Mar 29 2007
Less Is More?
It appears that consumer electronics retailer Circuit City feels they have a brilliant idea as shown in this article. Here is basically what they want to do: fire about 8% of it’s work force, give them a few weeks of severance pay, then allow them the option to reapply for the same positions albeit at a much lower rate of pay. Their justification for doing this is that these employees are overpaid.
Have you been in a Circuit City store lately? I picked up a few things from there over Christmas last year. The prices were good and they even had an option where you could pay for it online and walk into the store with the proper credentials and pick up your item without a wait. The reality was quite different from the ideal.
First off, I should note that I’ve worked in this field before. Even when I was doing very well, at no point would I ever have considered myself to be over payed. My pay and benefits were paltry compared to what others get for doing less. I eventually made a career change and even though I’m not making great money, it’s far more rewarding and less stressful than my retail sales career ever was.
Running a consumer electronics business can be a tricky venture to say the least. I got to look at actual balance sheets each month for many years, and one year you could be golden whereas next your could be rotten. Consumer tastes change on a dime and trying to keep up with it gets more difficult all the time. There is a crisis mentality all the time just so retailers can stay afloat.
What really hurts more is that retailers have decided that keeping a happy and stable work force is no longer something they should pursue. As a result, most stores are understaffed and the quality of the staff is very poor. Simple questions go unanswered, rarely does anyone approach you unless you stare at big ticket items, and expertise is a long forgotten concept.
My experience at Circuit City last Christmas season really reminded of how bad things have really gotten. I purposefully tried to be there at non-peak times and still had to wait on average between 45 minutes to an hour each time. The staffing was minimal that I was beginning to think that location had started to experiment with self checkout on a full scale. I was never acknowledged at the counter and not once did anyone ever thank me for my purchase. All it did was reinforce my belief that spending the extra for shipping from another online retailer will be the way to go next year.
I would challenge anyone to examine the pay stub for these folks and find a way to justify that they are getting paid too much. Compare their health benefits with yours and the difference can be appalling. When companies do things like this, it’s no wonder people there don’t care. It’s always the trickle down effect at work.
My prediction is that Circuit City will join the ever growing graveyard of big box retailers who just couldn’t get it right. As for the employees, I suggest doing something to get your message across and using your feet to make a statement. There is better work out there and the sooner you seek it out, the better you will be.