Archived "New" focus on guest experience?

[tellmeaboutatime]

That's not anger issues, that's me calling you out for a post that to me reads as sucking the corporate cock.

That is a very rude response. I am sorry that you obviously don't like your job. There are many of us that do. To have such a vulgar response is not only childish but also ignorant.

 

[oath2order]

That is a very rude response. I am sorry that you obviously don't like your job. There are many of us that do. To have such a vulgar response is not only childish but also ignorant.

No, I like my job. I enjoy it. I just think you're drinking way too much of the corporate Kool-Aid to be able to form a reasonable response to this. Your post reads of sunshine and rainbows and ignores any negative critique.

 

[Stubio]

1. CIHYFS- the concept was decent however telling someone exactly how to approach a guest was fake, uncomfortable and grammatically incorrect. They just want you to engage the person in a way you feel comfortable
2. Scheduling will be done with the guest in mind. More people during peak times.
3. Coupon cops- of course there are scammers and good cashiers know where to hold the line. I am talking about the cashiers who scrutinize every single coupon matching pictures etc. or calling the sales floor to check for a $1 difference in price on a $20 item
4. The guest is the #1 focus going forward. And smiling and being friendly is going to be a requirement
5. Negative attitudes have never been okay the difference is now we will be held accountable.
   
6. They are going to remodel hundreds of stores, bring in great new clothing lines new home lines etc and change the way we schedule.

#1 Was it a requirement to specifically say CIHYFS? 90% of the time I never said it that way anyways
#2 Wow awesome, that's basic logic that will be thrown out the window the second the store's sales are down.
#3 My store has a <$5 policy and I'm hoping it doesn't get any more lax than that.
#4 What the hell was the focus before? Wait, smiling and being friendly wasn't required before?
#5 Pretty sure people in my store get written up for having bad attitudes at work already.
#6 The only change I see here, and no one in the store has control over this.

Where can I read up on this? Are there any statements or PDFs?

 

[MrGSTLman]

@tellmeaboutatime - I'm going to level with you in saying I'm with you here. I'm excited corporate is finally realizing that the only reason we are staying in business is the guest. I'm glad our store is focusing on a guest-first mentality.

Where I am unhappy, however, is the fact they have essentially stripped me, as a GSTL, any ability to contribute to the overall success of my department, in my opinion. I've been working for Target for almost 17 years. In that time I have learned the fine art of putting the guest first while doing my tasks (i.e. keeping my head up, not focusing on the task). I am now being told I absolutely cannot task, only interact with guests. And when I am not interacting with guests I should be talking to my cashiers, teaching them how to interact with guests. Thing is, with the exception of a few people, all of our team members are VERY good with guests, and those select few are getting better. I feel that if our store leadership (including my ETL-GE) would spend time up at the checklanes they would realize that.

The part that sticks in my craw is the fact that due to some corporate edict (or at least that's what they are telling me) is I get the schedule, which is something I did and did well, taken away from me. They say only ETLs are supposed to touch the schedule and TLs should have no part of it. They want to use that time for guest service. The GSTL who did the schedule before me took a good 8 hours to do the schedule every week (dunno what she did but I digress). It takes (or took) me 2 hours at best. Tell me how in the grad scheme of things does two hours affect legendary service? My ETL hates to do the schedule (she has told me such) and I am convinced we will have more issues now.

I could go on, but I won't. Now, Don't get me wrong, I love the fact things are changing to a more guest focused environment, I do pretty well with that myself. Other people in my store, well, it'll be a culture shock for sure. It needs to be a shift in focus, not a seismic shift, as my ETL refers to it. I am all about the guest all the time, it's part of my job title for pete's sake, but I like the extra parts that make my job bearable, too.

 

[oath2order]

@tellmeaboutatime - I'm going to level with you in saying I'm with you here. I'm excited corporate is finally realizing that the only reason we are staying in business is the guest. I'm glad our store is focusing on a guest-first mentality.

Where I am unhappy, however, is the fact they have essentially stripped me, as a GSTL, any ability to contribute to the overall success of my department, in my opinion. I've been working for Target for almost 17 years. In that time I have learned the fine art of putting the guest first while doing my tasks (i.e. keeping my head up, not focusing on the task). I am now being told I absolutely cannot task, only interact with guests. And when I am not interacting with guests I should be talking to my cashiers, teaching them how to interact with guests. Thing is, with the exception of a few people, all of our team members are VERY good with guests, and those select few are getting better. I feel that if our store leadership (including my ETL-GE) would spend time up at the checklanes they would realize that.

