Archived Do new team members get less hours?

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Hi,

I just started working at Target recently. I got my first full schedule for next week where I work 20.5 hours. Unfortunately I need to work more hours on a regular basis and can't just rely on picking up hours from others with the switch thing. After I've been there a little longer will they increase my weekly hours?
 
new team members are not supposed to get less but it does happen (especially in my store). For this time of year that sounds about right except for the must be staffed areas of the store. Ours are fitting room/operator (my area) and electronics. There are not very many who are trained for the FRO so I get 33/34 hours a week and then I pick up a shift here and there. BUT when hours get cut I am not immune...in fact I, at one point, was averaging under 20 hours a week. I picked up a second job and they realized what they were missing, lol, when I limited my availability.
Learn other work centers.....and you will more than likely pick up more hours.
 
Greetings and salutations.
Welcome to the Break Room.
Your hours should pick up as they get into 4th quarter but do offer to learn as many dept as you can.
Ask to be called if they are short handed, that can happen a lot with flow and they are glad to have a go to person.
 
I was listening to my HR assistant make an interview offer over the phone yesterday. She said, "We hire all new team members as part-time, starting at $8 an hour. Is that something you'd be interested in applying for?" So they make it clear they only hire part time (to start, at least).

As for me, I'm a 6 year vet and used to get 35+ hours each week until my ETL changed, and the new one doesn't understand all the things I need to accomplish during the week leading me to justify those hours. Now my hours can vary. I would, as someone mentioned, learn other work centers and prove your value in those that you are able to. EX cashiers being a REDcard master, Plano being an extremely fast worker, electronics getting tons of attachments and working tasks round the clock, etc. Many things you can do to work at a higher level than your peers, thus justifying extra hours.
 
Thanks everyone.

Hopefully by taking extra shifts I'll get them to give me more hours on a regular basis anyway. I just started, but so far I like it. The people at my location are pretty cool.
 
Thanks everyone.

Hopefully by taking extra shifts I'll get them to give me more hours on a regular basis anyway. I just started, but so far I like it. The people at my location are pretty cool.

I have to say that is one of the sad parts.
By in large the people you will work with will be very cool (even many of the TLs and ETLs).
Unfortunately corporate and the handful of toadies can make make life pretty difficult.
 
The thing you and new team members were not told is that in the last few years Target stores run by over estimated numbers meaning that most stores are actually overstaffed. Corp believes that each store has to keep above a minimum headcount number of Team Members in order to staff the store to keep it operational no matter what the hours, actual or forecasted sales.

For Example, lets say a store used to just need 10 full time and 5 part time cashiers to effectively cover the lanes. Now Corp thinks that they need 30 TMs to effectively cover the front. Full time cashiers used to get 30-40 hours per week; where now they only get 1-2 shifts per week; 14 hours total.

This also causes a theorized plan amongst many here that its Corp idea to cause high turnover. Target supposedly is hoping to eliminate higher wage TMs by bringing on fresh and naive new TMs. Then after a year of frustrating schedules, veterans will leave and the cycle repeats.
 
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Before I got my promotion I was a cashier and my hours were always part time. People call out, some days are busier than expected, so every now and then you'll get asked to stay longer or to come in on a day you didn't get scheduled. that usually helped me pick up more hours per week. Just do your job right and don't make any complaints (like the kinds about hours or pay) and management will do you right. it worked for me, i'm in another work center now with a better pay grade and it's smaller work center so I might be getting more hours than usual. Just treat Target as a temporary place to be and it won't seem so bad.
 
I was listening to my HR assistant make an interview offer over the phone yesterday. She said, "We hire all new team members as part-time, starting at $8 an hour. Is that something you'd be interested in applying for?" So they make it clear they only hire part time (to start, at least).

As for me, I'm a 6 year vet and used to get 35+ hours each week until my ETL changed, and the new one doesn't understand all the things I need to accomplish during the week leading me to justify those hours. Now my hours can vary. I would, as someone mentioned, learn other work centers and prove your value in those that you are able to. EX cashiers being a REDcard master, Plano being an extremely fast worker, electronics getting tons of attachments and working tasks round the clock, etc. Many things you can do to work at a higher level than your peers, thus justifying extra hours.

must be nice to get 8 dollars an hour
 
I was listening to my HR assistant make an interview offer over the phone yesterday. She said, "We hire all new team members as part-time, starting at $8 an hour. Is that something you'd be interested in applying for?" So they make it clear they only hire part time (to start, at least).

As for me, I'm a 6 year vet and used to get 35+ hours each week until my ETL changed, and the new one doesn't understand all the things I need to accomplish during the week leading me to justify those hours. Now my hours can vary. I would, as someone mentioned, learn other work centers and prove your value in those that you are able to. EX cashiers being a REDcard master, Plano being an extremely fast worker, electronics getting tons of attachments and working tasks round the clock, etc. Many things you can do to work at a higher level than your peers, thus justifying extra hours.

Interesting concept...
But how are salesfloor, Fitting Room operators, food ave TMs, cart attendants and such scored since they don't have any method of tracking performance other than observation by aTL or ETL.

