Thread regarding Sears layoffs

I’m not really sure honestly. When it came to salaried management, transfers were very common and almost exclusively used. When it came to hourly, 99% of the time it was quit/get laid off & reapply to a different location. There were incredibly rare instances where transfers were allow for hourly (sometimes hard working employees who proved themselves during a store closing would be asked to close multiple stores). I was asked to close the last two Kmarts in our market after I closed my store. I declined because closing my store, full of 50 years worth of cr-p in every corner of every hidden stockroom was enough for me!

@1fpo+1d8SuJul Thanks for the explanation, and I totally believe you since you were there a lot more recently than me. I worked for Kmart, over 20 Years ago, in 2000 (well before the Sears merger), and back then it was common to transfer assistant managers/managers, between stores. Of course, back then, there were a lot of stores to transfer people back and forth from. In fact, when the Vails Gate NY store (a failed concept that soon closed) opened in 2001, they were looking for volunteers to transfer there. I left in 2001, so I have no idea what the company did after that point.

Just curious, do you Know why they switched to this no-transfer system? What is the point of making someone (who is willing to transfer) re-apply for a job? Just seems like an extra exercise, but there must be some method to the madness.

They do not transfer anyone. I was told this years ago, you are always welcome to reply and as long as you are rehired within 90 days you also get to keep your original hire date. It is possible and very likely that they have associates in mind to take on at the other location, but they still need to open a req (job posting) so that the person can apply and be hired at the other store. Just because a job opening is available doesn’t mean that it is really open to the public, they just have to “advertise” it. We would do this from time to time. A store closed and we wanted an associate and the associate wanted to come to our store. We opened a rec for them to apply, yes we got other applicants, we just never called them for an interview.

Because it would be too logical.

@pvz+1d8SuJul Any idea why they do it that way? Makes no sense, especially if they need people next door.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think when a store closes, they simply lose their job. An example: Years ago, in Tinley Park, IL, when Kmart closed their store because they opened a new Super Kmart across the street, the employees were not "transferred" to the new store. They were welcome to "apply" for a position at the new store. Such gratitude for years of service!

No idea. You would think they would have at least some people from the closed store, that would be willing to transfer to the nearby open store, so I agree, this is ridiculous.