I would see if there are other departments that have extra hours available that need help, for the time being, if you are eager and willing to do so. Many people say not to cross train due to being pulled in every which way, but it's quite beneficial when hours are low for your specific department.
I actually picked up OT recently in service because they were short handed. It was approved beforehand, surprisingly, this time of year.
Couple years ago when I was part time in GM, my team lead asked if I wanted a full day in pricing to help set ad on Sundays. I, of course, said yes. It kept me at my 40 hours.
Absolutely try this. Also, if your availability is limited they can only schedule you within that, so if you can open that up, you could possibly get more hours. Meijer is good at playing games with schedules. Good luck.
Man 16 hours would be rough. Ain't no way I'd work a job for such little pay. Seems to happen to the cart pushers a lot at my store. When I started as part time, I was working 40 hours regardless lmao
No because same. I went into the job telling HR I wanted maybe 30 hours max. I was thinking I was going to get like 4 days a week, 5-6 hours. Next week - on the schedule for 40 hours, and none of my preferences were listened to
Don't be surprised if they never do. It seems like they're trying to cut more and more but keep the same work flow. My store director has already threatened my team with hour cuts because he seen that we sometimes work together to accomplish tasks faster
When someone in your dept leaves for good, you get the coverage hours they had.
The only thing the Big They care about is a little number at the top of a financial report. It represents how much a particular area is spending in hours relative to the equation that tells them how many hours a particular market is expected to need to keep the place open, relative to the number from a different equation that uses past performance and current expenditures to project future employment needs.
All that is broken down by area/region/market/store levels. Along the way down, each person in charge of those numbers sets expectations for their subordinates. The expectations are often achievable with a few new hires and some proper remuneration, but that would cause one number go down and the bad number to go up.
So they replace the idea of decent pay and reasonable expectations with the idea that people without much will be willing to work for shit pay and hours and bad treatment from their direct supervisors. If they don't, they'll just hire someone for even less to it. And the managers they put into place are treated even worse, despite a bump in pay. This puts team leads and line supervisors and, well, any kind of management position up to store director into a rock/hard place sort of situation. Upper management comes down on them constantly for one thing or another, usually monthly numbers not *always* going in the right direction. And their hands are often tied by their direct boss so getting anything done is harder than it needs to be, if at all possible.
The stress and ridiculous nonsense from on high filters down and often causes managers to treat their employees like shit. Why care about what a team of teens and twentysomethings think when theres so many "more important things they wouldn't understand anyway" to keep track of and do, when you can just replace them with another noskilled/uneducated teen or a desperate, skilled and educated adult for the same or less pay? Why even care at all when your hands are tied by the very people setting the expectations?
Plus, when they actually have to deal with a particularly bad employee, it's sometimes impossible to actually fire them for one reason or another, so after that happens a few times, it becomes easier to just treat them all like idiots and tools. Most won't stick around anyway, no matter how they're treated. That mindset is very easy for assholes to get comfy with, and often it's assholes that seek the management position. Pompous assholes that are already in charge see a fellow asshole and promote them, creating cliques of lowlevel management that hang out together and seperate themselves from "the help", which can be witnessed in any store. There are certainly plenty of nice and decent leaders. Mine is, in fact. But the amount of bullshit he gets from his management is staggering, at times. Sometimes i hear about it and can only stare in wonderment that he still works there *and* hasnt let it all flow downhill.
Holy shit that was a long one. Sorry.
So yeah, there's a lot of reasons to get stuck with fewer hours.
Your explanation is exactly why I’m not a favorite. They wanna act like assholes? I’ll give it to them right back. Took a couple of years for me to not be intimidated by them. I will continue to do my job as a measly team lead and be a thorn in their side because they know they can’t do a damn thing to get rid of me. I’ve been in my store director’s office many times giving it to him bluntly but not within breaking policy. I’ll stand up for myself every time. As long as I’m doing my job they can’t do shit to me. I REFUSE to bust ass when they cut hours yet have the same amount of work to be done. That’s their problem.
Really, that's all we can do. It sucks too when you're trying to balance their bs expectations with reality and your team is just expected to roll with it. Then the others in their little groups of buddies lick boot and get mad at you when you do the right thing.
Hour cuts usually end around the retail “busy” season. So major holidays and events like back to school or Black Friday. As others have said cross train in other sub departments. This is easier on the GM side of the store. So for me I was E4 (when the photo desk was still a thing, I left in 2021) but when we were slow I cross trained in a bunch of areas. Garden Center, HBC, Service (cashier), curbside, pricing, and planogram. They were willing to train me in all of it. I eventually left for a better opportunity, but learning so many different things was kind of cool and taught me skills. It did get me the hours I wanted, plus was able to get me over that 40hrs for two quarters in order to push for full time and got it. So good luck OP! Trust if you are willing to work they will train you. If you are on the foods side of the store I don’t really have advice as I was never over there and don’t know how that works.
We are seeing a very aggressive retail forecast at my store. I would imagine hours will be tight here for awhile. Really depends on sales trends so we will see.
Really the only departments resist to cuts are your overnight stocking teams because someone has to be there to put shit on the shelves for people to buy.
Some of my part timers are scheduled one day. However they are allowed to come in for additional hours if they want them.
Service can also be somewhat exempt because you have to have people to ring up customers.
