Thread regarding Big Lots Inc. layoffs

Cannot sign your name here, as full names are not allowed.

Why are you posting as an anonymous. Can not folks post how they feel when they have been wronged wth is wrong with you. FOLKS NEED TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE CORPORATE CEO WORLD.

If you are really interested in who are the moderators of this site, why did you sign as anonymous??

Bruce Thorn = cabron

Who are the moderaters for this website

I spent years at Big lots getting stores into shape as an atls. I had to train three of my own store managers. One of my managers was hardly ever at work. The DM knew he was putting in only about twenty five hours a week and that I was picking up the slack and did nothing about it. I interviewed people, trained them. The computers had so many problems that I learned how to fix them myself after hundreds of calls to the help desk for the same problems. When the CEO was coming to town I worked 70 hours a week trying to clean up a store. I cleaned up haz mat station in a store I was transferred to that had not been used in months. I started the food mardown process so that we didn't have to throw it out. Markdowns in food went down in each store I worked in because of this, resulting in higher revenue. I did the same thing with the regular items so that we were getting something instead of just throwing it out. The price change process in each store I worked was completely broken before I came in. Not only did I fix that, but merchandised the markdowns so the customers could find and shop them easier. And then I was let go over the phone. The DM could not even come in the store, shake my hand, or even say thank you for all that I had done.
Did the DM have any say in which atls's were booted? I would have to say yes since his favorite manager got to keep theirs, and the store of the future in our market, whose volume was lower, kept theirs.
They brought in consultants which destroyed what was left of the values of the company and still can't get the stock to move. Big lots is around $24, almost half of what it was a year ago and it is still considered over valued.
No dollar of mine will ever end up in a big lots cash register again.

Once again...the truth is spoken what goes on in these High Volume Big Lots...very accurate discription ...I can relate to this Scenerio week after week.

Still in disbelief what happened to so many dedicated seasoned managers in the 29th July. We all know it's the Assistants that pretty much ran the stores. As well as some dedicated Store Managers..Having am 80 piece United come in and it's just you and a. Cashier in the Morning ...unloading the furniture truck by yourself with all the vendors coming in that c you have to,count in. Thats to say if your 830 am Cashier even comes,I. ! $!! OMG. That was my life ...can't imagine e c what the stores are doing now.

To that last comment:
Truth be told.
Very meaningful.
Great comment. 👍

So much to say. Employee loyalty is defined as employees who are devoted to the success of their organization and believe that being an employee of this organization is in their best interest. I am overjoyed today I was able to give my notice to this organization today. You may find some employee loyalty with the new underpaid managers that you hire, but you lost mine and many other associates loyalty on July 29. So just sit back and watch those shrink numbers skyrocket due the unhappy and disgruntled associates that were left behind. Greed can destroy a company. Big lots has no care or concern for the associates or the customers and that is evident in the the staffing of the stores daily. Whether you choose to accept it or not loyal employees are your most valuable asset. Employees who have been pushed to point where they no longer care, will not go the extra mile. Employees are the heart beat of the company and if the heart stops beating........what happens??? I have much more to let out, but that will come later.

Just received an employee discount card in the mail from Big Lots ! The enclosed letter said I retired from Big Lots after 26 years. I was terminated July 29 with the other 4000 associates. I will never use the card, do you really think I would patronize Big Lots after letting me go for no apparent reason? I’m sorry I forgot my position my eliminated over the phone by my District Manager! 26 years seniority, 64 years old who’s going to hire me?

I didn't take my DMs sh–, and barked back. This proves the DMs had a say, cause I was a cut STL. It's all good though. Did me a frikin favor. Take that rewards card and shove it up Uranus. Lol

What about the theory that the DM had full control over who got the axe? I follow that theory, since my DM couldn't stand people who stood up for a themselves, like me. The DM of my old store denies having any say in who stayed and who went.

Is there a single one of you who got laid off that got along well with your DM? Or, did we all rub him/her the wrong way?

I too, was an atlm that was let go after 15 years of dedicated service, I like many other assistants missed out on so many special events and family time because of the crazy hours that was required. I wish all of you that was let go the best of luck, I am happy to say that I have found another job that offers a set schedule and better pay, so life does get better, however I have nothing positive to say regarding big lots, and I will encourage my family and friends not to do business with them. Its hard to realize that you are just a number in a place like this and all the effort, time and hardwork that you put into a store was for nothing. Its hard to see lazy DM and STL still in their positions, our DM visited our store 4 times last year, maybe spoke with me a total of 15 minutes the whole year, knew nothing about my work ethic or what i did in the store, but was the decision maker in deciding if I got a raise or not, and the raises were pathetic 1 or 2%. My STL....I know that there are many hard working STL working for this company, however mine was not. My STL worked about 30 hrs a week and took home a nice salary, DM would call and never ask about why the STL was not there. I recently heard the STL is on medication now, cant deal with the stress of being a STL and actually have to work......paybacks....for all those times I had to work my 9.5 or more hours and the STL work sit in the office for 6 hours and then leave, now you are understaffed and have to work long hours imagine that. There is so much more i could say but i wont, i keep kicking myself that I wasted so many years of my life with this place, things are turning around for me, no looking back

Furious –

I pray you get a spell checker!

