Growing inflation and rising gas prices are forcing customers to choose, making it a difficult time to be in the affordable luxury game. People need food and have to be able to get to work. When forced to decide between putting food on the table and fuel in the car versus buying a new pair of Levi's or shoes, people often find that going through a season with wearing last year’s styles the lesser of evils.
Calls and emails about controlling expenses, no overtime and shifts disappearing from schedules, a seemingly mad scramble to find ways to save every penny is starting to permeate the red star. We experienced many of these actions in the past, often prior to reorganizations and major changes in direction.
Payroll savings from streamlining related to Integrated Selling in June are expected to offset the cost of rate increases to $15 for hourly colleagues. Planned meetings and related travel plans have been cut for Q2 and scheduled fall conferences have been cancelled or changed to video broadcasts.
If you're hourly and looking forward to earning $15 an hour, be prepared to work harder for the extra beans. The unemployment rate is 3.8% and many employers who pay similarly ask less for the $15 rate. Don't expect that here, starting in June you will be on your feet doing physical labor or selling every moment you are on the clock. Not sure how this will impact the Baby Boomers who make up over 20% of the stores populations.
What was once an acceptable trade off in lower pay for a reasonable and even fun environment with a decent life balance will become an excruciating daily grind. Welcome to the future of department store retail, comprised of a generalist population where everyone is trained to do everything, making it easier to keep up with rising turnover rates by changing hourly colleagues into an interchangeable, easily replaceable widgets.