whatthef says:

right on, this move is beyond words, I hope the fall out form this move is great, how can a company get read off all of its most seasoned and loyal employees and expect it to help business. I hope their stock drops below $10 because if it does their will be no way to stop a buy out1

gnomic says:

So if you do a good job and get raises, you get canned and the mediocre people left to run things. What a brillient strategy! This is the same management that bought the canadian business and is now trying to unload it. Some heads at the top need to roll…

David says:

I don’t like this just like anyone else. Their store sales will suffer because of bad customer service. There is one thing about this announcement. They are completely and totally honest. Unlike all the other companies that give you PR speak for everything they do and tell the employees that got fired nothing.

whatthef says:

gnomic, you got that right! It is also the same management that less than a year ago promised its employees it was committed to making the forbes 100 best places to work list, I think this is a step in the right direction if you are committed to closing your business. I really hope the word spreads like wild fire and consumers show their support for those laid off and take their business else where!

whatthef says:

David they told their employees nothing, they walked into work and were ambushed, they had no idea this was coming just like when they cut commission, one day you had a job the next you didn’t. Further more honesty is not one of CC best qualities there is more to this store that will be revealed in the come months.

gnomic says:

From the 2006 Annual Report (on Employees)
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/CC/102042965×0x57283/4A10B4B9-36D4-49DF-ABC0-E5016EAB9CE0/ar2006.pdf

This team’s fundamental leadership style has shifted from a top-down edict model to one that drives integrated change from the bottom up. We believe our 46,000 Associates represent our best source for finding solutions for our customers’ needs. We are setting store performance goals more effectively and better aligning targeted incentives with key business outcomes. We are placing more emphasis on training, coaching and mentoring our Associates.
As a result of these efforts, we are building a culture whereby our Associates make data-driven decisions and set a high bar for performance. In effect, we are leading and managing differently to
engage our Associates more effectively. Associate engagement is a combination of emotions including
satisfaction, commitment, pride, loyalty and a willingness to be an advocate for the company. Simply put, Associates who are engaged perform better, which leads to more satisfied customers. We measured our Associate engagement level through surveys in March 2005 and again in February 2006, and we saw a 22 percent improvement in the overall rating. We believe improved Associate engagement is contributing to our success in reaching record sales levels.

Or maybe not

gnomic says:

From 2006 Annual report on the closure of the Canadian franchise

More than five years ago, at the start of my tenure as chief executive officer, we took on the task of rebuilding our company. We recognized that the path forward would be challenging as consumer shopping behaviors, competitors and products were evolving rapidly. We made many tough choices without wavering from our commitment to build a better company for our customers, our Associates and our shareholders. The actions we took included:
■ exiting the major appliance business,
■ eliminating the commission pay structure in our domestic
stores after 50 years of commissioned selling,
■ separating the CarMax auto superstore business from the
core consumer electronics retail business,
■ divesting both our private-label and bankcard finance
operations,
■ expanding into Canada,
■ re-branding the vast majority of our Canadian stores to a
North American brand and
■ revitalizing our domestic store base.

Interestingly, I teach an undergrad course in Org Theory and Circuit City was one of our discussion cases. It didn’t take long for it to become obvious that CC didn’t know what they werre doing in the Canadain market - other than pissing away a lot of money rebranding it.

Of course, the executives got big bonuses for this brilliant international expansion strategy, and now 4600 workers will be fired for thier incompetance. I’m sure the executives will receive bonuses this year for this brilliant decision as well.

Dumb$h!ts!

CCity sales manager says:

Whats the cap for the Board and CEO?

plucked_duck says:

These people are setting a dangerous precedent that will definitely bite them in the butt. Moreover its a plan that doesnt work. (need proof?? check out Home Depot) Circuit City built its reputation on knowledgeable customer service. I spent 7 yrs there as a commissioned associate and sales manager and I can tell you that as the quality of employees declined so did the quality of service. I read conusmer comments on different sites frequently and a common theme appears…need more available help and need more knowledgeable help when I got to the store. This seems to apply to most retailers. These execs, whos sense of reality extends no further than the from edge of their desks and hot and cold running stock options, claim that they listen to the customers. Obviously they dont. Employees arent numbers, they are human beings with homes and families and lives. Take care of them and they will take care of your business. I can guarantee that CC employees right now really dont give a damn about their company and that will reflect on business..I know it did in 2003, I was there.

