MEGATHREAD 2018-2019 Store Modernization Megathread

[Captain Orca]

"writing people up" is a stupid assed dumb shit way of handling things. All it does is alienate employees. Is classless, irritating and a worn out way to handle an issue. Have an intelligent conversation with the person, get feedback, lead by example then back the fuck off and leave them alone. "Don't take it personally, but ....but...but" Really? Shove the paper and pencil up your ass and get lost.

 

[happygoth]

Yikes.

How many times should a leader have to have an "intelligent conversation" with a TM before they drop the hammer? Documentation is necessary. Not everyone is as perfect as you and I, Captain. 😊

 

[Vince]

Store Modernization, the reason I quit.

Okay I've been reading this thread since the beginning as being part of a pilot store that was on top of this since the start. Some background on me, I've worked the 4am flow team shift for seven years. My job was crazy simple before the following two years. Ten years, yeesh. Back then, each day the whole team would get things done together as a group. Completely finished with everything, all the time. Back then it was only 3 trucks a week unless it's December. Which was perfectly fine as a side job, it was real easy to pick up other shifts on other days if I needed it. Everyone was generally content with the job and our troubles were dumb small things.

Fast forward to 2018. Now there's 4-5 trucks a week and I'd work all of them. The beginning of store modernization. The beginning of the end. It was only rolled out to the grocery team. They got the new carts and were told of losing all the teams working in their department. They were in charge of their own signs, pricing, zoning, etc. It didn't work. The a lot of people quit in frustration. Which really shined on how bad this whole idea was, but that didn't stop them from the next step: implementing this across the whole store.

Everyone now does everything and gets new titles. Every team doesn't exist and everyone is expected to have all the things done. Every few weeks the STL would lie that everything is going fine which is why we would get new tasks to be added on top of our existing tasks each week. We could barely keep the shelves filled when randomly being called out for not doing price change or zoning or setting pogs. Because those teams don't exist anymore. This doesn't make us want to help people or even other team members when we're getting chewed out constantly for not getting the whole store operations done constantly. When everyone has this big list of impossible tasks it creates a "me first" culture where everyone is out trying to survive this mess on their own. Despite that, I tried being the one person other people could rely on during spills or backup or when a tm gets stuck on a guest question, etc etc. Because of that I've seen more breakdowns from team members and, hell, even team leads in literal tears over being chewed out "coached" over all these things they can't do.

The lucky people would have team leads who know that the tasks are impossible and ask them to do what they can. While the unlucky people were given team leads who drink the cool aid and imply to each of their TMs that the tasks are all totally possible. Basically repeating the mantra of the STL. Crap like "You just need to work faster", despite me being one of the fastest/efficient tms in the store. While my TL would take constant breaks and watch more than ever really working. On the other hand I could look across my aisle to a different section and watch as a TL for a different department breaking the rules by touching freight and bust their ass to stock like me. It's infuriating, I begged to be switched to a different department just over how crummy my TL was. It's hard to be told to work faster by a TL who follows all the rules blindly and abides by the "point and watch" rules they want them working under. Also when the TL constantly coming to me to explain basic parts of the job. It's also really really hard to respect that type of TL which corporate is trying to create/created.

We were barely getting anything done as is but the worst days were always when the district manager would roll in and destroy everything you were working towards as he points out one of the ten tasks not being done from one of the axed teams. Everyone would stop stocking and start pricing, pog or zoning. While the truck just sits back there. In the backroom until we run out of time and are kicked out having to deal with it the following truck day. Trucks were already rolling over as a new standard without without him doing this. My favorite part was when they would group us all up, then threaten us that we need to do (one of ten tasks previously done by old team) and a variation of "If you can't do these simple things, then this place isn't for you" There was just not enough hours. Ever. Which made things worse because I along a few others were always getting slightly longer shifts to just get the truck mostly done. It still was not enough, it was never enough. The days where you can leave and all the tasks were complete was a dream of a pre-modernization target.

So I quit. Done. Ten years of target to watch this sad pathetic crawl into a nearly non-functional mess. That's just a summary of modernization, there's just too many horror stories about this process. But now I have the best fake smile and fake enthusiasm honed from years of retail though. When I was able to lie to team leads as well as i could to guests. I think that's a neat skill worth having. Helps me ace interviews haha. When they asked what I used to do I can proudly say Retail Survivor.

