Archived Being told to "Work faster"

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SnowWhiteOfAnA

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Okay. So I've been with Spot for about 4 years now. Started on truck and now I'm softlines.

When I first started, I was told that I wasn't moving quickly enough, but once I got used to my job and felt more comfortable with what I was doing, I was fine. I got a good review my first year. I was fine for a while, despite being in shoes. People realized that shoes was crazy, and we didn’t have a salesfloor person there, just me.

Then my Flow TL left and my current STL became STL right before reviews were given. My last two reviews were bad and the common denominator is the STL. After my last crappy review, my SFTL even told me not to worry about it too much because she had worked with me a few days before and saw how hard I worked.

But she is now constantly telling me that I need to work faster, specifically since the base pay went up to $12. I've told her multiple times that I always work my hardest, like I've always done, but it never seems to be enough. She calls some of us out over walkie about it.

Is she just trying to encourage us? Or is this something I need to address with her? Because if I'm already giving 100%, what exactly am I supposed to do to "work faster?" She fell today, and I certainly won't risk my safety to make Spot happy. And if she thinks $12/hr=superhuman powers, she'll need to find me a radioactive spider because I haven't suddenly grown extra limbs.

Sorry for the rant, I guess I just need advice.
 
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Kartman said:
I love it when they work "real quick" into the demand.

"Can we get a real quick pick-up in ladies?"

And who the hell is "we?" You coming to help???
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I agree . This is how I got respect from my team . Every time I told my etl log what got done . I always said so and so did this and so and so did that while I was doing this. They even said to me how they appreciate hearing me giving them the credit while other leads says “ I or we” while the person in charge never did shit
 
Sometimes they just don’t understand that they’re not going to get a speedy zone every night. Sometimes it’s quiet and you can just buzz through it in no time. Sometimes you get a rush of guests that occupy a lot of your time. Other times you have parts of your zone destroyed that you worked so hard on. Team leaders can be inconsiderate sometimes.
 
Have you tried "working with a sense of urgency"? It's super effective! Pretend like a bomb is gonna explode if all the push, backstock, reshop, and zone isn't done by the end of shift. For added motivation you can research online how to make... *gets taken off in handcuffs*
 
Frontlanegirl said:
So tired of hearing we have raised the minimum starting pay and now you should be working harder because of it. How about that you have been paying us too little and this is what you should be paying us.
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Your leaders should never be saying something like this to you. It’s disrespectful and ultimately counter productive. I’m sorry.

However, working at Target is a non skilled job. It’s true that there is beyond a ton of information to memorize to be particularly effective. I was a team member, specialist, team leader, senior team leader and exec before I called it quits... 10.5 years in. I learned a lot about how Target works but... it’s a non skilled job.

Given that it is a non skilled job, Target’s publicly held social justice values are going to hurt itself, all of its employees, and the guests.

$15 an hour is too much money for an unskilled job. And while Target pretends to be socially justice driven, at the end of the day, it is a publicly traded company with major shareholders that ONLY care about profitability.

You think employees are just going to get massive raises without consequence and that those shareholders are just going to take that on the chin? Please, anyone who thinks this, grow up.

There are only a few ways this plays out. Target cuts hours to meet previous overall payroll expenses which means... the workers that remain have to work that much harder with fewer coworkers.

Or... store brand suffers which deteriorates sales even further which causes payroll cuts regardless.

Or... Target just starts closing locations they deem to be not meeting enough profitability levels.

Summary... your leader sounds like a jackass that doesn’t know how to lead, but at the end of the day, with wages going up, expectations are going to rise and if they don’t you’ll all end up unemployed.

Edit: I suppose I should also add that expectations rise over time regardless because of corporate greed, but this type of thing really has an exponential effect on hastening that process.
 
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Not My Name said:
Your leaders should never be saying something like this to you. It’s disrespectful and ultimately counter productive. I’m sorry.

However, working at Target is a non skilled job. It’s true that there is beyond a ton of information to memorize to be particularly effective. I was a team member, specialist, team leader, senior team leader and exec before I called it quits... 10.5 years in. I learned a lot about how Target works but... it’s a non skilled job.

