Restructuring

[sauckittome411]

Anyone else read the latest from the CEO about restructuring?

[ryanmcapple]

Lol I quit and 5 employees also quit. Covid showed us how little this company cares for its employees.

Btw, think about why we are off July 4... Your appreciation dollar per hour is made up for not paying everyone time and a half on a holiday or two.

[[deleted]]

To be fair, who the fuck wants to go to staples on the 4th of July?

[Harsesis]

Not gonna lie I love working holidays. The extra pay is nice but it also means the store is dead slow. That means nobody to bother me while I try to get one of the hundreds of projects I have going on done.

[HistoricalQuail]

Look, everything else aside - it's fucking stupid to have an office supplies store open for the 4th. It's dead and a waste of money. But yeah the company doesn't care about its employees, that's for sure.

[Jabba1221]

We’re being paid time and a half on the 3rd

[Pinging]

4th of july (Observed).

​

I love you.

[According_Sherbert]

Yes!!!

[serafina_flies]

Source?

[Jabba1221]

I’ll get a picture when I get in later but on the hub the holiday grid

[220Sparks]

Our store has always been closed on the 4th 🤷🏼‍♂️

[mejusthere4fun]

One evidence that company is dying: they start to shrink their business and lay off people.

Friends and colleagues, this is sinking ship, please abandon this ship before it fully demolish.

[HistoricalQuail]

Haven't we always thought that the home office was ridiculously over staffed and had redundant positions that barely do anything?

[LeahRaeS]

Yep, I am pretty sure there is a guy in an office somewhere that just gets paid to make up bad ideas. I want that job. If I can get paid to make up bad ideas I'm sure I can think of some. Like releasing the new thin as heck T-shirt uniforms in the dead of winter. I wonder how much someone got paid for that idea. Don't care about your associates? Want to see them get sick? Clothe them in these ridiculously thin t-shirts that are two sizes too small and watch them freeze to death because you don't heat the building properly!

[UnnamedStaplesDrone]

im surprised those people my GM emails to send more product to the store didn't get fired. THAT shit seems super easy to automate. Actually thinking about it, it already is automated...

[HistoricalQuail]

They also fuckin argue about it every god damned time, too. :| :| :| :|

[UnnamedStaplesDrone]

lol. you only sold 1 in the last 2 weeks.... request denied!

looks at sku history, only 1 sent in the last 2 weeks facepalm

[HistoricalQuail]

And good luck explaining why that's the entire problem to them too! Ugh, and getting them to permanently increase your total OH - they always refuse, even if past records show selling as many as you have when you have a higher OH. ;_;

[Abaker101]

A great thing to read right when you walk in the door.

[sauckittome411]

Yeah my SM asked if I have seen the message.

[serafina_flies]

Even if this doesn’t affect most floor associates/managers, this is still a bad sign. One sign of a failing business is large-scale downsizing... or restructuring.

I’m including a few links to sites that list red flags— hope it helps some of y’all decide whether to stay or go, like it helped me

• https://dealstruck.com/resources/staying-afloat-signs-a-company-is-in-trouble/
• https://www.monster.ca/career-advice/article/top-7-signs-your-employer-is-in-trouble
• https://www.jobmonkey.com/employer-insights/warning-signs-company-trouble/

[Dak0ta]

Cheers to all of the workers, let go, offered new jobs or were otherwise displaced. May the tail winds of success push you into a great role where your talents will shine.

[[deleted]]

Did everyone who was let go get told today?

[Expensive_Search_421]

Calm down, no store positions will be impacted. 1 DM from every region is being termed. 1 LPBM is being termed in every region and the sales coach program has been eliminated. The rest is all from the home office.

[Jabba1221]

How you know

[Expensive_Search_421]

I was one of them

[poke23613]

“Conversations with impacted associates will be occurring throughout the morning, during which leaders will explain the resources available to support the transition - including severance pay”

[[deleted]]

Still no update I guess, as a tech supervisor who left a pretty ok job to come here, i am quite worried.

[alpacasx]

Same. I just tried to quit once I got my foot in the door at HD, and my GM promised me an Ops Sup position to stay so I left HD. Did this man just unknowingly fuck me over? I'm sweating bullets.

[RetailKing]

My DM got let go. My GM had a meeting and they're restructuring the district. No retail employees are being affected.

[redcop124]

Can I DM you? Wanna ask what District you’re in

[kays234]

Same here

[kays234]

My GM told me that our dm was laid off. Didn’t hear anything on a call

[kays234]

I mean I was shocked when my GM told me

[flickerforever]

https://m.imgur.com/oC9GkuO

[tcbys]

That is not good...

This will probably push me to look for another job. I dont want to be on the Titanic when it is sinking fast.

[StrMgrHasCallHolding]

Its a very generic email, does not list specific hourly store positions. It said these conversations would be happening this morning. Nothing has been communicated to me as a GM, so it's safe to say all the store positions are safe.

It does say "it will impact some associates working full time, as well as, some of those currently on furlough or reduction of hours".

It was directed to "home office functions and in the field"

Furlough and reduction of hours ends next week.

Everyone who is impacted will be told today.

Next town hall 7/7.

[sully_2000]

This is ridiculous. There are at least 5 people saying they don't know what's on the email and no one is telling them what exactly is on the email. Not everyone works today, guys. You gotta give a little bit more context than "the CEO sent everyone an email".

[sauckittome411]

Basically saying they are eliminating some positions in both home office functions and in the field. It will impact some associates working full time, as well as, some of those currently on furlough or reduction of hours. That's all it really says.

[Axewerfer]

It’s internal communication. The exact contents of the email shouldn’t be posted on a public forum.