CC BS says:

Its not right! We have had associated who worked at a local store for years and have been dedicated and they are the ones who were let go! It isn’t thier fault they actually were being paid that wage, 6th month raises is where it got them to that limit and now they and thier families have to suffer because managment and coorporate did NOT pay attention to wage CAP! Why put someone who is unexperienced in thier position and pay them less? So the “Big Guys” can put more money in thier pocket right!? This decision makes Circuit look bad. I was there today, the store was empty and all associates looked very upset at the news.

CC Sister says:

My sister has been with her CC since the doors opened nine years ago…and this morning, with no warning,..she was called into a meeting and told she no longer had a job becuse ” she made too much money” what a crock! If anything she was under paid for all the crap she had to put up with. I hope the company goes under . I will never shop there again or recomend them to anyone.

gnomic says:

Older workers tend to make more… If a number of workers are over 40, there is a big potential for an age discrimination lawsuit.

ccguy says:

I know this seems rough but there is so much people do not understand.

#1 Over half of the people cut did not work in departments that required great “product knowledge”. Delivery, Warehouse, Videogames, Music and front counter check out.

#2 It is unfair to pay some one $18 to sort CD’s. Yes..even if they had been there 8 years. Why? Because the people hired in the last 2 years could work at CC for the next 12 years and not make $18 per hour so it is un-balanced. Its not fair to pay one guy $26 to deliver a tv and the guy hired last year $12 who never in their life will see $26. CC is trying to being honest and think of the future. I wish CC would have been more clear of where the most of the staffing worked that was effected.

#3 Future managers. CC has to go outside the company to get them becuase thousands of people allowed to stay and convert over during the commission switch (who was thought could be our next round of managers) has chosen not to develope and move up in the company but ride out their pay for the bare minimum performance.

#4 Future managers. So in the departments that require some product knowledge CC kept some higher paid people (as mentioned before) and called them “seniors”. It was thought this would be a pre-manager in training type of position. Like other situations mentioned MANY of these folks WILL NOT TAKE A PROMOTION! In the order of things if these people who know everything they need to know will not move up they “clog” the pipe so to speak. So when “Johnny” who was hired 10 months ago who out performs “Senior Vetran Steve of 7 years” wants to get promoted he is held back by “Steve”. You can not get rid of people like “Steve” for not wanting to get promoted per say and it could take years to wait for them to leave on their own. So guys like “Johnny” sit around and do more, know more, work harder for $8 less an hour. THAT IS UNFAIR TO JOHNNY AND CC.

#5 CC has learned. We sell more services and solutions for our customers today than when we paid people a 20% cut!! Why is that? Becuase Commission people have a certain thought process. They are a certain breed per say and there was too many left around making too much un-earned money. They think if they sell a tv and a “warranty” they did their customer and CC justice and it was a good sale. How about cables to hook it up with? HD cable? Are we going to their house to hook it up? All this stuff leads to happy customers and profit and they just do not get it.

Letting people go who was with CC for many years hurts. I know these people also was given nice financial packages when let go. Some just barely got caught up in this and I bet 1000 will come back within 90 days. In todays market you have to have structure and get control where you lost control.

ccguy says:

CORRECTED WITHOUT SO MANY TYPOS :) Sorry was in a hurry.

****************************

I know this seems rough but there is so much people do not understand.

#1 Over half of the people cut did not work in departments that required great “product knowledge” it was much delivery, Warehouse, Videogames, Music and front counter check out.

#2 It’s unfair to pay some one $18 to sort CD’s. Yes, even if they had been there 8 years. Why? Because the people hired in the last 2 years could work at CC for the next 12 years and not make $18 per hour so it is un-balanced. Its not fair to pay one guy $26 to deliver a tv and the guy hired last year $12 who never in their life will see $26. CC is trying to being honest and think of the future. I wish CC would have been more clear of where the most of the staff worked that was effected by this.