Given that it is a non skilled job, Target’s publicly held social justice values are going to hurt itself, all of its employees, and the guests.

$15 an hour is too much money for an unskilled job. And while Target pretends to be socially justice driven, at the end of the day, it is a publicly traded company with major shareholders that ONLY care about profitability.

You think employees are just going to get massive raises without consequence and that those shareholders are just going to take that on the chin? Please, anyone who thinks this, grow up.

There are only a few ways this plays out. Target cuts hours to meet previous overall payroll expenses which means... the workers that remain have to work that much harder with fewer coworkers.

Or... store brand suffers which deteriorates sales even further which causes payroll cuts regardless.

Or... Target just starts closing locations they deem to be not meeting enough profitability levels.

Summary... your leader sounds like a jackass that doesn’t know how to lead, but at the end of the day, with wages going up, expectations are going to rise and if they don’t you’ll all end up unemployed.

Edit: I suppose I should also add that expectations rise over time regardless because of corporate greed, but this type of thing really has an exponential effect on hastening that process.
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Okay...I wouldn't say it's a non-skilled job.

Maybe in technical job search terms, sure. It certainly doesn't require advanced education. Like, my sister isn't in high school yet, and she could be an ETL. Honestly, I've told her stories about my leadership and she can't believe these idiots aren't her age.

But it certainly takes skills. Maybe not certified skills, but quantifiable, professional skills: time management, organizational skills, interpersonal communication, technological skills, etc. But it doesn't matter how much they pay us, human beings aren't perfect, we're only capable of doing so many things at once.

I would honestly, being modest, say I've been doing $13/hr work since I was hired in at $8/hr. At least. I always work to the best of my ability. I don't know how to do less. And the amount that they expect one person to do now, with such little training and resources, $12 truly isn't enough. But I don't even want the $12. I was almost to $11 before they bumped everyone else there. And I was getting decent hours. But now I'm not.

Everyone in my town is always complaining about making minimum wage here, which is about $9/hr. But I always ask them, how many hours a week do you average? They usually answer 30-40. I then share with them that I make $12.50/hr, but they make, on average, $3,300 more than me a year, and I don't get benefits. I would have rather they lowered the requirements for benefits.

I wouldn't say this particular leader is bad. My STL is COMPLETELY AWFUL. My ETLs are good people, but incompetent. My SrTLs (which includes this TL) are all vets that are being pressuredby their idiot higher-ups to get better results than what they're capable, just like us TMs. I can definitely tell she's really stressed out, I'm just not sure whether I should ignore this, address this with her now, wait until review time, or talk to HR/other leadership about it.
 
Frontlanegirl said:
So tired of hearing we have raised the minimum starting pay and now you should be working harder because of it. How about that you have been paying us too little and this is what you should be paying us.
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I wanted to say that, lol, but I also want to keep my job (for some reason...)
 
allnew2 said:
I agree . This is how I got respect from my team . Every time I told my etl log what got done . I always said so and so did this and so and so did that while I was doing this. They even said to me how they appreciate hearing me giving them the credit while other leads says “ I or we” while the person in charge never did shit
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That's why I take time after my shift (when I'm able) to write a bunch of recognition cards.
 
My store has high expectations to do a workload of 5 people when TMs are often scheduled alone or with one other TM. The base pay has increased from $12.75 to $13.25 over a year since I worked here. Because of that, they are always asking more out of us when a lot of us are giving our 110% that many of our hardworking veteran TMs and TLs have resigned or are in the processing of resigning.

@SnowWhiteOfAnA If this issue is bothering you more than you would expect, and you would to resolve it sooner than later, I would say bringing it up would be a good idea.

If you’re comfortable with talking about issues overall with your TL, addressing this to her and seeing what can be accomodated is a possibility.

If not, you can try talking to anyone in the HR department or other leaderships you’re close with and see if you can find accomodations from their guidances.
 
