Revolving Door

I used to work at a JCP in the southeast and was thinking about compensation for store associates. At my store (and many others I'm sure), I knew many associates that were barely making $9 per hour. As we all know, the company will pay associates $2 for every credit application completed.

Let's say an associate averages 25 hours a week over the course of a year (which might be a stretch to begin with). If said associate took one credit app per each hour worked, they would be at 1,300 (25 per week X 52 weeks) credit apps for the entire year! And let's say that this associate only made $9 an hour...that extra $2 dollars per hour would put them at an average of $11/hour for the entire year.

Now consider that Walmart is starting associates at $11 per hour without the need to push tons of credit just to get a "raise". Other companies like Target and Costco start their hourlies off even higher.

We all like to discuss layoffs and corporate debt but I think the company needs to take a look at store compensation and culture. This company has a serious wage issue when associates have to pull thousands of credit apps every year just to have a shot at a decent wage.

This company has a broken culture and hourly compensation is a big reason why. Might be why most new associates didn't stay longer than a month or two during the end of my tenure at JCP.

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Sadly I think it's too little too late, the stock just declined to 72 cents a share as of today. 10 days in to the 30 day delisting from the NYSE. Some management changes are happening again. More leaving and more coming in. At the very least the company is heading to a chapter 11 BK with many store closings hppanieng. Predictions are showing 100 more store closings this year. The AXE is coming down soon and hard.

I love JCP... Ive worked for the company for quite a few years. We have seen a lot of changes in those years. I am still hopefull though. I wish they would go back to The Golden Rule for associates and customers. We need to go back to basics... I am keeping my fingers crossed and hope we can emerge from the waters we are in.
This is a family store and we do care about people. I wish I could make suggestions, because those of us that work here have some great ideas..

JCP pay is pretty awful, on the entry level and management side. Starting pay is $9 an hour at my store vs $12 an hour at Walmart and $13 at Target. Next year Target is moving to $15 an hour. At this point in time though I think a higher wage would bankrupt the company. Recently my district has moved to a two coupon per customer policy and no receipt returns/exchanges now have to be approved by an MOD. All security privileges have been removed except for top store management. In the past six months we've had a lot of associates including management move to other companies. Mostly Walmart and Belk. I think every associate, even the store manager knows we are on a sinking ship. The things the company are trying to do aren't effective though. JCP has sadly lost touch with associates and customers. I've heard from many co workers that they are looking for other jobs or just sticking around until the store closes.

Thread regarding JCPenney layoffs

Revolving Door

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