#3 Future managers! CC has to go outside the company to get them 70% of the time because thousands of people allowed to stay and convert over during the commission switch (who was thought could be our next round of managers) has chosen not to develop and move up in the company but ride out their pay for the bare minimum performance.

#4 Future managers! So in the departments that require some product knowledge CC kept some higher paid people (as mentioned before) and called them “seniors”. It was thought this would be a pre-manager in training type of position. Like other situations mentioned MANY of these folks WILL NOT TAKE A PROMOTION! In the order of things if these people who so much about the job will not move up they “clog” the pipe so to speak. So when “Johnny” who was hired 10 months ago who out performs “Senior Veteran Steve of 7 years” wants to get promoted he is held back by “Steve”. You can not get rid of people like “Steve” for not wanting to get promoted per say and it could take years to wait for them to leave on their own. So guys like “Johnny” sit around and do more, know more, work harder for $8 less an hour. THAT IS UNFAIR TO JOHNNY AND CC.

#5 CC has learned. We sell more services and solutions for our customers today than when we paid people a 20% cut!! Why is that? Because Commission people have a certain thought process. They are a certain breed per say and there was too many left around making too much semi un-earned money. They think if they sell a tv and a “warranty” they did their customer and CC justice and it was a good sale. How about cables to hook it up with? HD cable so it looks good? Are we going to their house to hook it up? All this stuff leads to happy customers and profit and they just do not get it.

Letting people go who was with CC for many years hurts. I know these people were given nice financial packages when let go. Some just barely got caught up in this and I bet 1000 will come back within 90 days. In today’s market you have to have structure and get control where you lost control.

Leland says:

CCGuy has got to be a company flak. There is know way a rational human being can buy into that load of double talking crap.

I had a whole long point by point rebuttal to that load of fertilizer all ready to go, but decided to open it to everyone instead.

New Game: How many logic faults and contradictions can you in CCGuy’s post?

Leland says:

Make that “no way” instead. In the meantime I’ll be beating my spell checker…

gnomic says:

CCGuy… so let me get this straight. Managers put a pay system in place that rewarded people for working hard and saying in the same job, so the Manger fired these people for doing so. Would these be the same managers that bought a bunch of stores in Canada, closed some down and paid to rebrand them all, who are now looking at selling them off if they can find a buyer? It seems that CC doesn’t have an employee problem, they have a management problem. I’m sure these people needed to go to make up for the losses caused by poor decisions… but to fire people without warning for doing a good job?

Perhaps the stockholders will take a hard look at the logic of firing overpaid personnel and show the senior management team the door.

CIRCUITSHITTY says:

It isn’t the employees Fault for being paid that HIGH…. its the MANAGERS FAULT for not paying attention to CAP for that particular department. Yeah some people probably got paid to sort CD’s but those people were probably the most dedicated ones to the company vs. the ones who come in and half ass thier job for a simple check. MANAGERS were the ones who gave them thier raises first of all. If they choose not to move further than a regular employee rather than a manager then thats all on them, yet managers give them raises as an award for the work they do. Shoot, I’d sort CD’s and get paid $18 and hour if I could too! They didn’t know they would get fired for being good employees and raises they got from managers. If anyone should be seperated from the company it should be Managers, District Managers, Regional managers, etc. because NOONE paid any attention, all they care about is how much money is going in thier pocket! It will probably cost more to train the new employees and then when they quit in 2 months and thay are understaffed yet AGAIN… they will lose money from unhelped customers and shell out more money to train the next set of KIDS that come in and think working for this company is fun. They should watch out…. you may get fired for being a Good & Dedicated employee!

CC Sister says:

ccguy you are so full of it. My sister was there for 9 years. And she did everything…she sorted cds and dvds, she did customer service, she worked the sales floor, she stayed late and came in early to help when nobody else would, she even had to count down the registers, a mananagers job, because half the time the idiots didnt knwo how to. And she dang sure wasnt makin $18 a hour. my sister helped in more ways then anyone will ever know…because they were FAMILY!!! WHAT A FREAKIN JOKE . they need to put mr. srewover on hourly wage becasue the fat jackass is waking wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy over the cap limit….nice to know he is making millions for sitting on his butt while the others were fired for making $10 and hour and working their butts off.

tommy says:

is that like ‘mechanically separated chicken?’

andrew: i think i’m the only one who got it.