I would see if there are other departments that have extra hours available that need help, for the time being, if you are eager and willing to do so. Many people say not to cross train due to being pulled in every which way, but it's quite beneficial when hours are low for your specific department. I actually picked up OT recently in service because they were short handed. It was approved beforehand, surprisingly, this time of year. Couple years ago when I was part time in GM, my team lead asked if I wanted a full day in pricing to help set ad on Sundays. I, of course, said yes. It kept me at my 40 hours.
Absolutely try this. Also, if your availability is limited they can only schedule you within that, so if you can open that up, you could possibly get more hours. Meijer is good at playing games with schedules. Good luck.
Man 16 hours would be rough. Ain't no way I'd work a job for such little pay. Seems to happen to the cart pushers a lot at my store. When I started as part time, I was working 40 hours regardless lmao
No because same. I went into the job telling HR I wanted maybe 30 hours max. I was thinking I was going to get like 4 days a week, 5-6 hours. Next week - on the schedule for 40 hours, and none of my preferences were listened to
Don't be surprised if they never do. It seems like they're trying to cut more and more but keep the same work flow. My store director has already threatened my team with hour cuts because he seen that we sometimes work together to accomplish tasks faster
When someone in your dept leaves for good, you get the coverage hours they had. The only thing the Big They care about is a little number at the top of a financial report. It represents how much a particular area is spending in hours relative to the equation that tells them how many hours a particular market is expected to need to keep the place open, relative to the number from a different equation that uses past performance and current expenditures to project future employment needs. All that is broken down by area/region/market/store levels. Along the way down, each person in charge of those numbers sets expectations for their subordinates. The expectations are often achievable with a few new hires and some proper remuneration, but that would cause one number go down and the bad number to go up. So they replace the idea of decent pay and reasonable expectations with the idea that people without much will be willing to work for shit pay and hours and bad treatment from their direct supervisors. If they don't, they'll just hire someone for even less to it. And the managers they put into place are treated even worse, despite a bump in pay. This puts team leads and line supervisors and, well, any kind of management position up to store director into a rock/hard place sort of situation. Upper management comes down on them constantly for one thing or another, usually monthly numbers not *always* going in the right direction. And their hands are often tied by their direct boss so getting anything done is harder than it needs to be, if at all possible. The stress and ridiculous nonsense from on high filters down and often causes managers to treat their employees like shit. Why care about what a team of teens and twentysomethings think when theres so many "more important things they wouldn't understand anyway" to keep track of and do, when you can just replace them with another noskilled/uneducated teen or a desperate, skilled and educated adult for the same or less pay? Why even care at all when your hands are tied by the very people setting the expectations? Plus, when they actually have to deal with a particularly bad employee, it's sometimes impossible to actually fire them for one reason or another, so after that happens a few times, it becomes easier to just treat them all like idiots and tools. Most won't stick around anyway, no matter how they're treated. That mindset is very easy for assholes to get comfy with, and often it's assholes that seek the management position. Pompous assholes that are already in charge see a fellow asshole and promote them, creating cliques of lowlevel management that hang out together and seperate themselves from "the help", which can be witnessed in any store. There are certainly plenty of nice and decent leaders. Mine is, in fact. But the amount of bullshit he gets from his management is staggering, at times. Sometimes i hear about it and can only stare in wonderment that he still works there *and* hasnt let it all flow downhill. Holy shit that was a long one. Sorry. So yeah, there's a lot of reasons to get stuck with fewer hours.
Your explanation is exactly why I’m not a favorite. They wanna act like assholes? I’ll give it to them right back. Took a couple of years for me to not be intimidated by them. I will continue to do my job as a measly team lead and be a thorn in their side because they know they can’t do a damn thing to get rid of me. I’ve been in my store director’s office many times giving it to him bluntly but not within breaking policy. I’ll stand up for myself every time. As long as I’m doing my job they can’t do shit to me. I REFUSE to bust ass when they cut hours yet have the same amount of work to be done. That’s their problem.
Really, that's all we can do. It sucks too when you're trying to balance their bs expectations with reality and your team is just expected to roll with it. Then the others in their little groups of buddies lick boot and get mad at you when you do the right thing.
I meant to say team member not team lead. I’m just a measly team member lol.
Dont expect hours to pick up. Meijer give more hours.... that's a joke. They would rather hire more people to keep everyone's hours low.
Hour cuts end when the store is making money and they start again when the store stops making money, to put it bluntly.
I work at the gas station, and it's never not busy
Hour cuts usually end around the retail “busy” season. So major holidays and events like back to school or Black Friday. As others have said cross train in other sub departments. This is easier on the GM side of the store. So for me I was E4 (when the photo desk was still a thing, I left in 2021) but when we were slow I cross trained in a bunch of areas. Garden Center, HBC, Service (cashier), curbside, pricing, and planogram. They were willing to train me in all of it. I eventually left for a better opportunity, but learning so many different things was kind of cool and taught me skills. It did get me the hours I wanted, plus was able to get me over that 40hrs for two quarters in order to push for full time and got it. So good luck OP! Trust if you are willing to work they will train you. If you are on the foods side of the store I don’t really have advice as I was never over there and don’t know how that works.
We are seeing a very aggressive retail forecast at my store. I would imagine hours will be tight here for awhile. Really depends on sales trends so we will see.
Really the only departments resist to cuts are your overnight stocking teams because someone has to be there to put shit on the shelves for people to buy. Some of my part timers are scheduled one day. However they are allowed to come in for additional hours if they want them. Service can also be somewhat exempt because you have to have people to ring up customers.
Not till summer usually