Thread regarding Lowe's Cos. layoffs

The Sad Truth

This post is not about the contents of rumors or speculation of what is going to happen.

The truth is, even if these rumors are not true, this company has done so much damage with how they have handled the restructuring of their personnel that even a anonymous post with unproven info can completely obliterate the morale of an entire workforce, which was already at an all time low to begin with.

There is no leadership, no direction, and no accountability. Expectations have been risen, while associates hours have dropped and they have been placed in a position where they can not win. It is impossible to run multiple service departments and expect the so called "customer experience" culture Lowes constantly presses. A single person mixing paint can't run to get a call button in seasonal while being delegated with packdown, IRPs, and getting constantly drilled for not acquiring enough credits apps and install leads.

Cashier turnover is at a all time high. One cashier is being overloaded with customers and there is no one to answer any code 3 response. Cashiers who ask to use the restroom are being chastised and told to "use the restroom before they come in" by their supervisors. So they quit and the cycle continues. The Head Cashiers are glorified return desk associates being held up by thieves returning product off the salesfloor, so they in turn can't do overrides which is infuriating customers.

Everything is broken, every system, every program, every single thing. And none of this is fixed, none of this is addressed. Market walks are announced ahead of time so associates and managers are forced to work overtime last minute to prepare the store for these visits. When the market and region teams leave, a sigh of relief and then back to the dysfunctional normalcy of a typical Lowes store.

So what's the answer? To freeze the replenishment and inventory processes to get the product on the shelf and to free up space so freight flow can actually get organized? How long until we are in the same exact place?

How exactly is this going to raise the stock price? Maybe temporarily, but the excuse for having "more front facing employees to serve the customer" was a absolute lie. This will have the opposite effect over time.

Management teams are overwhelmed with CCIC calls to even begin their tasks. Customers notice what's going on. PSE and PSI customers are not satisfied with what we provide. Life comes at you fast, and if this continues, Lowes reputation is going to be abhorrent with our customers.

Lowes has broken their trust with their workforce and their customer base for the chance of raising their stock to pay off dividends to those who have no interest in letting this company grow.

The only advice I can give is each employee does have value. You will provide value somewhere else. Do not fret, just keep positive and remind yourself that you can take care of yourself.

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| 16481 views | | 40 replies (last July 8, 2017) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+O1acOpt

40 replies (most recent on top)

Of course, Rick Damon sent an email yesterday. Now it's in writing: no asm or specialist restructure in the foreseeable future. Foreseeable indicates a very long time.

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Post ID: @9sqv+O1acOpt

never felt a union was necessary with a good company, companies are not good anymore and now it's

time to start fighting back! Bring in the union-we are like lambs being led to slaughter.All these big

greedy companies are dismantling middle class America and the younger generation will just let it happen unless the older ones show them how to fight for their rights .We are going backwards,our

our great grandparents,grandparents and some of our parents had to organize in order to better our wages and working conditions that we have enjoyed.Today unions are going by the wayside,companies are taking advantage of this...theres only one way to stop it.STAND TOGETHER!

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Post ID: @7iar+O1acOpt

As a long term former Specialist and Dept. Manager for the company (and current CSA5, by choice as I knew what type of slave labor they were going to throw at the Service Managers), it was obvious several years back when new faces started popping up on OPS Talk and these southern golf fried faces wearing the same color button ups were barking the non-service related speeches at us.

Lowe's went from the feel like family Hardware Store to Corporate dumping ground for ruined ideas, a topsy turvy visions and managerial greed that cuts the head off of the snake of great one on one customer service by not providing the quality of people to qualify and sell to the customer.

We're all over worked. Under care. Shrink will be miserable. SSEI is more unattainable each year. And, even if the Specialist, LP, HR we're all JUST rumors, its a sad day when a good majority of the employees take merit in the rumors because their employer is shifty and shady.

See you in January, or until they try to force me out (already happening w/ write ups).

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Post ID: @7pko+O1acOpt

Niblock needs to stop destroying Lowes Family like he did to Sears. Big piece of sh--!

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Post ID: @5zug+O1acOpt

niblock has 18 million a year he could take a cut in pay instead of the little people

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Post ID: @4pfs+O1acOpt

Been with the company for 14+ years and I never heard my Area Manager ask "Do you really want to work here?" or "If you really don't feel this is the right job for you, let me know and we'll find another job for you somewhere else" more times than I can count in the past six months. There's definitely something going down and I probably won't be employed by lowe's for much longer because "rumor" has it that my job is on the chopping block this time. Biding my time and continuing to do my job until they walk me out. Wish they would just tell us and get it over with.