Andrew says:

Tommy, I think you’re right. :)

dismembered employee says:

I am one of the 3400 employees that cc let go.. i just wanted to respond to ccguy who i am almost positive is a cc manager or works in corp. he can talk like this because he still has a job!!!
#1 i am glad to see that he believes that those dept. did not matter because in my store those people were the ones that help the customers when the sales people and the managers did not have time for them.

#2 its not unfair to pay someone that price to SORT cds has your ass ever done it?? no i am not saying that it is that hard to do but from experience the person that has been there longer to be making that money most likely came to work on time and was there everyday and didnt piss on the company like these new teenagers are going to do and are doing now!

#3 future manager hell yeah they are going outside the company and thats why the company is going to the shits!! and no a lot of people are not moving up because they see how the manager are being treated. our district manager never spoke to any employees and the only manager he spoke with was the store manager.. our lead customer service rep has been with the company for a long time and he NEVER spoke to her.. i think that was very lame… of course what do you expect out of a lame man!!

#4 Future managers, cc called those people seniors so that the managers could get away with doing nothing… most likely if johnny who was hired 10 months ago had been screwed by the company like Steve had been for 7 years he would not be so upset.. many of times i have seen a johnny get promoted before a steve so i really dont want to hear that bull crap…

#5 employees have learned the more you do for that company the more they tend to shit on you

and i dont know what makes you think that we were given a nice financial package but we were not so what ever helps you sleep better at night…not to mention those who have insurance with the company lost it today they have to start paying cobra and let me tell that will eat up that nice package as you put it…

it just really bothers me that cc has done this.. i know some people that has been with the company over 20 years and you think that its going to be easy for them to find new jobs… and another thing for you to sit and say front counter check out in our store that was customer service and let me tell you what she did… the first of the month she pulled all of the paperwork and rotated it.. she did all of our tax exempt papers… she opened all the register made sure all the check points and the pads were working. filled the coke machines… listened and helped the customers that would cuss her because the more important people (as you make them out to be) screwed the customer and told them lies to sell the city advantaged and she also helped customers who had rebate problems…not to mention the customers that came in asking for a manager and she helped them so that the managers could continue sitting on their asses in the office where they spent most of the day.. she done a lot of paper work and called the service customers when their pieces came in… not to mention on a lot of the days she was number one or two on the sells screen.. she never called in and was always on time and now for all she does she is being punished in way i am happy for her because now the managers are going to have to get off of their asses and tend to their selves..
as for me i sorted the cds and dvds redid the new releases every week. i also did the pullbacks but new stuff out on the 288 report in the not important dept as you called it… and i did the candy and lots more i helped out up front and just about anywhere i was needed but you know i really dont matter beings i dont have the “product knowledge” as you say…
maybe they should let some of these managers go that make over the pay cap bring in new ones i believe for $5.15 an hour i can set on my ass in the office and do as much as they do.. and not to mention maybe if phillip j. screwover would give up some of his bonus we would all still have jobs

hey heres what they should say when answering the phone thank you for calling circuit city were we like to fire our employees to make you suffer with the teenie boppers

ohh and one more thing i was FIRED not laid off as cc keeps telling everyone

CCityEmployee says:

I work at circuit city currently, and I cannot for the life of me believe that they would fire all of the amazing, loyal workers they had just to save money and cut costs. I know that my morale has gone way down since all of my friends and co-workers were fired. I just don’t care anymore- it’s like why work hard if you will be fired later for doing so?! I can’t say I will be working there much longer and definetly will never shop there again. Hopefully customers will get fed up with the poor customer service that is to come from all of their teenage low-paid new hires and stop shopping at circuit city.