Except maybe
CAs just have the bathroom buttons.
FATMs just have FA sales.
Salesfloor maybe Guest Assistance buttons.
 
When I started a bunch of people told me new people always get more hours. After a year, I've found that it seems that way, because there's no consistency so people notice when a newer hire has more hours than they do. Some weeks I have a ton of hours, some weeks I barely have any. This week, I'm scheduled for 17, next week, I'm scheduled for 31, but other people in my dept have a good week this week, and a bad one next week. I don't think newness affects it too much. I do think they try to schedule your first couple of weeks so that you're working with someone who's good enough to show you more of the ropes.

When you need more hours, look at the swap board, answer the phone when they call you, and don't sleep in on days off haha. Once, I had a 12 hour week, but they kept attempting to call me (2 days in a row) in and I was always sleeping when they called so I missed the chances. I finally decided I was gonna wake up and be prepared to leave at a moment's notice and that day, they didn't call.
 
Usually when you get hired, you start out at a Part Time hourly wage. So your hours are going to be usually under 30 hours. But yeah, look at the Swap Shift and try to pick up as many shifts as possible. Not only will you gain more hours that way, but the ETL's will see that you are flexible and may even bump your hours weekly, giving you the benefit of getting scheduled more hours a week. Target loves hard working Team Members. Prove them that, and you're golden.
 
I'm trained in literally every work center possible, available all day every day, and I will get scheduled 20 hours/week....reason being that my primary work center is the pharmacy, so they're the only ones who outright schedule me. I manage to pick up shifts/come in early/stay late and get up to 40 hours/week anyways... but being scheduled closer to 40 in the 1st place would make life SO much easier.
 
I hear you. My primary work center is pharmacy. I recently got my CPhT and love love love the pharmacy at Target. But, I have to work in pricing, cashiering and instocks to get enough hours a week. Having your pharmacy schedule dictated by the pharmacy sales as you know, doesn't make much sense.
 
i schedule the people that i know will work their tail off and get the job done when hours are tight. and i reward them heavily with team cards, a free meal at the cafe, a personal thank you card, and hours on the next schedule. if you want hours on my team, be positive, engaged with the guests and work while you are on the clock. and i will be right along beside you doing the exact same thing!:excited:
 
I hear you. My primary work center is pharmacy. I recently got my CPhT and love love love the pharmacy at Target. But, I have to work in pricing, cashiering and instocks to get enough hours a week. Having your pharmacy schedule dictated by the pharmacy sales as you know, doesn't make much sense.

Take any shifts when available.
 
I've been at Target for four years. I'm trained EVERYWHERE except Starbucks, Food Ave, and receiving, and I got four hours last week. Woohoo!
 
As you know, hours are hard to come by due to recent events, because its beginning of a new year, and of course lack of sales. If I were I would just get cross trained in other work centers, pick up shifts on the swap shift board. At our store, almost ALL of our payroll, goes to the backroom, so I would get cross trained in a work center where majority of the hours are.
 
Talk to different ETLs and TLs. Most of the TM they have working under them are goobers(my location anyway) and if you have a good rep in one department, say Front End, offer to help out with things in softlines for a day, converse with the TL/ETL there and show them that you can and will do your best. Worse case scenario is you helped out a fellow worker for a day.
 
It's really difficult to try to pick up shifts on the swap shift board as everyone is in the same boat and not too many are giving up shifts. It just seems like the ones that are there are for days I'm already working.
 
At my store, spot is saying that you are under a different workcenter, you can't work it. I have some cashiers, who are awesome at reshop & cafs. Then, they get the phone call to cut the shift that they are scheduled for, after working a swap shift for hours, earlier in the week.
 
At our store new people do seem to get more hours but it usually lasts about a week or two and then their hours average the same as everyone else. I think it's because they believe that in that first week or two they need more hours to make sure their training is ingrained? Just a thought but I don't really know. Hours are bad everywhere. As to the comment about hiring... in our store the FRO is responsible for calling team members to find someone to cover when there is a call off or an NCNS. Speaking from the FRO's experience the book kind of needs to be a little "padded" in order to insure that in all those calls you get at least one "yes". Is weird.... at my store even though people are complaining about hours they don't always answer the phone or agree to take a shift when we need one covered. Between the call offs and the NCNS and the "no thank you" I totally get why they keep hiring even though hours are down. >< Not that I like it anymore than the next guy. :p
 
At my store, spot is saying that you are under a different workcenter, you can't work it. I have some cashiers, who are awesome at reshop & cafs. Then, they get the phone call to cut the shift that they are scheduled for, after working a swap shift for hours, earlier in the week.

That almost sounds like what they warning us about with unions. One of the arguments was that if we had a union they'd insist people stick to the areas they were trained in and that we couldn't help one another and work as a team the way we do now. :-/
 
At my store, spot is saying that you are under a different workcenter, you can't work it. I have some cashiers, who are awesome at reshop & cafs. Then, they get the phone call to cut the shift that they are scheduled for, after working a swap shift for hours, earlier in the week.

That almost sounds like what they warning us about with unions. One of the arguments was that if we had a union they'd insist people stick to the areas they were trained in and that we couldn't help one another and work as a team the way we do now. :-/

There are some true facts on that.
 
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