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Post ID: @4srx+O1acOpt

This is all about the ALLOWANCE.Get rid of the specialists and you get rid of Niblocks one promise he put in writing.I'm surprised it took him this long to devise a plan.BOHICA(bend over here it comes again)

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Post ID: @4dso+O1acOpt

Been with Lowes for 11 years and seen lots of changes as a sales specialist in that time but the last restructuring killed the morale more than anything I have ever seen. I am sick and tired of dealing with a broken freight flow, working up estimates for the PSI associate and being yelled at by incompetent installers. The only thing management cares about is credit apps and PSI/PSE leads. Favoritism runs rampant with certain departments and others are just forgotten.

The new service and sales managers are buried in tasks and can't figure out how to right a schedule. HR which has never been a strong area is pretty much useless now.

The largest mistake was made at the big managers meeting in March. The term customer centric is the only thing we hear. Lowes forgot the most important thing, keep your employees happy and your customers will keep coming back.

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Post ID: @3vmb+O1acOpt

This post is dead on. I feel like I have wasted 16 yrs of my life. I am the only (former) dm that has not secured a position at our store. And honestly, dont know if I care. Morale s---s, the stores look like sh-- and I am done busting my a-- for company that doesnt give a damn.

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Post ID: @3kpk+O1acOpt

So many of us are looking for alternate employment. I no longer feel valued, quite the opposite. I am now hearing that I need to find a way to be more productive to due more, more, and more.

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Post ID: @2ysg+O1acOpt

The best post on this board, ever. Trust me, I've been on this board DAILY since the cuts of 2014. Whoever wrote this has a deep insight into the soul of this company and is very talented from both business and literary angle. Kudos to the Original Poster and post more good stuff.

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Post ID: @2ywq+O1acOpt

Ever wake up and discover that 15 years of your life were wasted? Feel like your employer played you like a cheap guitar and smashed you up like Bluto did in Animal House? This is what life is like now at Lowes. Robert Niblock I hate you more than any other lifeform on this planet, c---roaches, spiders, flies, snakes and all viruses rate higher than you.

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Post ID: @2ohb+O1acOpt

+1

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Post ID: @1omx+O1acOpt

This is so true. It's all about the money. Screw your workers and screw your customer. This is why I left Lowes twice not ever going back

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Post ID: @1puf+O1acOpt

Going on 15 yrs. I've seen some great people leave great customers leave. Its a sad time when all this man is making. There a lot of us working 2 jobs just to pay bills. I'm 55 and I cannot see the end of this rainbow. Good luck everyone just maybe before he ruins this company someone will. Let him go

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Post ID: @1jph+O1acOpt

+1 , Exhausted and mentally spent to the point that my drive to make my store better has been lost

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Post ID: @1fdp+O1acOpt

I have worked at the corporate office for over 20 years and we are seeing the same thing as the stores. Headcount being cut and work just keeps piling up. I have seen a huge difference in the morale of the employees. Not as much fun to work here as it used to be.

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Post ID: @1rxw+O1acOpt

Sad to hear so many of you are experiencing what I went through for a very long time, I can only offer this word of advice and as tough as it may sound to do believe me it is possible.... LISTEN CAREFULLY!!!......FIND ANOTHER JOB! THERE ARE MANY JOBS OUT HERE AVAILABLE TO YOU!! GUYS TRUST IN YOURSELF AND YOUR ABILITIES TO BE GREAT AND DO GREAT THINGS! I KNOW YOU ARE COMFORTABLE IN THE MISERY, SO WAS I, I DID NOT APPLY TO ANY OTHER JOBS WHILE BEING MISERABLE ALL ALONG, WHEN I LEFT IT WAS THE BEST WORST DAY OF MY LIFE! WORST BC I LEFT SO MANY GREAT PEOPLE BEHIND AND BEST BECAUSE I WAS FINALLY FREE!! GET OUT GUYS YOU CAN DO BETTER!! UNFORTUNATELY LOWES JUST DOESNT CARE ABOUT YOU ALL!! BLESSINGS

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Post ID: @1hoj+O1acOpt

Nailed it!!

