Joined: 17 Feb 2009
Posts: 15
| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:12 am Post subject: Can't trust associates anymore!!! | |
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This past Monday, I was talking to 3 fellow members of Lowe's. 2 of them I known since I started out over 5 yrs ago. I was telling them what I heard from their fellow workers about a new employee. Within about 15 minutes, HR told me that I am not to mention or spread rumors about another employee. I informed HR about hearing from another employee and also the employee envolved what I heard. HR told me to mine my own business and not worry about it. She said all of this on the sales floor around customers. I ask her straight up whats going on. I ask her all of a sudden your after me. She wrote me up one day and another day this. She was watching out for Lowe's. HR lady was a cashier about two years. Power trip?
I was pissed and ask the three associates who ratted on me and denied it. So now on, I watch out for myself!!! I believe that I am a target to be fired!!! Whats your opinion? |
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Joined: 18 Jul 2008
Posts: 143
Location: Region 1
| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:37 am Post subject: | |
| My opinion is DON'T GOSSIP at work - period. Don't even LISTEN to gossip. It will always be overheard by someone or get back to someone and come back to bite you in the ass. I know .... it's happened to me before in my youthful working career and I learned from it - the hard way. | |
Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 90
| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:32 am Post subject: | |
| You have a " cashier now becomes HR" also? We have one too. I thought some sort of education plus experience level was required for the HR job. I guess rules and qualifications are "out the window" at Lowes. But what else is new? | |
Joined: 22 Dec 2007
Posts: 445
| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:18 pm Post subject: | |
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HR is going to probably be the next position to really be axed at least on the store level.
I can't picture any store that need a hr ALL the time. Sure for times of mass hiring but outside of that it would be harrasement and that's not enough of a percentage to warrent that position. |
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Joined: 01 Feb 2008
Posts: 497
| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:42 pm Post subject: | |
| I agree with the don't gossip quote above. I was walking past a cashier who recently transferred to our store. There was someone in the store looking for one of our associates. This cashier asked me if this was the person's "partner" because they had listened to gossip about someone's sexual orientation. I just looked at the cashier like "you've got to be kidding me" and walked off. It's none of my business who is married or sleeping with anyone. I just figured it isn't any business of anyone else either. | |
Joined: 24 Jan 2008
Posts: 3
| Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:19 am Post subject: | |
| we all must work at the same store. My HR was a cashier then HR too. She is one of the worst HR managers I have ever had with any company I have ever worked for. she goes to church with the District HR guy so she is safe no matter what happens. We used to call him and complain until we found out they were friends, Now we call the 800 number, that way he can't sweep it under the rug and hide it. But she is called the WITCH of THE SOUTH at Lowes and she rides her broom to work every day then beats us over the head with it when she is at work. No one can stand her. I have thought about transfering to another store just becuase of her. What a waste of human flesh. | |
Joined: 18 Jul 2008
Posts: 143
Location: Region 1
| Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 6:45 am Post subject: | |
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One of the problems with HRM's is that many of them have no degree in HR management. Half of them couldn't manage their way out of a paper bag. I don't know whether Lowe's has instituted a standard now that requires all newly hired HRM's to have a college degree or not, but if they haven't they should.
The point might be moot because I think it's likely that Lowe's will soon eliminate all HRM's at the store level, ala Home Depot, and move those duties to a District HRM job position (too many stores for the AHRM to cover). Especially if we have a bad couple of consecutive quarters. Really, who needs a store HRM? I bet in 10+ years I haven't gone back there 5 times to ask them a question. Most of the stuff you need is on myloweslife now. Any new hires could be handled at the District level as could any serious complaints about co-workers, etc. Having store HRM's is a colossal waste of money (1600+ stores x $50K (average annual salary) = $80 million). Huge chunk of change. |
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Joined: 22 Jun 2008
Posts: 98
| Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 1:49 pm Post subject: | |
| 80 million dollars is about one days gross sales. Wow....thats a lot of cash! | |
Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 54
| Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 7:57 pm Post subject: | |
OK, so they lose the HR's. Who would benefit? Does anyone really think they would reallocate that money towards the sales floor? I'm sure it worked that way at Depot.  A lot of HR work is behind the scenes. Just because one person doesn't need them doesn't mean another doesn't. I understand there are bad HR's. Just like there are bad SM's, Ops, Sales, Zones, Dept Managers, Specialists, and yes, even CSA's. But there are a lot of good ones too.