CCemployee says:

I am currently working at Circuit City and I am a technology product specialist. I worked for circuit city 5 years ago and left due to them laying off some of our top commission sales people in our store (before the massive layoff) and threatening everyone’s job EVERYDAY. I am not over-exaggerating, after many things they told us that we had to do in a day, they frequently followed it up with “…or you’ll be fired”. This was during morning meetings most of the time and was directed towards everyone in it. We were the top performing store in our district and many of us had consistent percentages of 10-15% in accessories and 8-10% in warranty sales in comparison to our volume.

I recently came back to the store I worked at 5 years ago in February. My brother has been working at this same store for 5 1/2 years at this point and was told by his managers that he was making JUST UNDER the cap for this position, which was a Senior Technology associate. They even made him a personalized name tag that read “PC Wizard”, because that’s what he is. He could tell you about everything and anything related to computers, mp3 players, camcorders, or digital cameras. He knew every feature and function on every individual product in the department. He is extremely dedicated and did SOOOO MUCH to help his manager and fellow associates. He trained employees and went far beyond customer’s expectations. He was laid of last Wednesday and our store management is EXTREMELY upset that they had to let him go along with the others that they had to let go, in exception for maybe one of them.

What circuit city did was WRONG, and there is little argument against that. This is not a trend by any means for a company to execute any layoffs. I will explain a few big reasons why…

- The employees and mangers were completely in the dark about what happened. The managers received a call the day before the layoffs concerning an “important meeting” the next day at 8:15 without any explanation of what it was for. Then, they got an envelope of people they were to layoff and they had nothing to say about it because of how quickly they forced them to get it done.

- They could have at least confidentially held meetings with district managers to coordinate with the store managers below them on who or who not to get rid of. If you need proof of this, well, they even fired someone that is off fighting in Iraq expecting his job to be there when he gets back home. I can also guarantee you that there were a lot of employees that some store managers would have put up a fight to keep them on.

- They gave no other options to people, even the ones that made just .51 cents to a dollar more than the cap, to take a slight pay cut and stay with the company.

- Only giving 3 days of insurance to people being laid off when they were hit with the layoff like a deer staring into a car’s headlights seconds before it’s bitter ending.

- Only giving a 1-2 month pay package when these former employees, especially the ones with children, will have to pay high cobra insurance rates because they have to move jobs and wait to be covered by their next job’s insurance benefits.

-If you look at the stock reports of that day and see the that when the market opened circuit’s stock goes up in a straight line, which leads me to believe they purchased their own stock to falsely represent the success of their layoff. Unfortunately for them, their stock went down 80 cents the very next day.

In closing to the previous stated points, layoffs weren’t what they did wrong, it’s how they did the layoffs.

In response to this ccguy. It is likely that he at least works for a circuit city store. That is only an assumption though and is besides the fact that he likely has no way to backup what he says and will most likely be based only on the people that were laid off withing his 1 store.

Now I will respond to each one of his points in more rational and logical terms.

#1- Most of the people in my store and from other ones within our district were about 3/4 sales people and highly experienced and multi-talented CSAs (customer service associates). These people were vital to the stores’ success as well as honest and committed to the company.

#2- I can agree with you on this point to some respect but not entirely. Most of these people, if not all of them, had much more responsibilities above the other associates in their departments. If anything they should have been promoted or circuit should have created a position with a larger pay cap that separated them from their fellow associates.

#3- You are only half right. These people who moved over from commission, yes, did in some sense be unwilling to move up to management, but many took senior roles for their departments. Also, to say they did the bare minimum could not be further from the truth. These associates set a great example of customer service and sales techniques that were vital to the company’s success. Most of them also helped train many of the new employees. The hourly employees are usually the ones that are hesitant to approach customers and don’t have a strategic and customer service oriented sales approach. Some would even walk away from customers once the sale or the customer’s questions became too complicated.

#4- Like I stated earlier and in addition to…these high paid people you refer to, keep in mind, were not all from the commission days, and got their pay due to over-exceeding their store’s goals for sales performance and customer service. Many raises in fact, were due to positive responses from their customers on surveys. I’ve been to many circuit city stores across the country and most of the most knowledgeable, hard-working, and most positive people were the high paid associates who were that way, not because they were from the commission days, but because they stayed with the company for years and were dedicated to their store and their customers. You would have to be - to put up with corporates crap that has happened over the past decade. I do say decade because they did start instigating people to sign arbitration agreements (which have been ruled in court, illegal, in some states) or lose their jobs. If you go outside the arbitration agreement and take circuit city to court, the odds are very high that the courts will discredit circuit’s arbitration agreement almost unanimously.