The part that sticks in my craw is the fact that due to some corporate edict (or at least that's what they are telling me) is I get the schedule, which is something I did and did well, taken away from me. They say only ETLs are supposed to touch the schedule and TLs should have no part of it. They want to use that time for guest service. The GSTL who did the schedule before me took a good 8 hours to do the schedule every week (dunno what she did but I digress). It takes (or took) me 2 hours at best. Tell me how in the grad scheme of things does two hours affect legendary service? My ETL hates to do the schedule (she has told me such) and I am convinced we will have more issues now.

I could go on, but I won't. Now, Don't get me wrong, I love the fact things are changing to a more guest focused environment, I do pretty well with that myself. Other people in my store, well, it'll be a culture shock for sure. It needs to be a shift in focus, not a seismic shift, as my ETL refers to it. I am all about the guest all the time, it's part of my job title for pete's sake, but I like the extra parts that make my job bearable, too.

Well you're more diplomatic than I am

 

[tellmeaboutatime]

@tellmeaboutatime - I'm going to level with you in saying I'm with you here. I'm excited corporate is finally realizing that the only reason we are staying in business is the guest. I'm glad our store is focusing on a guest-first mentality.

Where I am unhappy, however, is the fact they have essentially stripped me, as a GSTL, any ability to contribute to the overall success of my department, in my opinion. I've been working for Target for almost 17 years. In that time I have learned the fine art of putting the guest first while doing my tasks (i.e. keeping my head up, not focusing on the task). I am now being told I absolutely cannot task, only interact with guests. And when I am not interacting with guests I should be talking to my cashiers, teaching them how to interact with guests. Thing is, with the exception of a few people, all of our team members are VERY good with guests, and those select few are getting better. I feel that if our store leadership (including my ETL-GE) would spend time up at the checklanes they would realize that.

The part that sticks in my craw is the fact that due to some corporate edict (or at least that's what they are telling me) is I get the schedule, which is something I did and did well, taken away from me. They say only ETLs are supposed to touch the schedule and TLs should have no part of it. They want to use that time for guest service. The GSTL who did the schedule before me took a good 8 hours to do the schedule every week (dunno what she did but I digress). It takes (or took) me 2 hours at best. Tell me how in the grad scheme of things does two hours affect legendary service? My ETL hates to do the schedule (she has told me such) and I am convinced we will have more issues now.

I could go on, but I won't. Now, Don't get me wrong, I love the fact things are changing to a more guest focused environment, I do pretty well with that myself. Other people in my store, well, it'll be a culture shock for sure. It needs to be a shift in focus, not a seismic shift, as my ETL refers to it. I am all about the guest all the time, it's part of my job title for pete's sake, but I like the extra parts that make my job bearable, too.

I totally disagree with the scheduling being taken away from the people who know what is needed too. I was very concerned about my ETL writing for my teams. After chatting with him, I am still writing it, he is just popping it into mytime. I know when mytime initially rolled out we were just suppose to go with whatever it pulled....um no! Just like with any new process there will be growing pains and it can never be a one size fits all. But I like the direction. I like that at least they are acknowledging we need to change. And I think the guest service focus is the key. We have been so task oriented for so long. People are more concerned about finishing a task (and usually rightly so) because they will catch hell if they don't. My last store actually coached if you did not say, word for word "CIHYFS" With the shift in how America shops we have to do something and I think this is a very good start

 

[Bosch]

My favorite piece of corporate b.s. is how they want a hotel lobby at guest service yet my store switched to 4am so there are pallets, cages and carts all over the floor when we open at 7am until about 10 as an A plus volume store.

Yep that says - we don't give a fuck about you trying to shop.

 

[oath2order]

My last store actually coached if you did not say, word for word "CIHYFS"

ASANTS

 

[tinkerbell333]

My favorite piece of corporate b.s. is how they want a hotel lobby at guest service yet my store switched to 4am so there are pallets, cages and carts all over the floor when we open at 7am until about 10 as an A plus volume store.

Yes! I remember when stock, cages & pallets on the floor after open was unacceptable. We switched from 4 am to 6 am a few years ago and the Flow team still routinely bowls out areas that they aren't even going to start pushing until after we open.

 

[tinkerbell333]

The next time I hear, "Ridiculous! 24 lanes and only 2 open!" or, "It's getting as bad as Walmart!" I'll say,"But did you see our guest service counter? What's wrong with you? It's pristine!!!!!"

