Archived Downstepping a team member

[whippingboy]

Does it happen? Can poorly performing team members who got hired on as, say, N05 get downgraded to No3? Is it possible for backroom team members to get placed as cashiers permanently, as an example? I've never seen it happen at my store; in fact, the management seems to twist themselves into knots to make sure poorly performing team members find other positions in their equivalent paygrade.

I do know that my current STL strongly favors retaining team members versus hiring new ones.

My opinion is to make them cashiers (so they are constantly being watched; sorry GSTL's) but that doesn't seem to be a plausible solution at my store.

 

[Sickofspot]

As far as I know, they cannot do that. They have to performance you out.

 

[Noiinteam]

If they are poor performers in their current position, why dump them somewhere else? If they had a good tl they should have been having conversations and possibly changing work centers before they hit rock bottom, not after.

 

[SFSFun]

Could they just start scheduling the TM for cashier shifts and not adjust the paygrade or default workcenter?

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

I can't imagine a br person getting red cards or ringing guest out at the front lanes.

 

[Retail Girl]

Could they just start scheduling the TM for cashier shifts and not adjust the paygrade or default workcenter?

We had someone hired on as electronics. He sucked over there, so they dumped him on the front end to be a cashier. I have no idea if they changed his work center/paygrade. He finally quit, but it was a painful time for the rest of us until that happened.

 

[SoftlinesTL]

Cashier should be absolute last position to dump a bad team member. Cashiers are the only TMs that many guests see and the position should be taken very seriously. As the GSTL at my store I have blocked every attempt by other TLs when they want to dump their bad TMs on my check lanes. A bad TM should be constantly managed in their current work center until they are performing well or they get fired/quit.

To answer the original question, I have seen occurred where bad electronics/flow TMs have moved to sales floor, but their pay stayed the same.

 

[Guest]

Send them to the store I work at for a week.

 

[sigma7]

Bad team members shouldn't be dumped. The TL and ETL should be coaching and managing their performance. It's one thing to move a TM to a spot where they would be a better fit. It's an entirely different thing to dump your poor performing TMs on a different workcenter because you're tired of dealing with them.

 

[whippingboy]

I suppose I should expand on the poorly performing team member I'm talking about; after all that could cover many different aspects. But the one I have in mind has zero attention to detail and no sort of self motivation. Said team member is great if they are micro managed into the ground. But once leadership walks away this person will find any excuse not to work or will find someone to socialize with. It's fine when the team lead is there to guide every move, but scheduling this person outside of the team lead's schedule is a waste of time. It doesn't work for work centers that require independence, which is most of them, nowadays. With hours cut down to the bone in every department it's hard to visualize a better fit other than cashiering. That would require a downstep in pay, though, and I've never seen that happen.

 

[Jack of all Workcenters]

They won't downgrade pay if you end up as cashier. Though on the other hand it'd probably be easier to performance out someone on checklanes.

 

[commiecorvus]

They won't downgrade pay if you end up as cashier. Though on the other hand it'd probably be easier to performance out someone on checklanes.

Makes sense since I would imagine someone who is not performing well on another team would a) not be happy as a cashier so they wouldn't do the job, b) given how easy it is to change the goalposts, c) there really is more consistent supervision what with a GSA or GSTL being close by most of the time.

 

[Jack of all Workcenters]

Makes sense since I would imagine someone who is not performing well on another team would a) not be happy as a cashier so they wouldn't do the job, b) given how easy it is to change the goalposts, c) there really is more consistent supervision what with a GSA or GSTL being close by most of the time.

I'm leaning more towards C on this one. Gives them a better chance to improve where there is actually someone to keep an eye on them. Scheduling tends to treat TLs as TMs, which means we end up getting second hand info that we can't really act on. I'd love it if we got management hours that didn't come from the main pool, actually let us support our teams if we have them. Or for some of us, actually mean me have a team.

 

[tellmeaboutatime]

Our "dumping" ground was always flow. They're weird but they can work freight! I hate that. Don't send your your problems to another work center. You're a leader, teach them. When they are in the interview process, you should be able to see if they are potentially right for the position they are applying for. If you have a painfully shy person applying for sales floor you should really ask some probing questions. If they are one word answers and no eye contact, they may not be a great sales floor fit?Sometimes a person will slip through. For instance you may have hired someone for sales floor who is outstanding with service, but can't seem to stay on task. The ones that need an invisible dog collar. That person might be a great cashier because they are tethered to a lane and can still provide great service.