So the long story short is this: I have been with Target for a few years now, most of those as a guest service team member, although I am trained in other areas. My immediate managers (GSAs and GSTLs) all like me as a service desk team member, and I've never had a single complaint from any of them over my performance. Then, two days ago, I got a call from HR telling me I didn't have to come in for my scheduled shift. At first, I didn't think anything of it because as it is for many of you, my store has been cutting hours to widen the ol' profit margin. But when I said I'd prefer to still come in and work my shift, my HR put me on hold and talked to one of my GSTLs who then said that because of my performance, my shift had been given away and they'd already called someone in. We end up setting a meeting for 8 am, and I find out that someone was already supposed to have talked to me about my performance (I "sometimes" left guest service "messy", and I had accidentally bagged two ESIM items incorrectly—after someone had told me to bag them that way!). Then, when my performance didn't change, they started taking "other measures", i.e., giving my shift away without my knowledge or consent. They ended up letting me work an electronics shift for the day so I could still get paid, but I'm extremely annoyed that if I hadn't pushed the matter, this type of thing might have happened again and I would have continued working the same way with nothing changing. I understand that it was a miscommunication, but this miscommunication could have (and might have already!) affected my paycheck. It's not like my shift was cut to cushion payroll, they literally just gave my hours to someone else. I'm really frustrated with how this situation has been handled by management, and I'm feeling pretty disrespected. As I said earlier, I've been with the company for a few years now and nothing in my performance (in my opinion) would warrant this.
Archived My shift was given away over a miscommunication - are they allowed to do this?
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Technically they shouldn't do it to you without the prior conversations.
Of course, we've consistently had management that would fudge coaching conversations, writing them up and submitting them to HR without even talking to the TMs, and they were believed over the TMs all the time.
Hell, my boss sends me emails that he claims are "performance discussions" all the time, despite the fact that he's never once talked to me in person or observed the work I do. I'd really hate to see what my file looks like.
Of course, we've consistently had management that would fudge coaching conversations, writing them up and submitting them to HR without even talking to the TMs, and they were believed over the TMs all the time.
Hell, my boss sends me emails that he claims are "performance discussions" all the time, despite the fact that he's never once talked to me in person or observed the work I do. I'd really hate to see what my file looks like.
That's super frustrating for both of us. I'm also annoyed because I know for a fact that these complaints are not coming from, like I said, GSAs or GSTLs they're coming from our STL (who is in hot water already, and everyone know's they'll be losing their job soon) and an ETL who knows basically nothing about my job performance.
can't touch this
PhD
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Sounds like you caught them being shady and they had to backtrack and give you a different shift to cover their own asses. If this were a Target sanctioned thing they would have a) coached you about it promptly and b) would not have given you that electronics shift if they had a valid reason to cut you for performance.
That's kind of what I was thinking. The meeting was super weird too—it was difficult to get them to say a specific thing I was doing wrong. I had to push to find out what the things I needed to improve on were. The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth.
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If you look at my history, you will know that I rarely recommend the integrity hotline.
Call it. It is not ok to give away a posted shift without your permission, and it is certainly not allowed as a discipline method.
Call it. It is not ok to give away a posted shift without your permission, and it is certainly not allowed as a discipline method.
can't touch this
PhD
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I've never had a performance conversation before but I don't imagine they usually have trouble coming up with things you've done wrong, in cases where leadership has a solid case against you. I've eavesdropped on my ETL-log grilling a TM for his slowness and he was resoundingly clear on what his expectations were going forward: a drastic speed improvement was needed and if this improvement didn't show very soon, he would be separated from Target.
they can not give your shift away once you are given it point blank, and they ESPECIALLY can not punish you with the schedule even if your performance is bad, they are supposed to coach you till you improve or get termed. Why do we still hire incompetent leads and leaders?
Is there anywhere proof of this is posted? Another commenter recommended I call the integrity hotline... I'm considering doing it, except this is such a specific situation, I'm worried the ETLs and etc. would know it was me.
its in the training for coachings and corrective actions as well as the scheduling best practices that the HR business partners give the ETL-Hr's. all tms need to be treated fairly on the schedule.
Black Sheep 214
Kiss no butts, give no fox
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Sounds like someone wants to performance you out. I’ve seen the “desperately seeking a (non-existent) reason” performance discussions, but not the schedule cutting. This is a new low, even for Spot’s “leaders”. Hope your STL hits the road soon.
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Schedule up for 2 weeks & did not show up when scheduled in Gs. Did I miss something?
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Do you know who they gave your shift to and are they someone you know well? Maybe talk to them and see if they can elaborate on how they ended up with your shift and ask if they would be willing to back you with their story of what happened if necessary. I also think this is a hotline issue, as it seems retaliatory (is that the right word?) to take away your shift as punishment for issues you had never been coached on. Though I do understand if you want to tread lightly, but it sounds like they're up to something shady directed at you anyway. And working "retaliation" into your report might strike fear in some. Just get photos/screenshots of your schedule before they can disappear anything.
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You pretty much misconstrued everything.
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I agree with this advice but 1st write everything down with dates and facts but without speculation or emotion. Then call.
I think you might be misunderstanding my post? The day of the shift that they had given away, I had a meeting scheduled with HR and a GSTL. After the meeting, I was then offered to work an electronics shift because my service desk shift had already been given to someone else. I've never had a single no-call no show, and I always work in the area that I'm scheduled in unless given other direction by an LOD or ETL. My shift was given away without my knowledge or permission, supposedly in response to a lack of improvement after a coaching (that never occurred).
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Sending you an email is indeed a conversation even if it’s not in person .
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Ok, hang on.
Did you work the shift in electronics, and was it the exact same time as your service desk shift was, both start and end?
If so, they are 100% allowed to say that you can work the exact same shift but in a different department. That is allowed under “needs of the business.” If you refuse to work in another work center, even without training, that is insubordination.
In this case, they didn’t “give away” your shift. They moved you to a more needy work center, and brought in someone else to fill your original role.
No, no, that's not what happened - because that would be understandable! I received a call the day before my GS shift that I "didn't need to come in". I need the money, so I said I'd prefer to work. Then, I was told that my shift had already been filled, as they'd called someone in to work the service desk that day instead of me. This was supposedly in response to poor work performance (the first I'd heard that my performance was in any way unsatisfactory). A meeting was set for the day of my shift with HR and my GSTL. The day of the shift and meeting, there had been a call off in Electronics so they offered it to me so I could still get paid for the hours that day. But my original shift at the service desk had been taken and given to another TM without my knowledge, and it was not for the purpose of having me work in Electronics.
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But was the electronics shift at the exact same time?
Yes, it happened that it was. If there had not been a call-off that day, I might not have been able to work those hours, or at all.
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Ah.
Then while their delivery of the message may have been inappropriate, you weren’t out anything and they haven’t broken any real rules. Might not have been able to work isn’t the same as showed up for a shift but wasn’t allowed to work.
I would be looking for another job, though. They are probably going to try to performance you out.
True. Although that's been happening at my store too, although no cases I know of like mine were someone else was called in to work for someone else without a prior call off. And yeah, I probably will start looking for a new job because it seems that way to me too. I don't know why though... if you ask my GSTLs, there's no reason for it, but I must have done something to piss off the higher ups.
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