Ringwraith917 said:
This has been my constant internal struggle since I started. Working quickly vs. doing a good job. Some leads want it quucker, some want it better. Do a worse job, but do it faster.
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This is my issue too. I am a perfectionist. It takes me forever to finish something because I want it done perfectly. A long time ago someone told me “No one will ever remember or may never know how LONG it took you to do something, BUT, they will know/remember/share if you did it WELL or NOT.” I’m not convinced that this does NOT apply to most of the work that is done at Target. Really, work one shift in Playground, work for perfection and look at it the next day - RUINED, like you had never been there! Was probably a waste of time. You could have put out one flat perfect, or two flats thrown in there. The difference the next day: would have looked the same but more product would have been out to sell. I can’t say That I personally am able to leave a mess - at huddle yesterday I pushed 3 boxes and zoned 3 end caps while a few others were able to push 3 flats in that time. My 3 end caps didn’t look nice for long but all that other merchandise was out of the backroom and on the shelves - a win/win.
So.....get clarification: what exactly are they asking for ? Ask in ADVANCE what the expectation is ? A perfect zone ? All the clearance organized ? The trash collected ? The re-shop collected ? 3 pallets pushed ? WHAT SPECIFICALLY would be outstanding work for my shift ?
If they want more push done - then by golly, empty those boxes and get the stuff out, maybe not with a perfect zone.
Remember too that Speed is achieved by Working EFFICIENTLY, not necessarily faster or harder. Push fast and maybe quick zone after.
There are many ways of getting more done in a timeframe than going ‘faster’. The TL May simply have a limited vocabulary, they may not mean ‘faster’, they might just be looking for more productivity in a shift. You can work really hard now but shave time killers and become more productive without working any ‘harder’.
Make note of Time killers :
STEPS-How much walking back and forth do you do? Eliminate steps and you’ll get faster. Keep you work closer to you. I watch our girl for shoes bring pallets out and
bring pallets back to the backroom all day. She must walk 10 miles a day. It should be = bring, empty, get another.
But she seems to bring out and bring back, a lot. How is that an efficient use of time ? Time used and Nothing changed.
TRASH-The more times you move a box the more time wasted. Empty, flatten, be done with it. I have watched people spend a lot of time picking
up and moving their trash over and over. Get a system, work neatly. Messes take time to clean later.
CELL PHONES-Do you use your phone? Check the time ? Lisen to music? Work is slowed when you take time to look at, answer, decline, change tracks.....I see a lot
of time wasted with cell phones - try leaving it in a locker
RE-SHOP - simply gather. It may be the nice thing to do to walk to men’s/electronics/bullseye..etc. with found reshop but you are loosing productivity in YOUR area.
OTHER TM-don’t get distracted by stories, gossip. Even ‘work related’ talk can be a time killer if not productive.
An 8 hour shift includes 3 breaks for an hour a day to talk.
HELP - it’s nice to help another tm, but try to trade instead of loose time. ‘I’ll help cover the phones if you push that aisle for me”.
‘I’ll help that guest so you can go on break if you bring my trash to the back room for me on you way”
SHARE - some tasks go faster with two people. Try: ‘Would you please hand me those boxes so I can put them here quicker, i’ll Help you de-trash that re-pack.
APPAREL - Where comfortable clothes. it may sound silly but I watched a guy work the other day that should have had a belt on. He spent half his shift hiking up his
pants. Pick up a box, pull up his pants, push merchandise, pull up his pants, put box in trash, pull up his pants. A bit amusing really,like some strange
dance step. Half his shift used to pull up his pants - really. Girls get caught up with falling bra straps or shirts that ride up that they are constantly
Pulling down, or sweaters that they are putting on, taking off, pulling closed, unbuttoning ..... shoes that keep coming untied.
Some hair styles take constant ‘grooming’. Ponytail in, off, up, down.......I watched someone play with their hair ALL DAY once.
I always thought it would be fun to have someone watch themselves on speeded up video doing the same thing over and over that slows them down.

In the end i’m Sure they don’t mean for you to get out of breath working FAST or being in danger of ‘tripping’ from running.
The request is to be more productive with your time. Figure out where you are losing time. Find a solution for tasks that are slowing you down.
Ask others for tips. Ask for help. Find shortcuts to how you do things now. IF you can take the feedback: ask that TL to work ALONGSIDE you for an hour and be honest what they think you should change about the way you work. I bet they watch you differently than you see yourself.
Work SMARTER NOT HARDER.