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Joined: 22 Dec 2007
Posts: 445
| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 2:07 am Post subject: | |
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Most major HR work could be done on the district level. Top management probably could be taught to deal with harrasement.
Even if someone was only making say 40K as a hr think of how many stores....500 stores maybe? I don't know how many stores....that can add up as a chain. Any business would want to cut out people that are not being billible. Are they bringing money into the business...yes or no? If Hr is to prevent lawsuits well it can't since the memo came out years ago that anything that threatens legal action has to go to corporate. Stores are not allowed to hire their own legal defense teams. |
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Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 54
| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 4:13 am Post subject: | |||
HR prevents lawsuits by making sure the actions of managers during interviews and disciplinary actions follow federal guidelines to prevent discrimination. Can a lot of the HR position work be done at the district level? Sure. But would it truly be more efficient to rent an office with the medical files and employee records for every employee in the district instead of at the store level? You would have to have them available on the district level, and there are no district offices. I don't think there is a store that has the room for the 15-25 file cabinets needed for a districts worth of employees. And every time there was an investigation, they would have to drive to the store to interview the employees involved? I just can't see where the company would save money overall by eliminating the position. |
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Joined: 18 Jul 2008
Posts: 143
Location: Region 1
| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 9:58 am Post subject: | |||
Seems to have worked pretty well for Depot. |
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Joined: 01 Feb 2008
Posts: 497
| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 3:23 pm Post subject: | |||||
Why do we want to follow Depot in everything they do? They have eliminated a very large portion of their appliance brands. They now carry very little in the stores. As the number 2 appliance retailer, why do you think we should follow their lead in each move they have made? Hr's are there to try to prevent possible litigious situations. There are certain issues that managers should not have access to at all. One of the main things is our medical records. What if an employee is injured on the job? Can you see a manager being objective when it is costing them money to have that employee out of the store while injured? No, they would retailiate in a heartbeat. Many stores have already seen this happen. When someone is injured suddenly, instead of being the glory guy they are now just some schmuck costing the store money. |
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Joined: 18 Jul 2008
Posts: 143
Location: Region 1
| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 5:14 pm Post subject: | |||||||
I didn't say we follow Depot in EVERYTHING they do. I said Lowe's is likely to follow HD in eliminating the HR store position, especially if we have a bad consecutive couple of quarters. Lowe's doesn't' keep your medical records, nor have access to them at any time, unless you begin a workers comp claim or initiate a lawsuit. HIPAA laws prevail. If someone is injured on the job, right now that goes right up to the District level, and if necessary, beyond. All the store HR manager does is begin the paperwork. That is basically what they are anyway - a paper shuffler. That paper shuffling could be done, like Depot is doing, at a higher level, by one person overseeing the HR responsibilities of a number of stores. |
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Joined: 01 Feb 2008
Posts: 497
| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:27 am Post subject: | |
| BWT, I'm going to say that there is probably a huge reason why the medical things are not done at the store level. The level of confidentiality is absurd. I've had store managers go into the office and be caught looking through the medical records. Yes, there are medical records to the extent if you are out for surgery the doctor has to sign a release and return to work form. Many people think that it is their business why someone is out. It isn't. I understand HIPPA and all but I think the main reason Lowe's went to having Liberty Mutual handle things is because they wanted the lowest cost service provider for a job that they are paying HRM's to do, but they are not able to do them correctly. It is a sad day indeed when one can't voice a concern to hr and then has to fear being retaliated against in the near future. | |
Joined: 22 Dec 2007
Posts: 445
| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:15 pm Post subject: | |
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"HR prevents lawsuits by making sure the actions of managers during interviews and disciplinary actions follow federal guidelines to prevent discrimination."
