Sorry, not a big fan of the whole Geico commercial series (though ABC thinks so highly of it that they’re willing to give the concept it’s own series…but I digress). But it seems terribly appropriate for what’s passing for management philosophy at Circuit City these days.
Andy Wibbels spots this one for us:
The electronics retailer, facing larger competitors and falling sales, said Wednesday that it would lay off about 3,400 store workers — immediately — and replace them with lower-paid new hires as soon as possible. The laid-off workers, about 8 percent of the company’s total work force, would get a severance package and a chance to reapply for their former jobs, at lower pay, after a 10-week delay, the company said. “We haven’t done something called (a) wage management initiative before,” said company spokesman Jim Babb. “All companies at one time or another need to go through and make sure their cost structure works with market conditions.” (emphasis by Andy)
All I can think is…are you frakking kidding me? So, Mr. Philip J. Schoonover, CEO (salary $ 1.42M) or Mr. Michael E. Foss, CFO (salary $1.02M), this is your latest clever idea of how to better your company’s bottom line? To take your most knowledgeable and capable people and replace them with anyone willing to start for peanuts? Allow me to paint a personal picture. When I know exactly what I want to buy in terms of electronics, games, cds, dvds, etc, I can go practically anywhere that gives me the lowest price. But when I need help understanding the various options of a mobile dvd system or digital camera and then making an informed purchase, I want an experienced salesperson to help me. God knows that Best Buy and Wal-Mart doesn’t have them, but I’ve always found one at Circuit City. Sirs, that is your competitive advantage in the marketplace. And now it appears you are willing to pitch all that in order to salvage your bottom line. Welcome back to the sad world of mediocrity. Too bad you have lot’s of company there.
You know, Kris...you may not even have to intentionally boycott. My guess is that if you walked into a store next week, you'll be met with inexperienced sales staff who know they're getting paid basement wages. Or a customer service staff who don't care enough about their company to bother caring for their customers. It's sad that this is a tactic still employed in the business world.
Consider this:
"It's workers as disposable commodities, put in and put out based on whatever happens to the stock price." - Greg Tarpinian, executive director of Change to Win.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Like