Archived Favoritism??

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We recently got a new GSA and a new clerical person but it wasn't even posted. One day a former cashier suddenly got the GSA position and one day a former SF TM got the clerical position. How is that even possible?? Seems like alot of favoritism is going on at my store.
 
Favoritism is a reality of life and of business... it's kinda sucky, but it's hardly exclusive to Target.
 
If the management already knew who they wanted for the positions, would you rather they posted an opening and made people go through the process when they never really had a chance in the first place?
 
Yep, it happens. Plenty of positions at my store have gone un-posted and "suddenly" given to a TM without much notice.
 
My store does posts the jobs, so that they say it was posted & all can apply for it. My mgt tries to be fair, they will do the interviews. So
Sometimes, that is when they get to know that the tm applying maybe better for a different job.
 
I was told they don't have to post them at the store anymore but they still should be posted online since that is how they are supposed to apply anyway. I encouraged one of my team to apply for TL even though we weren't sure there would be an opening. She got the position a few months later. There were people that were upset but she was a hard worker for me and a very good choice imo.
 
The truth is store management already knows and has plans on what TMs they want to advance. They want someone they can control and mold. I can't even count how many times positions were posted at my old store, but no interviews were conducted.

Back in the day (before 2005), stores conducted interviews on the best candidates. They sent TMs with the potential to the Round Robin interviews.
 
Hmm I think we post all our positions. I had to apply internally for mine.

We're hiring a new GSA soon, and its funny because we already know who we want to do it, so we're just preparing them to pass the interview lol 🙂
 
Favoritism is definitely popular at Target I've noticed. Sometimes the hardest working received nothing but someone less productive will load up the Team card chart with petty "Thanks for so and so!".
 
LOL we were just talking about this at work the other day. Its funny how many people that are lazy get away with everything and get promotions and those of us that bust our hump get nothing. I mean its funny if I stop and talk to someone for 3 mins I get yelled at by my TL or ETLS but if the lazy ones stand around and talk they can talk for 45 mins and the TLs say nothing. Drives me nuts!!!
 
If anyone thinks that favoritism has anything to do with Target, you are sadly mistaken. It's bizness. It's how it works. Work hard, make friends, you'll move fast. It's a simple equation. If you aren't do those 2 things, you're going to have a long career working reshop.
 
You will encounter favoritism everywhere you go. It is human nature. Target is no exception to that.

Often the best candidate will not get a job simply because they are the ones spending the time working the job and not spending time talking to the higher ups and getting to be their friend. I have seen this in other jobs I have held over the years. The person who gets to be buddies with the higher ups is the one who gets promoted rather than the person who really knows what is going on.

If you think leaving Target will get you away from favoritism, you are sadly mistaken.
 
That is the funniest thing I have read in a long time. Thanks for the laugh.

Favoritism is the single biggest weakness that this company has (outside of it's stupidity).

I do work long, I have fun, and I even some people that I call friends. I am constantly coming up with new and better ideas for things and was recently given a GTC for introducing a way on fixing planogram's where the product is sitting naked with one of those pincher things and empty space.

Yet I am denied promotion after promotion because of either how I talk during interviews or what my body language is. If that isn't favortism then I don't know what else it could be.

Oh, and plus I have been fired for giving backroom my key which was SOP at the time. Since then, team members have gone home with a core from the lock-up case, the iPad one, and not gotten terminated for it.

Favoritism indeed.
 
talan123 said:
That is the funniest thing I have read in a long time. Thanks for the laugh.

Favoritism is the single biggest weakness that this company has (outside of it's stupidity).

I do work long, I have fun, and I even some people that I call friends. I am constantly coming up with new and better ideas for things and was recently given a GTC for introducing a way on fixing planogram's where the product is sitting naked with one of those pincher things and empty space.

Yet I am denied promotion after promotion because of either how I talk during interviews or what my body language is. If that isn't favortism then I don't know what else it could be.

Oh, and plus I have been fired for giving backroom my key which was SOP at the time. Since then, team members have gone home with a core from the lock-up case, the iPad one, and not gotten terminated for it.

Favoritism indeed.
Click to expand...

Maybe your general attitude is something they pick up on. Body language is supposedly 60% of every message you deliver, so what you appear to be thinking is more important than the words coming out of your mouth. You clearly don't like Target, so why would they want to promote you?

Also, bilder is right, favoritism is a part of EVERYTHING in life, it's not exclusive to Target. Also, your not being promoted tells me nothing about favoritism, just that they don't think you merit a promotion.
 
Proper feedback and straight forward honesty is some traits Target seems to be lacking in.
 
You're kind of missing the point.

They terminated somebody for a minor screw-up while somebody did something even worse, said person was not terminated or treated differently.

I don't care about favoritism at other aspects of life, we are talking about this one and the wrong people are repeatedly being promoted.

Their current method is WAY too subjective, they need to move to an objective method.

/Seriously, we had a Sr. TL lock somebody in at night, they escaped and three cop cars were called in.
//Sr. Tl lost count of the number of team members in front of them four times.
 
talan123 said:
You're kind of missing the point.