Which explains why nearly every store I've seen in my state is breaking state laws. HR can't prevent lawsuits because frankly there's no educational requirement to become one. HR doesn't know laws and there's nothing on paper to really say they do. "Can a lot of the HR position work be done at the district level? Sure. But would it truly be more efficient to rent an office with the medical files and employee records for every employee in the district instead of at the store level? You would have to have them available on the district level, and there are no district offices. I don't think there is a store that has the room for the 15-25 file cabinets needed for a districts worth of employees. And every time there was an investigation, they would have to drive to the store to interview the employees involved? " Well given how low commerical real estate is these days I'd say the answer is yes. There's so much for property around you can ger these cheap. Offices were rented before stores were opened as interviews near me didn't occur at other stores. Gas is cheaper than it was in the past year as well. You figure a car gets 30mpg and I highly doubt a district for the most part would require a drive across being more than 30 miles. So even if gas goes up to $2.50 a gallon that means it's only a $5 transportation cost to prevent a lawsuit. "I just can't see where the company would save money overall by eliminating the position." 1) there isn't that many lawsuits to start with 2) there isn't that many harrasement suits I crunched some numbers and I'd say there's around 1700 stores. I'm willing to give a low estimate of maybe 40K a year. That's 68 MILLION dollars they could save by doing this. Are there any lawsuits that even come close to 68 million against the company? No there is not... |
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Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 54
| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:46 pm Post subject: | |
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And maybe the reason there's not lawsuits is because of the HR's.
As I said earlier, it's not like they would give the stores additional positions if they closed the HR slot. and I don't know where the 'no experience' to be an HR came from. that might have been the past, but not anymore: 3 years of HR Generalist experience and/or secondary education with a concentration in an Human Resource discipline is required. PHR Certification is strongly preferred and will be considered equivalent to 1 year of the minimum experience required. Retail experience, 4-year undergraduate degree preferred source: http://careers.diversityinc.com/careers/jobsearch/detail?jobId=15771751&utm_source=SimplyHired&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=SimplyHired |
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Joined: 03 Dec 2008
Posts: 15
| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:47 pm Post subject: | |||
How do you figure? Do you work there? I have friends who work there that agree the whole thing has become a major clusterf*ck. And seriously, doing things the Home Depot way does not usually benefit Lowes---IMHO. |
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Joined: 22 Dec 2007
Posts: 445
| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:00 pm Post subject: | |
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But it says preferred and doesn't say required...
I've worked in offices that have employed as many people as a lowes store and there wasn't a hr in every office. If the place had tons of problems everyplace then yes I could see lowes needing that but that's not really the case. I can't see how HR can prevent a lawsuit. I don't see hr on the selling floor or going over that much. I can see for harrsements but those are rare and certainly wouldn't warrent an entire position. Also remember after the myloweslife site went on that was made pretty much to replace hr on the store level. If you have a question about the stock plan or the 401k you don't ask hr...they wouldn't know... After someone is hired when would they actually need to see hr? milage reports are online and don't require hr. Heck how many projects even take place these days. The bottom line is the company would save money. I can't think that many retailers that would need a hr on the store level. Also the description is different here http://careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/client_lowes/int1067855152/jobDetails.do?functionName=getJobDetail&jobPostId=127002&localeCode=en-us "Must have 3 years HR Generalist experience with Lowe's or 3+ years HR Generalist experience with another Home Center and/or Mass Retailer." It doesn't mension anything with a degree there and this is directly from lowe's own site. It varies on location. Chances are they could simply have the hr's become zm's. Heck I know of one that stepped down to become a specialist (less hours and maybe more money) |
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Joined: 18 Jul 2008
Posts: 143
Location: Region 1
| Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:28 am Post subject: | |||||
I have friends who work at Depot too and they tell me that nobody even knows the store HR person went MIA ... that's how much they're missed. If the move that eliminated their HR person was a disaster, you better believe that Depot would remedy it - and quick. |
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Joined: 22 Dec 2007
Posts: 445
| Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 4:19 pm Post subject: | |
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I should also note that I've seen HR's have people as assistance (part time) I don't see the logic of this in itself. I thought HR was a salary position. To hire someone in addition to a salary job for the same role is a bit odd.
Maybe they could simply make HR to be a part time position... |
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Joined: 01 Feb 2008
Posts: 497
| Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 4:34 pm Post subject: | |
| Mdovell, Most stores have done away with that ptc position. That was the personell training coordinatior position. The HRM should have no problem performing those functions in addition to being on their personal cell phone all of the time. | |
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Joined: 22 Dec 2007
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| Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 12:00 am Post subject: | |||||
I don't see how you can have that many employees. Maybe if the store is a 80 million or level 5 but there's only a handful of places for those. |
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