I’ve never related more to a post and if the bs continues after season I am out as well.

 

[happygoth]

It's pretty clear after seeing everyone's posts, as well as seeing what's happening in my store, that whether one believes Modernization is a success or not depends on two things: one's Leadership and oneself. Specifically, one's work ethic, attitude, and ability to adapt.

Modernization has caused a lot of stress, yes, like any significant change in culture usually does. The key to making it a success is Leadership that adapts quickly and supports, guides and communicates with their teams to help them adapt.

To complain about change and to be thrown off one's game is human, absolutely, but the quicker one gets their mind right and accepts the changes, the better off they will be. Those that continue to dig in their heels and pine for the good old days are also going to continue to be frustrated and angry and not as productive, and let's be honest, ain't no one got time for that. As stressful as being a regular TM can be, it's not as bad as being a leader, believe me.

Now, that does not mean that a leader has to be a dick to get things done or to get their teams to do what they are supposed to do, far from it. But it can be a real balancing act to be a supportive and understanding leader without being a coddling and ineffective one. They don't really have time to hold our hands and stroke our hair and validate our feelings. But a good leader will listen and offer constructive advice on how to best do one's job and will recognize when expectations may need to be modified. Being known as a hardworking TM who does their best goes a LONG way with Leadership when it comes to that. There are TMs who always work hard and if something isn't done or done well, leadership knows it's because it was just impossible due to workload, guests, or other extenuating circumstances. And of course, by contrast, they also know that with other, less reliable TMs, the reason stuff didn't get done is because the TM was too busy chatting, visiting other areas, taking long breaks and just generally being an unproductive TM.

For my store and my area specifically, Modernization, after a bumpy start, is working. Even with the weak links in our team, Style is killing it this season. Sales are strong, trucks are pushed, reshop is well under control, and the floor looks good. Being the perfectionist that I am, I think the floor could look even better, and if the weak links stopped yapping and complaining and did more than the bare minimum to get by, we could really look amazing. But that's not up to me, so I just do what I do and figure that stuff will sort itself out eventually. Leadership knows what the deal is there.

For those with bad Leadership, I truly empathize. A bad SD casts a pall over everything, and bad TLs can make life miserable. And sometimes, people just can't adapt to a new culture, even if they really try, and then what's best for them is to leave and move on to something that is a better fit.

There were good things and bad things about the way Target used to be run, and there are good things and bad things about Modernization. But for many stores, including mine, it's working.

For stores that are struggling, the problem is not Modernization, it's Leadership.

 

[FlowTeamChick]

A bad SD casts a pall over everything, and bad TLs can make life miserable. And sometimes, people just can't adapt to a new culture, even if they really try, and then what's best for them is to leave and move on to something that is a better fit. There were good things and bad things about the way Target used to be run, and there are good things and bad things about Modernization. But for many stores, including mine, it's working.

My store, too. I'm fortunate to be at a store with good leadership, now that a few bad ETL & TL eggs are gone. I think corporate could have done a much better job rolling out modernization; for a while, it seemed like every other week, another major change was being announced. Just as we were getting used to one new way of doing things, another one came along. It seems like we've finally arrived at a place of stability.
Now that I've said that, I hope it doesn't change, again. At least not for a while.

 

[Tessa120]

The bad part of modernization I saw and have heard plenty of after leaving is there's no time to do everything because hours suck. How does good or bad leadership make or break it when hours are dictated above store level? And will your making it work at your stores crash hard when hours are far less generous post-q4?

 

[flow4areasonuno]

The bad part of modernization I saw and have heard plenty of after leaving is there's no time to do everything because hours suck. How does good or bad leadership make or break it when hours are dictated above store level? And will your making it work at your stores crash hard when hours are far less generous post-q4?

I'd bet for sure a lot of things will crash after Q4. They'll probably be desperate to shed hours after overspending for December. But I think it'll depend a lot on what the store's ranked at. It's not ULV and UHV that will suffer, it's those in between.

 

[happygoth]

My scheduled hours still aren't great right now, but of course I'm getting asked to come in early or stay late nearly every day.

I remember last year we were still pretty busy for most of January. Things didn't really die down until the kids went back to college.

Hoping to get a text to come in early isn't the most secure way to make a living though, that's for sure.

