In terms of sick pay and vacation time;
"There is no legal requirement in California that an employer provide its employees with either paid or unpaid vacation time."
So then why are Team Members within my CA store eligible for both?
I have never seen sick hours available on my check in TX in the combined 8 years I've worked at Target. Not even the first 5 years where I was getting 40 hours a week.
For medical benefits;
Well, they're there and they've been there for quite a while. I have a friend that works for Disney and because of the new Obamacare laws they've actually CUT hours in order to avoid the legal obligation to provide health insurance. Disney, another large corporation, would rather cut hours than pay for your health insurance. Target offered insurance to its TM's before this after an average of 21 hours worked per week.
The point I'm trying to make is that yes, the medical benefits aren't 5 star, but Target went above what the law requires to offer them to its Team Members while other corporations would rather cut hours to avoid it. Most stores (at least mine) TRY to schedule you at your 21 hour mark if they know you're enrolled in a benefits program.
And I have seen active pushes to make sure as few TMs as possible get above 21 hours. When I was a backroom TL, I was told I needed to hire more people because too many of them were hitting that mark despite the fact we were already somewhat overstaffed. I didn't have the hours for most of my team to get a livable paycheck and I'm supposed to cut them even further to make sure they didn't get benefits? F--- that.
That was one of the biggest reasons that when a better job came around, I took it without a second thought.
Like I said before, if you aren't satisfied with these benefits there's no reason you shouldn't be able to search for employment with a company that offers benefits similar to your tastes.
Most people don't have the luxury of doing that. The job market is still in a crappy place for workers. Target is far from the only retailer that treats its employees like crap and finding a job at retailers that are known for great pay and benefits (Costco and I've heard Aldi is great too) is very difficult since positions are few and far between. Retail work doesn't translate very well into other industries other than maybe warehouses.
I used to want to move up at Target. I like working retail and Target used to be a decent paying company that seemed to actually give a crap about its employees. Then over the years, I saw them cutting more and more and more out despite our volume increasing from an A store when we opened to AAA in the space of 4 years. I saw various situations like I listed above that basically said "Yeah, the benefits are there but we want to ensure that very few get them".
I once got told that I had to cut my best TM's review down from an O to an EX because "No one gets an O." and I better find something he did wrong over the year to justify it.
I noticed things like still shoving the credit card in everyone's faces despite the fact that many people were drowning in debt (right before the collapse). But who cares? We hit our numbers!
I noticed that in the space of 10 years, base pay only increased by 7% while inflation increased by 30%.
I saw them decide that experience no longer matters when you have a literal glut of college kids looking for jobs. Nothing motivates employees like being told "You're no longer in the running to pick up ETL despite your x years of retail experience, y years of Target experience, and z years of leadership experience. Come meet this 22 year old with an Art degree that has never worked a day in her life. She's the new ETL-HL."
All of that and more was what led me to abandon all ideas of ever moving up within the company. Even though I only have a year or so left to finish my degree, I wouldn't want to be an ETL unless it was the only job I could get.