Whew. Can I get carried away........if you don’t follow any advice then I just wasted some serious time of a day off.
 
SnowWhiteOfAnA said:
Okay...I wouldn't say it's a non-skilled job.

Maybe in technical job search terms, sure. It certainly doesn't require advanced education. Like, my sister isn't in high school yet, and she could be an ETL. Honestly, I've told her stories about my leadership and she can't believe these idiots aren't her age.

But it certainly takes skills. Maybe not certified skills, but quantifiable, professional skills: time management, organizational skills, interpersonal communication, technological skills, etc. But it doesn't matter how much they pay us, human beings aren't perfect, we're only capable of doing so many things at once.

I would honestly, being modest, say I've been doing $13/hr work since I was hired in at $8/hr. At least. I always work to the best of my ability. I don't know how to do less. And the amount that they expect one person to do now, with such little training and resources, $12 truly isn't enough. But I don't even want the $12. I was almost to $11 before they bumped everyone else there. And I was getting decent hours. But now I'm not.

Everyone in my town is always complaining about making minimum wage here, which is about $9/hr. But I always ask them, how many hours a week do you average? They usually answer 30-40. I then share with them that I make $12.50/hr, but they make, on average, $3,300 more than me a year, and I don't get benefits. I would have rather they lowered the requirements for benefits.

I wouldn't say this particular leader is bad. My STL is COMPLETELY AWFUL. My ETLs are good people, but incompetent. My SrTLs (which includes this TL) are all vets that are being pressuredby their idiot higher-ups to get better results than what they're capable, just like us TMs. I can definitely tell she's really stressed out, I'm just not sure whether I should ignore this, address this with her now, wait until review time, or talk to HR/other leadership about it.
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You wouldn't say that it's a non skilled job, but you'd be wrong. It doesn't require any training or education beyond a high school level. Honestly, it's lower than that. Maybe elementary? I don't know. JR High education could 100% do any job in there. That was my point. You are a laborer. I'm not knocking you and I'm not trying to demean you in any way. I did it for over a decade and I busted my ass in doing it, I know how demanding it is and I know how much more demanding it continues to become. My point is that almost anyone off the street could do the tasks of that job with experience within said job. Time frames are a different matter entirely when discussing what it takes to competently work at Target. Working as hard as you can isn't a skill.

I started Target in early 2006 making roughly $7 an hour. As a team leader a year later I was making $10.33 an hour and I was producing $20/hr results with every single team leader around me making significantly more than me. You are always going to be "underpaid", in your eyes, by Target... because if you work hard, that is the nature of almost all giant corporations that can replace you at the drop of a hat, in the grand scheme of things. In any given store you go to, 10% of the people are going to do roughly 40% of the work. It's extremely out of wack but it is what it is.

As far as leadership goes, chances are most of them are incompetent at your store. It's most stores. I must have seen or known of 50-100 team leaders over my years and probably 30 to 50 execs and I worked under 7 STLs. 90% of them were either lazy or incompetent. I had maybe 3... maybe 3... competent execs that worked hard during my tenure. That doesn't make it ok, but I'm trying to explain to you it's not going to change even if they get rid of them and bring someone else in that's good, eventually they will move on and the statistics say they'll be replaced by someone undesirable.

Honestly, what it sounds like is that even if you were making more money, you would not be happy at your job. You need to leave. Yes, there is life after Target and yes you can do better financially and for your mental well being. You just need to believe it and do something about it instead of staying in your comfort zone.
 
Kartman said:
Yea that helps them out TONS.
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Well I obviously point out to leadership that this person did this task when one of them goes "Oh, girls looks amazing! Great job, softlines!" Like, obviously, I'm not gonna let the lazy asses that stood around the fitting room desk shooting the shit get credit for something one person did on their own. But our leadership NEVER writes them, and as someone who rarely gets them, it's nice to see that someone in that damn place knows how hard you work.
 
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