 

[Ceeyaaa]

The bad part of modernization I saw and have heard plenty of after leaving is there's no time to do everything because hours suck. How does good or bad leadership make or break it when hours are dictated above store level? And will your making it work at your stores crash hard when hours are far less generous post-q4?

The problem is definitely the hours. The overall idea of modernization is excellent. When one person is in one area all the time they really know their area and are an expert. BUT all can not be done correctly in a four hour shift.
Throwing a bunch of hours at the problem right before a store visit only masks the problem...doesn't solve it.
A GM expert spending two hours out of four on a register doesn't make sense.
I am perfectly happy only working four hours a day but it does stress me out when I cannot finish my work load (every day occurrence).
What is the solution to getting the Target Big Shots to understand it takes more hours? Dear God fix it!!

 

[Area13]

The bad part of modernization I saw and have heard plenty of after leaving is there's no time to do everything because hours suck. How does good or bad leadership make or break it when hours are dictated above store level? And will your making it work at your stores crash hard when hours are far less generous post-q4?

While total number of hours for the entire store are allocated from above the SD allocates those hours into specific departments. A good leader who takes the time to know where to spend that payroll makes an incredible difference. Versus a bad leader who just follows myTime allocations.

Sales are strong right now. January hours may not be as bad as previous years. Also the bigger metric is sales forecast. Corporate doesn’t give extra payroll but will give sales forecasts that are low to allow store to comp up and earn flex versus wasting payroll that doesn’t result in sales.

 

[happygoth]

The bad part of modernization I saw and have heard plenty of after leaving is there's no time to do everything because hours suck. How does good or bad leadership make or break it when hours are dictated above store level? And will your making it work at your stores crash hard when hours are far less generous post-q4?

That was part of the problem a few months ago when we were making the final Modernization transition - they were still scheduling DBOs four hour shifts. The team was stressed and complained to our TL, who in turn complained to the SD. They've been getting 6-7 hour shifts for a couple of months now, and often stay later.

I still feel that I have been lost in the shuffle a bit, but I have been making noise about it. Hours will likely be plentiful until after the New Year - how things shake out after that will be the test. I'm prepared to fight for what I believe I have more than earned. Should be interesting. 😐

 

[FlowTeamChick]

Hours have always been the sticking point, since well before modernization. It bothers me, but I don't get paid enough to worry about it and so I mostly don't. If my area looks like crap and I don't get sales planners done on time? Well, let's look at how many hours I had last week, how big the trucks were, and let me remind store leadership that I wasn't asked to stay past my scheduled out time -- so tell me again how this problem arose? Nope, not my circus, not my monkeys. Yes, I'll complain about how others who don't know my area overstock and don't back stock properly and sometimes stock product in the wrong place entirely and don't spider-wrap product ... but oh well.

 

[Tessa120]

how big the trucks were

You just reminded me of the other big problem with modernization, though one that could be partially solved with more hours. My store was getting over double freight when I left than it had 2 years before, and others on here describe the same. Not only is there no backroom team to keep it orderly and findable, just visually looking at the backroom, it's clear it's stuffed far, far more than it had been a couple of years ago. And that is ridiculous. Not only is there no hours to make things right, there's also the problem of sales floor space and shelf space being a finite size. It's like the building architect and the purchaser never once talked to each other about capacity.

For a lot of stores, modernization is also all screwed up because receiving that much freight that quickly just cannot be managed, even if they did throw enough hours into it, because there's nowhere for it to go. And there's really no obvious reason for it. The DCs need to make space for incoming stuff? Well that's back to the purchaser(s) purchasing way too much stuff. From the amount of stuff everyone is reporting going to salvage, someone needs to put a slowdown on getting the crap to begin with.

 

[FlowTeamChick]

We do a ton of SFS work, especially during Q4, but it's pretty steady all year long. Don't know how it compares to in-store sales, but a lot of what comes in on our trucks gets shopped by SFS TMs, not guests. For that to work well, our back room and sales floor have to have stuff located. Our INF rate is very low compared to the rest of the district, so we must be doing something right along those lines. That stuff about ladder-less back room though? Yeah, that's not happening. We're up and down those ladders all the time because our back room is so full, all the way to the tippy top shelf in some aisles.
Our back room was a huge mess for quite a while until we got it figured out. There are still days when it looks like a tornado went through. And yes, we get stupid stuff from the DC too and think "what? why?" But mostly we keep up fairly well.

