Last night my wife’s employer, Expo Design Center, called to tell her she needed to dial in to a conference this morning at 8 am. “The store’s closing and you’re getting laid off!” I said. Actually, not just her store. All 34 stores in the Home Depot subsidiary chain. She’s been there for about three years in tile and flooring sales; she enjoyed the job and her customers loved her. But I was really excited last night – and even more so this morning – when she got the news.
Before I explain why I was so pleased by the news of her layoff, there are some interesting things to say about Expo Design Center. This was an absolutely beautiful retail store with gorgeously displayed high-end merchandise, expert salespeople, and hapless management promulgating bizarre policies.
For example, salespeople were on straight salary, but had sales quotas to fulfill. However, there were no consequences if sales quotas weren’t achieved. Interestingly, the salespeople were often competitive with each other about hitting numbers even though they didn’t benefit or lose regardless of the outcome. So Expo, on one level, was pretty smart. They got people to act as if they were on an incentive plan even though they weren’t. Salespeople were told to get customers to sign up for credit cards, and whenever my wife remembered to ask the customer, they usually signed up. If Expo offered my wife $25 for each credit card signup, she would have asked every single time. They also pressured salespeople to sell Expo’s customized design services. As with credit cards, no incentive for success and no penalty for under-performing. So, no reason to remember to ask.
How is it that a company as big as Home Depot can miss the connection between pay and performance? Because there is no sense of entrepreneurship in this company. It’s pretty much like the military (not to take anything away from the military).
One more dumb practice: When a sales associate has been with the store for six months, she is eligible to apply for advancement—for example as a department supervisor. The supervisor has a hugely greater responsibility than the associate. They are directly responsible for sales performance, have to answer to store management directly, and are responsible for training new people in the department. And for this significant increase in responsibility, they are given…..50 cents an hour more. There is no doubt the store would have had more sales and better systems if my wife and others had stood up and agreed to become managers. But 50 cents?
Finally, why I am so glad: because she’s going to work with me on our business ventures, becoming part of the ongoing entrepreneuring of America. Her involvement will double our revenue in 18 months. And now she’s an owner, not an unappreciated employee.
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