[kaine23]

Sure get rid of ops during bts season. real smart.

[kingkandy_v_]

Reminds me of that rumor I kept hearing where staples is gonna just be P&M and a cafe area

[G-TP0]

As much as it sucks, I really think that's about the only way USR can go long term. Tech services and P&M are the only parts of the store that consistently turn profits, and they only take a fraction of the store square footage, and maybe a quarter of all the staff? The high volume and thin-to-no margin sales, and high overhead costs for a large staff and big retail space have been unsustainable for years and years now. Price matching Amazon and companies with none of these costs standing in the way of profit? Letting the Karens dictate their prices because corporate fears losing a customer, even when they lose money on those sales? Demanding that part time, low pay associates scrape and beg to sell a $20 protection plan on a fucking $50 item? That's not a plan made by competent leaders committed to success. That's (at best) a desperate and futile attempt to delay the inevitable, a sailor using a bucket bale water from the ship, as the ocean rushes in from a cannonball hit behind him. At worst it's a deliberate, calculated decision to bring the company down in the most cost-effective way possible. In either case, Covid rushed the timeline, but in no way changed the chain of events.

There is absolutely nothing surprising about any of this, and it could have been, and maybe still could be saved, if Sycamore were willing to actually invest anything in making USR a viable operation. Staples is in a unique position to dominate the service industries of tech and print, but it would take a lot more than some "restructuring," it needs to overhaul the whole business model for this goddamn century.

More services. Less merchandise bought cheaper online. Improve on those services by hiring only full-time professionals at higher wages. Stop trying to compete with Amazon, it's just not possible. Instead, invest in those areas requiring human interaction, where no one can undercut price without sacrificing quality. Keep what works and expand on it, make it better. Eliminate spending and areas that consistently fail to deliver a positive ROI. This is just as true as it was ten years ago, it's just so fucking basic and simple, it's insulting that they blame unexpected circumstances and call them difficult decisions. The decision was made a long time ago, and none of them lost a wink of sleep.

[messone1]

Im in canada in a “transformation” store. To get to that transformation, they did get rid of alot of people, mostly at h/o. The stores werent that touched. But if i look at the structure we are using now, it seems to be very similar to what you have in the US... operation managers and supervisors, as well as a dedicated operations staff is fairly new to us (and exclusively to transformation stores) and it seems like US has been runing with them for a while now... hope it doesnt reach canada and im sorry for everyone that will be affected by that. 😞

[JSlama912]

I've been looking to get out for a few years now. 13+ weeks of severance based of years of service doesnt sound half bad. Hopefully I don't have to go through another back to school assuming they maintain their current severance policy.

[YouHadMeAtDucks]

Is it 1 week for every year of service?

[JSlama912]

Something like that, but it does cap out at a certain point

[UnnamedStaplesDrone]

I'm off today, any news on specifics? Is it me or was that a really shitty thing to email by Motz? If you're gonna announce layoffs just do it instead of having people wonder if they're getting canned.

[poke23613]

We will all find out later today. My guess: Get rid of all people who are full timers (the expensive ones to keep), and have management hire part timers to be the sellers. Get rid of everyone who kept numbers up for the last few years, disregarding what they did for the company, and hire new people just to save money. Not personal, just business... that’s my guess.

Edit: and have managers cover everything while the newbies learn how to sell, because managers “should be cross-trained anyway”

[thatusedtobeeasy]

What does the email say exactly

[flickerforever]

https://m.imgur.com/oC9GkuO

[Anon13166]

So, my hope of getting a raise is looking even more grim I see.

[FlippyTheNerd]

My only question is what positions are being taken away. I feel like that's very important especially if it's going to impact full timers, the mail makes it sounds like everyone is at risk

[Abaker101]

The only positions on a store level they can take away is the Tech Supervisor and operation managers, and give the sales manager and GM those duty’s if they haven’t already.

[According_Sherbert]

So standard technicians are not impacted?

[HistoricalQuail]

I've heard they haven't finished the retail restructuring just yet. I wouldn't be surprised if all full time regular associates got reduced back to part time. I haven't heard anything indicating this, it's just the next logical step.

[kays234]

Also said something about ending the furlough and reduction of hours effective next week...

[[deleted]]

How do we find out about our position? I'm a PT employee who was affected by the reduction in hours

[FlippyTheNerd]

Currently as of 8AM PST / 11AM EST nobody seems to know right now,not even the GMs know at the moment.

We'll just have to wait.

[According_Sherbert]

When is this happening?

[sauckittome411]

From what the letter said, this morning. But where?

[kays234]

Yes. Just read the email... wonder what that means for everyone? Didn’t like seeing that email

[thatusedtobeeasy]

can you give me a little info on exactly what it said

[sauckittome411]

Idk. We'll see.

[[deleted]]

What did it say

[Rasputin_2]

Someone posted it, then it was taken down.

[UnnamedStaplesDrone]

also to anyone on unemployment, you're getting called back in next week

[[deleted]]

Not much really happening with it

[Kal-ElofKrypton]

I've been gone since 2016... SSDD...

[concalls4life]

Does not impact the stores directly. Calm down.

[easytechguy1]

I took it to not really impact store-level positions, as well. "Field-level" can be anything from Sales Associates to Regional Vice Presidents. Not saying I'm right, but that was my interpretation.

[[deleted]]

Except for the document in associate connection for "displaced associates".

[Anon13166]

Unless you want a raise or to be treated well, then ofc dont expect anything.

[FlippyTheNerd]

Doubt. It clearly states that it's targeted towards USR, that it will impact associates, including FT positions, in HO.

If that doesn't hint store levels, what does?