 

[FredPanda3]

Store Modernization, the reason I quit.

So I quit. Done. Ten years of target to watch this sad pathetic crawl into a nearly non-functional mess. That's just a summary of modernization, there's just too many horror stories about this process. But now I have the best fake smile and fake enthusiasm honed from years of retail though. When I was able to lie to team leads as well as i could to guests. I think that's a neat skill worth having. Helps me ace interviews haha. When they asked what I used to do I can proudly say Retail Survivor.

I was starting to look back on my four years at target with rose-colored glasses and an ounce of nostalgia (mostly the pre-modernization days), but this whipped me back into shape real quick. I'm just remembering dealing with a verbally abusive manager and an impossible list of tasks, not to mention constantly working my ass off and constantly being told it was never good enough.

 

[Black Sheep 214]

I was starting to look back on my four years at target with rose-colored glasses and an ounce of nostalgia (mostly the pre-modernization days), but this whipped me back into shape real quick. I'm just remembering dealing with a verbally abusive manager and an impossible list of tasks, not to mention constantly working my ass off and constantly being told it was never good enough.

Ditto. Spot has some of the worst “leaders” on earth and sometimes it seems like they want these abusive asshats because they think they drive sales, drive productivity, drive, drive, drive. Too bad all they drive is morale into the toilet and hardworking, dependable, experienced TMs/TLs out the door to work for the competition.

 

[Planosss]

"writing people up" is a stupid assed dumb shit way of handling things. All it does is alienate employees. Is classless, irritating and a worn out way to handle an issue. Have an intelligent conversation with the person, get feedback, lead by example then back the fuck off and leave them alone. "Don't take it personally, but ....but...but" Really? Shove the paper and pencil up your ass and get lost.

You will fucking get written up, for having a fucking attitude like that.

 

[Proficient]

My store actually had an hour gap in 12/17 schedule today for Fulfillment with no coverage.

 

[flow4areasonuno]

My store actually had an hour gap in 12/17 schedule today for Fulfillment with no coverage.

Did they cover it, or was it disaster incarnate?

 

[vendordontmesswithme]

Just when I thought unload and freight will be back on track Modernization bites us in the butt. "Ok salesfloor and dno are pulled from their depths to work pulls, backstock and truck for toys and seasonal. Mean while their freight is not going out, transitions and pallets of freight is building up.
Uboats and flats are full nothing is empty for the unload.

 

[Targetedbullseye]

Almost a new year and though some of us are hanging in there, I think the vote at the top of the page sez it all about modernization. Let's see what spot will(ruin) change in 2020 .

 

[Jawwaad121]

Target is named Financial company of the year by Yahoo. Brian Cornell is named CEO of the year by CNN. Target’s stock almost doubles. Modernization is going to be a big factor to many for this success so be prepared for more duties to be added to this modernization plan in the coming year. Raising the wage to $14 an hour first then eventually $15 by the end of the years will just add responsibilities to all.

 

[flow4areasonuno]

Target is named Financial company of the year by Yahoo. Brian Cornell is named CEO of the year by CNN. Target’s stock almost doubles. Modernization is going to be a big factor to many for this success so be prepared for more duties to be added to this modernization plan in the coming year. Raising the wage to $14 an hour first then eventually $15 by the end of the years will just add responsibilities to all.

Be prepared for much more turnover.

Very exciting times. The best.

/s

 

[Captain Orca]

They will push you to the point of injury, exhaustion and stress. Not good for your health. Go to TSC, get a voluntary termination paper, fill it out, be brief, turn it in and say NOTHING. Finish out your 2 wks, punch out, slap your name tag on the desk and leave. Say nothing. Nobody gives a flying fuck about your health and sanity, get something else, plenty out there.

 

[Tessa120]

They will push you to the point of injury, exhaustion and stress. Not good for your health. Go to TSC, get a voluntary termination paper, fill it out, be brief, turn it in and say NOTHING. Finish out your 2 wks, punch out, slap your name tag on the desk and leave. Say nothing. Nobody gives a flying fuck about your health and sanity, get something else, plenty out there.

They don't use paper anymore. You have to resign via computer.