Lots of background first!
I've been a Target TM for over two years. I currently work in consumables, but for the first year and a half, I was a member of a district remodel team. Basically, I went from store to store doing massive projects over a series of months, so that those stores wouldn't have to sacrifice too much manpower. Tasks such as moving several aisles at a time, LOCUing big chunks of backrooms, building + profiling backroom aisles (difficult and dangerous, do not recommend), cleaning crevices that haven't been messed with in years, and gigantic headache-inducing POGs were what I specialized in, on a tiny team of 3-4 people.
I would even lead that team sometimes, 'cus my boss would disappear for hours at a time. 10-12 hour shifts weren't all that uncommon for me, and it was always 5 days a week. 40 hours was a minimum some weeks.
During my time on that team I remodeled 4 stores and on my first review, I was scored with DEO. It gave me a sense of pride that I needed, and so I kept working myself ragged for as long as I was doing that.
Now, the present situation. I just recently got my review for my second year at Target: a DIO. I'm not particularly upset about that, seeing as it's the most common grade and I did go through some personal hardships this year that affected my attendance and efficiency with work. However... as a result of my review, my wages got raised.
To $13.01.
I almost blew up on my leader. I did blow up on an ETL. For that golden background and all of that dedication and hard work, Target's decided that I deserve to earn a whopping one cent over what's going to be the base-level minimum pay next month. It's like being sent back to square one, but with a moldy penny as a consolation prize. I'm heavily, heavily, heavily considering leaving Target entirely over this. Quite frankly I'd take a pay cut just to be out of there.
Don't get me wrong, I am happy that Target is raising its minimum wage. I'm sure this makes a lot of newer TMs happy and I'm glad for them. But for me it's an agonizing punch in the gut, y'know? And I'm sure I'm not the only one out there in a situation like this. Like if I'm going to be making $15 per hour with Target in 2020 anyway, why the actual hell should I bother trying to deliver exceptional outcomes at all? My raises are tiny and gonna get overwritten with no regard to how long long or hard I've worked for you, so what's the bloody point?
Spoiler: There isn't one.
Unfortunately, I'm convinced that this blanket pay increase is nothing more than a PR "Look at how much better than Wal Mart we are!" grab. They're not doing it to make our lives easier, they're not doing it because they care. They're doing it cus it makes Target look more progressive and progressive makes money.
I've been a Target TM for over two years. I currently work in consumables, but for the first year and a half, I was a member of a district remodel team. Basically, I went from store to store doing massive projects over a series of months, so that those stores wouldn't have to sacrifice too much manpower. Tasks such as moving several aisles at a time, LOCUing big chunks of backrooms, building + profiling backroom aisles (difficult and dangerous, do not recommend), cleaning crevices that haven't been messed with in years, and gigantic headache-inducing POGs were what I specialized in, on a tiny team of 3-4 people.
I would even lead that team sometimes, 'cus my boss would disappear for hours at a time. 10-12 hour shifts weren't all that uncommon for me, and it was always 5 days a week. 40 hours was a minimum some weeks.
During my time on that team I remodeled 4 stores and on my first review, I was scored with DEO. It gave me a sense of pride that I needed, and so I kept working myself ragged for as long as I was doing that.
Now, the present situation. I just recently got my review for my second year at Target: a DIO. I'm not particularly upset about that, seeing as it's the most common grade and I did go through some personal hardships this year that affected my attendance and efficiency with work. However... as a result of my review, my wages got raised.
To $13.01.
I almost blew up on my leader. I did blow up on an ETL. For that golden background and all of that dedication and hard work, Target's decided that I deserve to earn a whopping one cent over what's going to be the base-level minimum pay next month. It's like being sent back to square one, but with a moldy penny as a consolation prize. I'm heavily, heavily, heavily considering leaving Target entirely over this. Quite frankly I'd take a pay cut just to be out of there.
Don't get me wrong, I am happy that Target is raising its minimum wage. I'm sure this makes a lot of newer TMs happy and I'm glad for them. But for me it's an agonizing punch in the gut, y'know? And I'm sure I'm not the only one out there in a situation like this. Like if I'm going to be making $15 per hour with Target in 2020 anyway, why the actual hell should I bother trying to deliver exceptional outcomes at all? My raises are tiny and gonna get overwritten with no regard to how long long or hard I've worked for you, so what's the bloody point?
Spoiler: There isn't one.
Unfortunately, I'm convinced that this blanket pay increase is nothing more than a PR "Look at how much better than Wal Mart we are!" grab. They're not doing it to make our lives easier, they're not doing it because they care. They're doing it cus it makes Target look more progressive and progressive makes money.
