| Topic Name: |
Bait and Switch |
| Message Name: |
Expo |
| Date Posted: |
03/30/2005 |
| In Reply To: |
Funny, but that is the company that I am having issues with.
At my store, the management team has heard my specific complaints and they have sought out my perspective because people are leaving due to these practices. This is a new management team and they desperately want to stop the "hemmoraging".
That being said, my comp has not been advanced -- instead they pulled back all full time hours 7.5% to "make profit plan".
I am there only for the benefits (education reimbursement) and also to gain retail management experience. Your comments about Expo are very correct and your advice is very much close to my current perspective.
I will visit the comp issue vs. actual responsibilities at the 6-month point and see what happens at the 1-year mark. If nothing happens, then I will see if the education benefits alone makes it worth while to stick it out.
No other company I know of gives such a generous education break -- perhaps that is why they feel they can misrepresent you in other areas. |
| Message: |
I took full advantage of the tuition reimbursment. They say they pay half but its only up too $1666.00, in New Jersey anyway.
They did the "pull back" as you explained all the time. Cutting full-time 40 hours to 38 or 37 or whatever. You got penalized for going over 40 even if the customer was standing their waiting for assistance.
I found that with Expo there was no way to properly motivate the people. Their corporate psychology figured that benefits, profit-sharing, and tuition reimbursement would be enough but it's really not. Most of the associates take a lot of abuse and stress from customers. Upon the 6 month review they give associates a .30,.40, or .50 cent raise depending on your performance on average. After a year maybe you get a dollar.
The reality is Expo is being leveraged by Home Depot, so in essence Home Depot is supporting Expo. If Expo where a seperate entity it would have failed by now. I remember the horror at a district meeting for North Jersey, everyone was disgruntled and unhappy. People were crying and just breaking down. It was sad.
I suggest staying with it if your in college since the benefits are excellent especially with the tuition reimbursement. If you've been laid off or are a senior citizen in need of benefits it is also a good place to work. You don't have to stay their forever. Not many part-time jobs offer the flexibility and benefits like Expo. Considering a lot of my class mates worked at restaurant's or pizzeria's. Stick with it and move on, once you finish school and/or find a better career. That's what I did!
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