#5- Again, this couldn’t be more untrue. You might be basing this on the percentages which might seem to be higher than years before. However, this is falsified when you pay attention to the amount of dollars of these goals in comparison. Anyone on here who has been with circuit long enough can probably back me up. With the drop of commission, sales goals dropped as well, which obviously…so did company expectations. They got rid of commission sales people due to surveys done that showed customers didn’t necessarily want knowledgeable sales people or a high grade of customer service, but to rather go in, get what they wanted, and get the hell out, almost as if they were going to the bathroom.

In response to his conclusion. It is highly unlikely that any of these people will come back, most of them are older and cannot work for a teenager’s wage. Not to mention how they were mistreated by the company. Also, their benefits will be reset and they will need to wait 90 days again to get insurance. Circuit city has made it clear that it is not worth the money to have experienced, hard working, and knowledgeable associates. This is not just proven by their layoffs, but their plans to create positions to make up for the extra work that these people did. As well as increasing spending in marketing. So, instead of paying one person a higher hourly rate, they will pay 2-4 people to do the same work. They will make people’s jobs more simple so they don’t need to work as hard and don’t need to know as much as these people did.

Now….I’m done, thanks for reading, I know I had a lot to say :P

Gibos says:

Well,all I have to say its thanks to CCemployee,that is the way to put it down.I was one of the 3400.I was with CC for 7 years,I was the one that help the MGR get everything out(288)I was the TOP sales person in the store,I was the one when the needed someone to stay over night to fixed another department,I was “manager” if you put it that way…because all he did was sit in his ass and watch me take care of the department,make his bonus.Now lets see how his going to make his bonus.I know that its been hard for people that have been there 20 or more years but for me its not easy nether…I have 3 kids and a mom that stays home and now we have to get a babysitter because now we both have to get a new job.
To Circuit City……
your welcome for all the work and money we made you,hope that extra money helps you with your “Going out of buissness” labels.

dismembered employee says:

you said it Gibos glad to dee all managers sit on the ass not just the ones in my store… sorry to hear the strain it has put on your family….

dismembered employee says:

Well once again this lovely company has pooped on their employees…my advice to anyone who is left you had better start looking for a new job

singedpoodle says:

I’m one of the firedog installers. Luckily my dept didn’t get hit like the 3400 did.. But I feel for you all. Many of my friends that were very loyal employees were fired also. But, I don’t think CC trained the new hires. They all have tablet PCs on shoulder straps that they use to bring up product info. Why train when you can have them read a script? It’s BS, and honestly, I will probably be leaving this company very very soon. Hell, when firedog rolled out last oct, they made no mention to the installers that it had rolled out. And also, this previous check (7/26) marks the 3rd time in 8months that CC has not payed me the full amount of hours worked. And, they rfuse to pay late charges on bills that I can’t pay due to the paycheck mishaps… CC, you suck.

dismembered employee says:

omg do they really have them use tablet pcs?? right after everything happen i went in a couple of times to visit with friends until the last time i went in the stupid store manager stood over me like i was going to take something so i have not been back!!! I do know in the las round of firings they got rid of three more in which one was a manager….

CC Sister says:

It is nice to know that all those people lost their jobs, so CC could buy new custom painted pt cruisers.

dismembered employee says:

Just wondering if anyone else got the nice stupid letters??

ex senior says:

I was let go in the manager reshuffle of May. I visited the store a couple of times to see what was what and I have noticed the decline already. I may make one more trip in there to see how bad things have fallen apart and to see who else was let go. Obviously, they offered to rehire me likely as just an associate with lower pay and no supervisory power. I quietly ignored it as one would expect. I gave them 6 very loyal years with a great record. Their loss, as is with everyone else who they let go.

dismembered employee says:

how about stock isnt that funny thought about sending phillip j screwover a congrats on a great job done card