"It's STERILE!" Yeah that will bring the guests in in droves!

 

[redeye58]

I'm sure they mean 'sterile' as in modern/minimalist, sleek lines.
Might be difficult to achieve in older stores that are still rockin' old fixtures & are in desperate need of a makeover more than just skin-deep.
If corp wants us to be 'guest-focused', they'll need to invest in adequate staffing levels like we USED to have.
It was one of the concepts that set us apart from Wally-World.

 

[HRZone]

. I am now being told I absolutely cannot task, only interact with guests. And when I am not interacting with guests I should be talking to my cashiers, teaching them how to interact with guests. Thing is, with the exception of a few people, all of our team members are VERY good with guests, and those select few are getting better. I feel that if our store leadership (including my ETL-GE) would spend time up at the checklanes they would realize that.

Congratulations, you are now the "mayor" of Target. Ya know, except with crappy pay.

I feel for you, my GSTL is an excellent multi tasker. Having him stand at the front lanes pointing to self checkout is as neutering as having our TPS check receipts.

 

[OnTarget]

I keep hearing about focusing on "Guest experience" at my store. I'm brand new here, just thought I would jump in.

 

[Ahem]

In the fr it's the same as the stuff they try to change every year. They want us talking more, walking them to rooms, knowing where everything is located, be a style guru, get them sizes, smile constantly, no more standing behind a desk, and they did a makeover to the fitting room. I think they were going for like high end spa waiting room or something. Our carpet is like 15 years old though. It's kinda gross.

They want us to treat the guests like they're treated in fancier stores that have less foot traffic and better staffing.

 

[BullseyeBabe]

Have any of you heard anything about more staffing? More payroll? I think that is the only change that will actually make a difference.

Most of us would love to provide the kind of guest experience we used to but it takes actual people with actual hours.

 

[HRZone]

What are they doing with their reshop then??

And cashiers are doing returns at their check lanes???

Immediately to the floor. Cashier's can do simple returns at the lanes correct.

 

[Marcellow]

What are they doing with their reshop then??

And cashiers are doing returns at their check lanes???

My store now does sorting reshop, chargebacks and foreign in a section of the backroom.

 

[Ahem]

What are they doing with their reshop then??

My store switched to short storage bins instead of carts so the guests just can't see them lol. It's annoying. They fill up very quickly and we've been busy lately. It's fine when it's slow. I think it's working out better in hardlines.

Have any of you heard anything about more staffing? More payroll? I think that is the only change that will actually make a difference.

Most of us would love to provide the kind of guest experience we used to but it takes actual people with actual hours.

SL in my store got more hours and we're hiring. Supposed to be due to the end to end thing and providing better service. My hours are down on the new schedule though so I'm assuming we'll be back to low hours but with lots of TMs soon :/

Whenever these changes happen, we start off so strong and then 3 weeks later it looks like nothing changed.

 

[Octavian11]

I write the schedule for my store and recently while going over pre-plan notes with the STL, they told me that negative Flex hours are gone and 50% of positive Flex hours for making sales are protected and won't be taken away if earned. So, we can safely use our entire weekly budget and not have to sweat about banking hours or asking the team to cut during the last week of the month if sales are down. The charge off hours for setting up/training the new GOM (grocery operating model) are also pretty generous.

 

[Yetive]

Yeah, the negative flex thing is awesome. Just make sure there aren't tons of punch corrections. There will be hell to pay for missing payroll now!

 

[Frontlanegirl]

Immediately to the floor. Cashier's can do simple returns at the lanes correct.

Problem is there is no simple return. This is just opening a can of worms by allowing cashier's to do "simple returns". What is the definition of a simple return?

 

[HRZone]

Problem is there is no simple return. This is just opening a can of worms by allowing cashier's to do "simple returns". What is the definition of a simple return?

Something that doesn't need to be defected/salvage going immediately to reshop.

 

[Doglover89]

Most of us would love to provide the kind of guest experience we used to but it takes actual people with actual hours.

Just said this exact line to my TL the other day. A couple minutes later I heard her say to another TL "so doglover brought up a good point just before."smh.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

Something that doesn't need to be defected/salvage going immediately to reshop.

So how is this determination made when the guest gets in line? I can see the free for all now by allowing guests to do a return at the check lanes. I know how slow they can be determining which card they used for the purchase, where their receipt is, or is not, and if their receipt matches what they have.

 

[Amanda Cantwell]

My store doesn't do this. We have to send all returns and price matches to GS. A lot of cashiers aren't coded for GS.