It pretty sad that the so call CEO and His So Cal Leader's decided on their own to Lay Off many and what's bad is they are the workers who worked their A– off tom make these so call Leaders look good sitting on the Cushion Chair and maybe even pocketing some money in their pockets so they had to lay off. Reason why I say this is I read further and noticed that Big Lots was doing very good so my question to the fools who call themselves Leaders Laid off many Managers, Supervisors, Assistants from many store and walked out about 60 corporate people and yet they are doing Extremely well. Like I said they worked hard to get the stores going and bringing customers in and they just sit in their office collecting what's up with that. My son worked at Big Lot as Manager and he was a Extremely Good worker there every day plus extra hours when needed and built that store up very good so he can be laid off so you Dam Straight his Mom is furious when I read you're doing very good and yet you let them go and not face to face cowards but by phone. Does the Media know this because soon they will and so will FB. He wasn't able to attend many Family Events and I'm sure you had no problem going to yours right and he gets Laid Off with others and you Leaders are there. I Pray for Rude Awakening to you with Karma up your Buts and when you lease expect it to f\see how it feels to be a Rotten CEO and Coward Leaders. What comes around goes around and I pray for that to.

To the ATSL who decided to list off "everything they are responsible for" previously … your own ignorance shows because you list off A.) Stuff you're not actually responsible for as an ATLS and B.) General Operations that the entire management team was responsible for maintaining. Go read up on the expectations of your position before you continue to spout off wrong information. Thanks.

Hey guys, just here to let yall know that there are jobs out there. Not all of them want to pay what we were making but a lot of them will pay more for the experience. 4 interviews and I found a job 3 weeks after i was laid off. More money, same 45 hour work week. Glassdoor, Linkedin and indeed. Use those sites, they really work. Get your resumes together.. we did more than enough work at big lots to prepare us for any company!

To the ATLMs who were let go to save the service I'm sorry it happened to you. But to the ones who say you did more the atls your wrong we had way more responsibilities then you and Jennifer's will suffer. We took care of furniture, markdowns, front end, Haz Mat, rewards sign ups, surveys, mystery shops, dsd reporting, complaints, recovery, schedule and many more. You did what? Stocking and sets? I'm sorry for the STLs who now have to take on all of that.

Work at Big Lots for 10 plus years as dts lead work hard and push to get things done never have a full crew on any given day someone calls out or is a no show same people are late over and over I plan my work and it. never works out because of this seems like more work is given to you but not the hours to get it done .I agree customers should always come first no matter what we are doing but that is never taken in to consideration when handing down the man hours I am still young enough to go elsewhere and we just lost our lead merchant she was a wonderful woman who worked with me so we were ready when our next truck came in now struggling to be ready.They are supposed to hand out J cards when we do a good job never see them and one day I got a rewards card a credit card and protection plan on the furniture and my Store lead told me that was my job like it was no big thing .No appreciation only negative feedback makes it stressful MDs have to sign off on your raise which is once a year and how do they know how you work everyday when they are only in the store maybe once a month? So if you are looking for a job I say NO TO THE BIG LOTS because they don't offer LOTS.I am single and have no family to take care don't know how people with famlies do on what they pay you and the raises they give.They want you to take care of Jennifer how about they take care of us the same way?

DTS lead here. My job at a nearby store is being advertised " guaranteed at least 30 hours a week".

I am worried about FSL being made part time as well. They already lowered my fsl hours to 32 a week. Fill in the rest with MOD hours. Has anyone heard anything about this? And are they lowering fsl hours in other stores as well?

I am a 10 year atlm that just gave my two week notice yesterday, just came across this site. Every since they let go the atls on Jul 29, the work load has been overwhelming. They are setting the atlm up for failure because it is impossible to get everything done. According to the non supportive stl, I am responsible for all receiving, freight movement, merchandising, nvo resets, clearing gondolas, price changes, sts, markdowns, dsd, store counts, and you are the mod while trying to juggle all these things add to this list helping customers ,bopis, carryout, cart pickups, phone calls, you may say that is not alot, but the stores are down to the bare bones with tired overworked staff, meaning if you have a manager and two workers that is usually it. Unloaded an 1800+ piece truck, stl scheduled a total of 4 people, has to be done in 3hrs, stl and dm upset when I get dentention charges...scheduled enough d–n help! Sick of promoting the rewards card, we dont have 89 new customers into the store every week. Bopis is a joke because when you receive a large truck your cant check in every piece and inventory is all messed up. It shows we have it online and in reality there is nothing in the store. For me the handwriting is on the wall and Im glad i am getting away now.....to other managers there especially atlm get out if you can things will only get worse, and after the holiday, probably more layoff.