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Post ID: @1ged+O1acOpt

I worked at a Lowes for almost 10 years. The morale of the employees who actually work has gone down a lot. You are expected to give excellent customer service, and smile, while trying to multi-task doing inventory replenishment, the Daily safety checks, (which used to be done by a Zone manager), answer call bells in other depts., and fill in when a code 3 ( help at the registers) is called. You are expected to help load items into customer vehicles, as well as going outside to gather carts from the parking lot, and cover other depts. All this, because corporate management won't approve enough staff, because it will cost money to hire enough staff to do all these jobs well. I was actually lucky to have managers who would at least appreciate your efforts, and would acknowledge the fact that you were doing a good job, but not everyone has that. Instead, some employees were chastised by their managers for not being able to get everything done in a timely manner. Lowes was a good place to work 10 years ago, but the changes being made now, is making it a place that is not respected by many, employees, as well as customers. My health went down considerably in the 10 years I was there, until I finally had to leave. The stress was too much for me.

Lowes is also using more part time people than full time employees. That is ok, but not when the full time people have to work a schedule around the availability of the part timers. Part time people are meant to fill in the times when the schedule needs someone there in order to give the full time people a day off.

If you are a full time employee, you only get one weekend a month off. That is only 12 weekends a year, because of the rotating schedule you are on.

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Post ID: @1gfz+O1acOpt

First I would check and see if Niblock has stock in Home Depot...I hate to say this, but it looks like Lowe's will be closing their doors in the near future...There is no way it can continue on this path and survive and this makes me sad. IT WAS A GREAT STORE....

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Post ID: @1lkt+O1acOpt

I worked at Home Depot for 10 years before coming to Lowes and I miss it everyday. My drive in a new place was to long to stay at the Depot. Lowes has been hard from the start never really felt like a family business.

I live in a small town that has nothing for a person in there 50's to do so I guess I will ride it out.

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Post ID: @1zcr+O1acOpt

Unfortunately Nimblock (sic) could not care less how much we hate him. Our problem is WE care. Our "weakness" makes him rich. Snivelling, greedy, loser. But hey, he's a RICH loser.

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Post ID: @1qef+O1acOpt

Yes, Niblock on Undercover Boss would be an excellent idea!

This whole thread is spot on with what Lowe's employees have to deal with on a daily basis.

When the layoffs occurred it was said there would be more employees helping customers; we have yet to see a single new hire in my store. The 14 seasonal employees are cashiers or OSLG.

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Post ID: @1igc+O1acOpt

I would like to see the Lowe's ceo go under cover ( under cover boss) and work a week in our shoes....and he needs to make our wages too for that week.....I believe CEOS don't have a clue

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Post ID: @1dlm+O1acOpt

All the comments I read are fact not sour grapes. Corporate Lowe's is de-moralizing and breaking the backs of some great employees. Home Depot deserves to beat us out. I am a retired department manager so I can sympathize with the current work force. My name is Frank Vitovitch

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Post ID: @1jir+O1acOpt

I'm an ASM and I take pride in my work and my employees... I agree with this post 100%... They do expect the managers to make the change but when we hire more part timers than full timers, we have no one to train them. They expect senior management to train but we can only do so much. I'm still trying to lead my service managers to be the best they can. While being stopped by every associate and every customer every turn I take. Taking care of CCIC, making the store look good and acknowledging every barking order the store manager throws at me. Meanwhile the sales manager and the support ASM doesn't really step up to help. I try to be there for the CSA as much as possible and running the front end when I'm not even over it. I felt the service managers would take a lot of responsibility off of us ASM but no. It's just more work because they don't know how to hold people accountable, they are scared to make decisions, they are being overloaded with task and delegation from us and never been trained. I think we have a great group of service managers but they still act like dept managers. Meanwhile I'm only making a dollar more an hour than the service managers. Which in turn means they make more an hour than me. Then you get the district team who come on and tell us we need to motivate and be positive with our team but they are the first to bury you in the ground and insult you during a walk and it almost feel as though they are bullying you ... the most important thing to me is to have my employees happy to be at work and motivate them. I feel bad when I see someone getting burned out or upset. If I see a CSA covering 3 depts. I'll tell them to go take a lunch and I'll cover. I'd rather not have my employees getting burned out than me getting my job done because I'm the end I feel I can't do anything right. Woo... that felt good to get off my chest.

