I left Macy's six years ago and have since been working in another industry. I still have (mostly) fond memories of the place and the people I used to work with so I sometimes check this forum and lately all I've been seeing is ISM. Is there any way somebody can explain what it is, so I can understand what people are objecting to so vehemently?
6 replies (most recent on top)
The simplest explanation... it's a sh-t show!
They want employees to know multiple areas and be interchangeable on any given day. The problem is with the cross training or lack thereof to learn different areas you’re not so familiar with. Doing more with less is the theme nowadays. Some are not cut out for Receiving or Visual or even dealing with customers and ringing and getting yelled at.
Wow @1uiy+1jA8iVFp, beautifully said, you are 10000% spot on. Do you mind sharing your role? You are obviously someone competent and who gives a damn about the workers.
ISM is a business model that allows the company (in theory) to save money by making all employees interchangeable (in theory). Therein lies the problem and all the complaints. ISM goes way beyond removing one from their "friend group" at work. It's demoralizing to think that everyone is replaceable at all times in all capacities. We are human beings, not bots. Sally doesn't have the same skill set as Mary. John doesn't have the same skill set as Tom. Doesn't matter to Macy's.
There was little to no time devoted to real cross-training in any of the departments because we consistently have not had enough bodies to cover the previous work-load, let alone free people up to train in other areas. Then, or now.
So instead, what we have are people, who, each day are assigned to an unfamiliar department to try and sell merchandise they are unfamiliar with (forget navigating the stockrooms) to the dwindling number of customers who come into our brick and mortar stores.
Employees that joined Macy's because of the "flexible work schedules" and agreed to work mornings because they have school-age children, or nights because they have full-time day jobs, are assigned shifts that have to be "corrected" every week by managers who knows their personal circumstances.
Meantime, managers have so much on their plates, (not including the extensive daily call-outs from unreliable hires to long timers who don't want to work a particular shift in a particular department) that they spend the majority of their day playing "whack-a-mole" repeatedly moving workers all over the building to cover the selling floor (sometimes hour by hour).
Getting back to skill sets, some people are better at customer service, some are more detail oriented and better at markdowns and signing, some people like the physical nature of unloading trucks or merchandising (and understand how this is done- it's not all about just getting the stuff to the selling floor). Not every hire comes to work wanting to give 100%, some just want to show up, keep their heads down, do the minimum ,get paid and go home.
So, instead of acknowledging AND compensating, those that work hard, are flexible and want to learn new tasks (and by-the-way are capable of so-much-more) Macy's, by trying to save a dime, has reduced the work-staff to the lowest common denominator: Unenthusiastic, over-burdened, angry, unappreciated, fatigued bots that just want to keep their heads down, do the minimum, get paid, and go home.
I didn't graduate from college with a business degree, but it doesn't take much to see that when you dehumanize the work force by preventing people from forming meaningful work-relationships (by moving them from department to department daily) that maybe the one thing that keeps them coming back (because it sure isn't the pay) is the co-workers that they (used to) happily work with.
Macys has integrated the sales and merch teams that you may have been familiar with. Cross training saves money. Daily functional sheets place you where you are needed during your shift. You don't get to work with your friends in a single department anymore, thus the need to pull out phones to connect with social media throughout your shift to keep your sanity!
Thanks in advance!