Once we recover we are told to not talk about how bad that was and that the upper leaders learned their lesson. We then go back to the beginning of the cycle.
How many times does the company level leadership for stores have to make the same mistakes before someone gets fired huh? The last thing people at the stores have time to focus on is zone or service, and with the resources we have if we do start to focus on those things then something has got to give.... and it will be the trucks/replenishment yet again as we ignore our mistakes.
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So is Guest Services going to do my work when I answer the phone calls? My ass is grass if I don't get at least most of my work done and we get a LOT of calls
Antennae
Retired, binch
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As long as $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ is ok then you're ok!
REDcardJJ
Team Leader
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answering the phone is part of your job. the Target Phone app isn't there for show. it's a tool that enables you to do your job, helping guests over the phone. when we notice that a specific person isn't answering the phone, we make them the sole operator for an hour or two until they learn their lesson. if it still continues after that, it's a coaching. you're not providing a great guest experience by making them wait on the phone and you're interfering with my front of store business by taking my advocate away from a guest to answer the operator phone.
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When EVERYTHING is a coaching, though, when does that lose it's power?
If someone is going to get coached because they were helping a guest, phone or otherwise, and didn't finish their task work and then gets coached for finishing their task work but ignoring that guest... how long before that person just says 'fuck it'?
If Target TRULY cared about "great guest experience" and that wasn't just a stupid phrase they tack onto front of store TMs and sell to the shareholders... wouldn't they have a process in place that SUPPORTS guest service instead of finding every possible way to promote ignoring guests to be the best way forward?
What I know is, what *doesn't* deliver "great guest experience" is TMs who are in constant fear of being coached for unrealistic expectations, usually by a leader somewhere that doesn't understand what they're going through because Spot decided to segregate the departments and ownerships of the store to a degree unseen in likely the history of the company.
SurefireWolf
Team Member
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Exactly this. And what happens if you're talking to a guest while the phone goes off? Especially in electronics, which gets the most phone calls and spends the most time talking to guests? One time I had to cover electronics while they were on the phone for over 20 minutes. Target's expectations are beyond unreasonable recently, although some of it is just certain TLs in my store. Backroom is expected to clear the gun for the 1s and 3s by 2 and 4 o'clock, respectively. That means all fillgroups, OOS'es, and pogs. Pogs are particularly unfair because lazy TMs will drop a batch knowing they don't have to pull it, but then the BR person gets blamed. Market is pretty good at picking theirs, but whoever is in domestics never pulls theirs.
And while I'm on the topic of unreasonable expectations, in ~14 months SFS has gone through 6 people (not counting seasonals), and it looks like one of the current ones is about to either leave or get moved to another area soon as well. I have a couple of previous posts about SFS in my store and don't want to repeat myself. Who would want a position with such a high turnover? There's a reason that every flex TM since before last Thanksgiving has been an outside hire despite the position being posted by the time clock.
This whole "modernization" thing feels like we have to do twice the amount of work in half the amount of time. The veterans can handle it, but I feel horrible for the new ones. One time it was 2 TMs' second day on the job. The STL told me to show them how to set pogs (just endcaps that day), pull the batches, backstock, and research, in addition to showing them how to read floor locations on the myDevice. In a 4 hour shift. That is simply too much to pack into such a short time frame. And best of all, they were going to spend a couple of weeks at another Target after that and would likely get no training there. (The store in question has a very hard time retaining workers, and relies on other stores sending help. It is about 150 miles away, which shows how desperate they are, but that's not the point.
We are being made to constantly be on edge, where everything we do is on such a strict timer that even helping a guest for a couple of minutes will likely make us miss our goal times. If this keeps up, we'll soon have stores where most if not all of the regular employees have been there less than a year, and soon after that Target will be going the way of K-Mart and Sears unless something changes.
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This. I figure they're going to sack me anyway, I might as well do what I'm best at. I'm good with the guests...problem is, that means I don't get my work done. I'm better at shoving the boxes, but whatever.
I do not do well on the phone. I avoid making phone calls outside of work because I simply don't do well speaking to people I can't see.
Not to mention, I haven't been trained on using the phone app. I'm not going to push to learn, either. Why would I sign up to do something I know I'd be horrid at?
This. I mean, I could get my work done if I completely ignored and avoided guests, but I can't do that, because then I'd get talked to about not giving a good guest experience.
I'm past the point of being afraid of it. I mean, I don't WANT to be coached, nobody wants to be coached--but I DO wonder what I'll get coached for first. Not doing all my work, or ignoring guests?
Six one, half dozen the other
They stopped writing goal times on the Uboat labels real quick, I noticed. 30 minutes for a boat with lots of boxes and that goes to a busy area? Haha yeah, keep dreaming, Target.
