AH Bruce johnson, what a breath of fresh air for the new year, Goodole you need to remain flexible and focused on improving our operating metrics.

Sadly your company is not the only company to " suspend " company match on your 401's. The big question will be if they turn the suspend to permanent or resume matching when things turn around. Almost always once something is taken away it is not returned.

Save money at what expense?  Sears will lose what few longtime frontline employees it hasn't scared/fired off yet to retirement or for a better company like Lowe's or Costco.

Very glad I jumped ship and have no ties to Sears anymore!

sears2480 said…
Save money at what expense?  Sears will lose what few longtime frontline employees it hasn't scared/fired off yet to retirement or for a better company like Lowe's or Costco.

Very glad I jumped ship and have no ties to Sears anymore!

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that's the general idea get rid of the long timers with out having to pay unemployment and bring in replacements for min wage.

 it does kinda irk me that after all that touting of making up the diff in the pay of SHC employees that are fighting over seas (don't get me wrong i support the troops im not here to make an argument that they don't deserve it) then turn around and cut the 401k matching

It's not just Sears, many companies are doing this.  It's a very tough environment out there and quite frankly it comes down to do you want to have a job or do you want matching?  Of course, without a job the 2nd one doesn't matter much does it?

Yes, it is awful that the workers have to pay to bail out Wall St.  The poor always, always pay for the mistakes of the rich.  So it is up to you to use one of the few tools you have -- your vote -- to make sure Washington hears you loud and clear.

Let's hope with new leadership taking office soon we'll see things improve.  One can only hope.  But America, as a whole, has to change its habits and take back control of this country from Wall St.  That is job #1.

 

This is a rough economy and people who have jobs are considered pretty lucky.

michelina said…

This is a rough economy and people who have jobs are considered pretty lucky.

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Amen to that.  I tell all my friends and family that no matter how much you dislike your job right now, just stick with it.  Just having a job puts you ahead of the game in this current crisis. 

Things will get better, but for the time being it is "any old port in a storm".

 

"that's the general idea get rid of the long timers with out having to pay unemployment and bring in replacements for min wage."

Geez Goody, i was just thinking i'll have to stay longer now :)

In todays times one has to ride out the storm as those before us have done in tough times.The economy will get better and those companys that have made the hard decisions and stayed the course will still be  in bussiness when the economy improves. Hopefully those companys that have had to reduce their asso.s benefits will do the right thing and restore them when times are better.

na itll just be more money fore the useless people at the top

I agree as well!! These are incredibly tough times and many companies are doing what they can to preserve jobs and avoid making cuts.

A lot of long term employees who are still at Sears are because they have a retirement plan which has prevented them from jumping ship.  Look at turnover numbers of long term employees from the merger into the Aylwin Lewis era, those numbers are high.  People got sick of working for a FAILED retailer like Sears Holdings.

When was the last time Sears posted a sales INCREASE?  What about KMart?  If people are shopping here, then why aren't they spending money.  Operating costs have been slashed big time the last 10 years, payroll being a big part of that.  Most employees (including myself) suffered significant pay DEMOTIONS from the time they started up until they quit (or are still there).  Slashing 401k matching won't help matters.  Wasn't Circuit City's demise significantly helped by ousting their knowledgble workforce? 

I tend to agree with googole312. Back when I worked for Sears Auto, they really skrewed with my ability to even have FT benefits (I was working 50-60 hours a week mind you).

The money that is saved is ALWAYS pumped into executives who already have millions. I think the "tough economy" is a lame excuse and I resent the hell out of taxpayers bailing out wall street, the mortgage industry, and the auto industry.

michelina said…

This is a rough economy and people who have jobs are considered pretty lucky.

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Totally.  :)

First off, it sucks, I know.  I'm going to miss that money.  The company plan is to re-instate it as soon as they can.  if they don't, they know they will lost valuable associates, which will cost them much more than the projected savings from cutting 401k.  Basically, it's no worse than other retailers' strategies, so personally I'm going to rough it out and hope it comes back in a reasonable amount of time. 

Secondly, Circuit City's downfall started when they stopped paying commission, then they cut all their high paying managers, and the downward spiral continued.  Sears is not going to be like Circuit City.  Sears actually grabbed a bunch of their best people when they jumped ship, so Sears knows that will happen.  Nice try though.