They terminated somebody for a minor screw-up while somebody did something even worse, said person was not terminated or treated differently.

I don't care about favoritism at other aspects of life, we are talking about this one and the wrong people are repeatedly being promoted.

Their current method is WAY too subjective, they need to move to an objective method.

.
Click to expand...


What kind of objective method are you referring to? Seniority? Attachment rates? Cashier speed score? Meeting time lines? The things team members are scored on are a great example of productivity, but that alone cannot determine whether someone will be a good leader. What do you suggest?
 
Oh lord there are so many things that can be done...

Experience
Past performance
Job-related educational background
Ability and qualifications to perform the work
Attendance
Relationship building skills

There are literally hundreds of different factors they could be going after. Their current method is not only unfair, it is also illegal.

Here is a list of things that are considered "bad" by the experts and jury's. Guess how many Target has now codified in it's business methods and internal processes?

  • Base promotion decisions exclusively on the supervisor's visual observations and comments without reference to objective documented factors.
  • Make decisions without giving employees an opportunity to express interest.
  • Summarily dismiss an employee's interest in a promotion opportunity.
  • Tell employees that they would not be considered because of such generalizations as "It's a man's job" or that they would not like the environment of the new job because "It's male" or "It's white."
  • Use educational levels as criteria for promotion unless specific educational requirements have been professionally certified as related to the job.
  • Maintain the status quo if statistics reflect underutilization of minorities and females at higher levels.
  • Make promotional decisions without input from employees on their particular interests.
  • Evaluate on such subjective measures as attitude.
  • Allow one person to make promotion decisions.
  • Impose barriers not related to the job, such as depriving a person of seniority when promoted from one department or plant to another. (It is permissible, however, to require specified periods in company employment or in a current position as qualifications for being considered for promotion.)

Let's face it. It needs to change now because it's leading to valuable team members leaving. Subjective promotions are without a doubt the worst, and I mean worst, way to do promotions. And no, writing down body language is not a way to do that, seriously this is the 21st century, because some people have disabilities.
 
Talan:

1) This is against Target policy, so if that's what you're store does, report it and/or transfer and/or seek legal action.
2) This is not illegal, or against target practice, nor is it something that is contrary to common business practice.
3) See #2
4) See #1
5) See #2
6) What are you talking about? White men get an advantage over everyone else? While this is true, it's hardly confined to Target, it is also something that most companies (including Target) and the gov't have/are attempting to fix.
7) Again, what are you talking about? Employees interests are irrelevant. A janitor can want to be CEO, who cares?
8) Target policy is to evaluate attitude in promotions/raises, your attitude from my experience on TBR, is poor. You may think you're hiding it well, odds are you're wrong. Evaluating people on attitude is perfectly legal and acceptable in business.
9) Again, this is not illegal, nor is it contrary to common business practice.
10) I don't understand what you're trying to say.

You, from what I've been able to gather on here, have a poor attitude, have a poor opinion of your bosses/co-workers/customers (guests), but think you should have something handed to you despite these factors. You may be the meanest instocks demon, you may zone like a champ, and your attachment score may be insane, but from what I can tell, you're the exact opposite of what MOST retail employers want. I've seen nothing but gripes and sarcasm from you, maybe you're the problem, not a company that makes millions of dollars in profit every year.
 
You are right, those behaviors are not illegal and I should have used a better term. They are indicators that bias is happening and are used by courts as evidence of bias/discrimination is occurring whether it was planned or not.

Here is a decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 5th District. In it, the court held that these practices were unacceptable in selecting individuals for promotion:
  • A foreman's recommendation was the key to the promotion.
  • Foremen were not given any written instructions pertaining to qualifications necessary for promotion.
  • Standards were vague and subjective. Hourly employees were not notified of promotion opportunities or of the qualifications necessary to qualify for the higher position.
  • There were no safeguards established by the company to avoid discriminatory practice.

In Paul Muller vs. United States Steel Corporation, the court stated that “The law is clear that a plaintiff in a job discrimination case need not prove that the employer had a specific intent to discriminate. It is sufficient that the employer’s conduct produced discriminatory results.” Therefore, even if you, as management, have no desire to show favoritism, if there are vague promotion policies that allow others to exhibit some kind of favoritism, you are still legally liable.

Another case is Rowe vs. General Motors Corp. The case was lost by the company because promotion “standards which were determined to be controlling are vague and subjective,” and “there [were] no safeguards in the procedure designed to avert discriminatory practices.” The phone calls that can be rerouted to the store is not a safeguard because it deals with it AFTER the problem has occurred. Target has a policy but no safeguards. Telling somebody not to do something and then walking away isn't a policy because it is abdication of responsibility.

This isn't about me or you. It's about what is best for the company. I have several thousand dollars in this company's stock because I believe that it can go the distance and I want it to be all it can be but that is never going to happen unless it starts to face harder and harder truths. This is a company that needs an assessment of how it conducts business by outsiders.

My attitude at work and how I present myself on this board are two completely different things.
 
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