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Post ID: @1qsi+O1acOpt

This so sad. I retired from Lowes almost 4 years ago. Changes had started then to feel 'off', so I don't think this disorganization is something just thought of. At 1544 where I work ed for almost 11 years, there were many many employees proud of what they contributed, doesn't look that way anymore. The joke used to be,'go to home Depot if you don't want to be waited on". We'll today it feels like that old home Depot joke. It's a sad day when more importance and attention is given to investors and paying dividends than to the employee on the floor creating dollars and giving customers reason to shop elsewhere! Whatever happened to that thought of let's not give them a reason to negatively tell 10 friends and in turn they tell 10 friends and so on... you know, when even former employeespecially don't want to shop at Lowe's, it must be sad indeed. Fran Turpin

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Post ID: @1psu+O1acOpt

I have worked for 2 companies now in which the CEO has run the company into the ground. Furniture Brands Inc. and now Lowes. Getting rid of department managers was the worst thing they could've done. Now you have no ownership over these departments and the stores look like hell. Employees are worked to death and when we do get new employees, they're just there for a paycheck and nothing more. Maybe restructuring our CEO's position would've been a better idea. The employees make the difference in our stores, not upper management. The sooner they realize this the better off this company will be. Just don't wait much longer or there won't be a company to run!

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Post ID: @1mvb+O1acOpt

If it continues in the same direction, I won't want to be associated with the name Lowe's anymore. This restructuring has been completely against any philosophy I previously knew Lowe's to have. Go through the trouble to hire the most conscientious people you can find, only to make it impossible for them to be conscientious. Amazing how one person can destroy a great company in such a short period of time.

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Post ID: @1wbj+O1acOpt

Very well said.

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Post ID: @1jmj+O1acOpt

OP - in this long post you articulated what I felt but was unable to articulate. Thank you for that. This is spot on and pure #gold.

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Post ID: @1wol+O1acOpt

Robert niblock CEO of Lowe's you need to get the hell out of the company. Step down while you still can. Everybody should unite and free good protest against Lowes CEO and their corporate office. He has totally ruined a great name. I wonder if he works for Home Depot interesting. The store I work at is a fantastic store but you have totally ruined it morale s---s. You've taken away just about everything that we have SOS Commission or $25 holiday bonus for Christmas and New Year's are health insurance s---s they took away our ESOP. They're working everybody to death one person in a department for eight hours unbelievable you try it Robert see if you can do it I doubt it you can't even probably put a special get out of town while you can.

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Post ID: @1ink+O1acOpt

Robert Niblock - you are a bad influence with no backbone, and have cost an otherwise giant to cave in as if into black hole into itself. Your parachute should be made of lead.

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Post ID: @1ymr+O1acOpt

This is spot on! This restructure has ruined this company, and management either doesnt care, or they are told to fake it. I have never seen morale so low. Associates are spread way too thin, and don't you dare get hurt! You will just be expected to push yourself just as far as before. I really want to know what their objective is, because this company is a joke. Anyone who sees this outcome as a success is a moron.

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Post ID: @1jww+O1acOpt

So true and so very sad. I'm waiting for the axe to drop on me as well since I am a overworked sales specialist. I am running my department alone and it's taken a terrible toll on my spirit. I can still smile with my customers but in reality..what else is there.

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Post ID: @1gfb+O1acOpt

I've only been with Lowe's since the Summer of 2016, but I can clearly see and feel a difference, both in myself and the store as a whole, when I clock in and out everyday. Down in lumber, 2 workers are expected to pick up the slack of an entire underemployed, hours-been-cut department. Work that should be an all day, 4 person thing falls on 2 people from 4-Whenever it gets done. I used to really love working at Lowe's, I was happy to come in everyday. Now I'm left feeling unappreciated and overworked every time I leave. I'm probably too young to really grasp why Lowe's is just turning it's back on what it's been built up to be, but it's ridiculous and shouldn't have happened. Anybody could see that.

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Post ID: @1bmx+O1acOpt

I think this post hit it dead on. I used to up talk Lowe's to anyone who listened. But after the restructuring l have no goals or drive. I am a CSA5. Which is a higher payed nobody. When the higher up come in the store l am ignored and never spoke to. I'm not the type who would cause trouble or try to voice my thoughts. Truth is l'm broken. I have give to many years to Lowe's and retail in general. I look forward to the day when l am let go. Not because this was my plan but because l have no goals, leadership or hope. So l'm giving up. Why push myself and my health when no one cares or there is no where to climb. For those of you who are still trying ...try hard hopefully it will get better. I still love what is left of my Lowe's family.

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Post ID: @1tyl+O1acOpt

I agree. Senseless.

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Post ID: @tir+O1acOpt

We must be on the same wavelength, I have been with Lowe's for many years and what you have described is 100% fact! My observation has been in the last five years they have taken away from the people that love and trusted this company. I agree, if your a person that has made it at Lowe's you are worth something and you future is brighter outside this company! LOVE ALL OF YOU, lets go get that new career.

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Post ID: @vfk+O1acOpt

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