If anybody has never heard of the website Glassdoor, they are a job-search website that allows people to rate their experiences at places they've worked, to help other people in the future.

I URGE you to get on there and set up an account (hey, you're probably in the job market anyway!) and let people know what you think of working at Big Lots!

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Big-Lots-Reviews-E177.htm

The atls/atlm were the hardest workers in the building. I would love to see how the lazy stl is functioning without us. I feel sorry for the remaining workers that have to work in these understaffed stores. The DM probably had the chance to pick and choose the ones he wanted to keep. My STL became good friends with DM and was allowed to do basically nothing, and get paid very well for it. My STL worked 30-35hrs a week, came in late 2-3 hours or left early every single day, no rotation given, worked 1 week end a month if that, sit in the hours for hours, took extra long lunches, never offered to help unload truck or be anywhere close to it, off on most of the holidays, and this list goes on and on. After 25 years of dedicated service, I am moving on, have several interviews this week, and will never step foot in a big lots store again. I heard they had another north star operation call yesterday, CEO said things are going great.....and you just laid off all these people.

I heard my store was getting a bonus from 2018 that we didn't get for SOTF if I remember correctly we should be entitled to that. Anyone know any of the info for the south Texas market?

FsL and DtS. ....watch yourself..doing away with full time positions. NOT good

Has any one heard anything about FSL positions being changed in the near future?

Hey "Soul is hurt"

Maybe your coworkers just don't like you. I know my former STL and ATLM have been peeing themselves without me and I am still in contact with them. I do believe the DM had a say in it though.

Wow....not a handshake....thank you for your 30 plus years of dedicated service through the good the bad and the ugly I stayed because I believed BIG had the right stuff. Still pinching myself ti say to me my job has been eliminated then given to someone else at,a lower wage. Busy doing markdowns on that dreadful Monday morning....DM calls and HR on the phone who I never met...give me the news over the
phone...I realize they are only the messengers but still wonder who the back stabbers are....dont take long to figure out...when your STL don't call you just to see how the HELL your doing or the other assistant remainiing assistant call to see,How the Hell your doing . I had your backs...all of you through this thing called life.

Here's some interesting latest news:

https://www.schaeffersresearch.com/content/news/2019/08/12/telsey-next-round-of-tariffs-bad-for-big-lots-and-target

Start calling your local biglots. And listen to the essay that has to be sayed before the customer is able to even say hi. And the person answering is the cashier along with 20 questions to that customer. Our ops manager was let go and know hiring for that position. How about a full trailor has to be up loaded and put away in 2 days. How about a store manager late fore averyshift. And on pain pills. Manager giving customers discount on furniture to get a sale to help make daily sales. Employees are ready to walk out due too the Corporate bull that is going on. The bopis program is worthless and lazyness. The secret shoppers are liers only in it for the free merchandise. Employees at store level ar the honest ones around the CEOs are lazy for the money. They all basically get November and December off with pay while the store level employees do all the work. Money hungry thugs. Living the high life. While store level employees work their butts off for under minimum wages. No benefits. How can apart time afford only dental an a life insc. Some only get. 10- 19 hours. The customers are suffering for service. CEOs give up your high pay to the stores so service can be taken care of. This new CEO is making this cim po any bankrupted. Puke bag

Blues ..despair. . And agony on me.. deep dark depression excessive misery...if it was
Weren't fot the Local Lots I would have No Job at all...Blues ..despair and agony on me.

I got my vacation pay, however you aren't entitled to what you think you are. We were laid off after only working 25 weeks out of the year, so therefore they are only giving us 48% of our yearly total. For instance, if you had 80 hrs of vacation time at the start of the year, that quickly drops to 38.5. So if you already took a week's Vaca before the layoff, your balance is now 0hrs, and you're SOL.

Can you spell tariff Bruce Thorn? Karma came back around so quick. To all current employees- start looking for a new job now before Butcher Bruce puts chains on the casket!

Has everyone received their vacation pay? I was told mine was being processed.. been three weeks now

I just recently heard my old store got a piss-poor secret shopper score, blahahaa. Yeah, "your community" big lots, let's take away departments like stationary, automotive, apparel, tools, etc so that this s.o.t.f. sh– show can come in. Big lots will NEVER be a branded company, never.

Remember when answering the phone at the store thank you for calling your community Biglots. A local pantry ask to put in a donation barrel in our store. Some community supporter , DM shot it down and didn't offer any thing else.

Just had an interview with a sarcastic a– DM... Reminded me of Big Lots DMs.... “ big lots manager’s don’t work hard” we bust out a– for that company... So for every smart remark I gave one back.. I worked with those types of DMs for the last 20 years... glad I’m not getting that call back

Big Lots is a sh– show!