And to those griping about Sears reducing payroll, what in the world would you do?  If you had major competitors come up and grab market share, and your customer base decreased, would you not cut expenses to match demand?  And what's the number one controllable expense? Payroll!  Everyone loves to get overtime, but if the company can't afford it then they can't afford it.  Home Depot, Lowe's, Target, and other mass merchants significantly slashed payroll also.

Basically, my point is, if you're griping about a company reducing payroll to adjust to economic conditions, you obviously don't know how to run a business.  Please, don't go out and try to run one, because you'll keep so many people on payroll that you'll go under and have to fire everybody.

And about the 401k (the actual topic), it's a blow, but it's not like I can do anything about it.  Got a job that keeps me busy with a great retailer, I count my blessings.

ok are the people at the top reducing their pay? im guessing no the most useless people to the company get to keep their paychecks while those of us who keep it running along get shat on

overtime? id behappy with 35 hours

Well, I don't know about pay, but anyone making over $105,000 had to cap their now non-matched 401k to 5% or below no matter what.  So I guess in that sense they did, but I haven't heard anything about pay cuts for the higher ups.

The overtime comment was directed to the guy who used to work 50-60 hours.

My people would be happy with 35 hours too, I totally agree with the sentiment, but companies all around are cutting payroll to match the economic conditions.

Companies that are going to ride the downside  economy through until it better have been reducing expenses and making the hard decisions for months now in all areas. At the store level you can only reduce so many expenses whether it is in which asso. work on Holidays based on their hourly rate, how often you put floor wax down, how often your armor car services come each week,the items you put in your check out bags, the temp of the builing,how often you buy supplies, the number of times you use a disaposeable dust mop., the time your parking lights come on and off, the temp of the hot water heater for the restrooms, and  etc.

All levels of all companies have areas they can cut expenses in if they really look at where their expense dollars go and th processes ones operate by.

 

For guy who was working the  50 to 60 hours per week. I hope you were hourly because those of us who are salary work more hours when the  hourly hours get cut. The job still has to be done and standards maintained.

A lot of companies would hire another person to work 30 additional regular  hours of pay for the OT  hours when you work the 20 hours of OT. Hopefully you were working as much as you want but not more than you want. Be careful with the  pay and compare a 40 hour take home paycheck to a 60 hour take home pay. You may find you were working for Uncle Sam for most of the 20 hours of OT

Well said.  With my salespersons' hours and my signage team's hours being cut, I'm doing all my management work on top of selling and signing and replenishing my department.

When hours go down for the hourly people, the salaried people take up residence.

Right now most people are darn lucky to even have a job.  You can moan and groan about it all you want, but the fact of the matter is there are probably 10 people who would love to have your job.  Sears and other companies are doing what is necessary to survive.  You may not think it is right, but they are the ones who make the decisions. 

As I always say, you can be part of the solution or part of the problem.  And in today's economic climate those part of the problem may find themselves out of a job.

hey if i could find one that wanted it id trade him so i could co do something more intresting like push carts

What 401K? I'm paying into the medical coverage "employee match".

How about shaving a few million off of the executive board's collective salaries.

That would save some money, and maybe the contribution matching wouldn't have to be suspended.

But then again, maybe that's a bit too radical for the caviar crowd...

Do you honestly believe that executive pay cuts will return value to regular employees? Even if the top 100 employees at Sears earned 100k, that is not going to return more than a few pennies to the remaining 300,000 employees of the company. Think about how insignificant an executive salary is to the overall structure.

Executives are paid a certain amount across the board, and retaining high salaries is what keeps management around. Competition for executive level jobs are high (why do you suppose there is no replacement CEO? - it has to do with how well they are paid, and I assume there is not much of a high salary offering for this job either). Slashing an executive pay could also result in further payroll cuts as well.

gulicious said… Slashing an executive pay could also result in further payroll cuts as well.

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ya when they get their revenge

That phrase was really suggesting the possibility of an executive leaving, or having less capable managers - could lead to an even worse company financially, and more people would lose their payroll or jobs entirely. The issue of bankruptcy is also possible when executives are leaving. I don't work for the company but the management is cutting costs to create a more efficient, leaner organization. If that is bad, imagine what happens when 300,000 people are on the line, like General Motors.