Circuit City wants its best employees back

November 21, 2007

Way back in March, Circuit City fired 3,400 of the chain’s most successful and experienced — and thus highest paid — employees. The idea, apparently, was to save money by maintaining a cheaper labor force. The reality was more discouraging for the company — almost immediately, the chain lost money when it sacked its best salespeople.

As Digby put it at the time, “Who would ever have imagined that customers would want someone knowledgeable and experienced to explain big ticket electronic items to them before they lay out thousands of dollars? Any pimply faced teen-ager can do it, right? Boy, these businessmen shure r smart.”

A friend of mine added that Circuit City had just alienated its customer base.

Most people who like electronic gadgets and gizmos follow new developments very closely. They like to have the latest stuff and probably want to deal with a salesperson who knows all about what’s hot. Yet Circuit City just sent those people out the door and replaced them with inexperienced, low-wage newbies….

[Also, let’s] say you’re a tad intimidated by new technology. Maybe you’d like to have a giant TV or an MP3 player or a digital camera that’s also a GPS or whatever. People like that might be willing to pay a few extra bucks to get some help from an experienced salesperson rather than just plunk down some money at Wal-Mart and walk out with an item they can’t even turn on.

Well, that was six months ago. Now, with the holiday season getting underway, Circuit City has come to a different conclusion — they want the fired workers back.

Circuit City Stores Inc has asked former employees, including some staffers replaced by lower-paid workers earlier this year, to apply for new jobs as the electronics retailer tries to turn its business around. […]

Spokesman Bill Cimino said on Wednesday that Circuit City invited former U.S. workers to apply for jobs, a practice he said was not uncommon in retail, given the typically high turnover.

Cimino said the retailer had reached out to many former workers, including some who were let go earlier this year. He added that Circuit City would likely invite more ex-staffers to return next year.

“In a lot of cases, we’ve completely changed how our stores operate; the roles of our associates within the stores,” Cimino told Reuters. “We’ve got a better career path now for associates.”

Let this be a lesson to commercial outlets everywhere — treating knowledgeable and successful employees as an asset: smart. Throwing them to the curb: dumb.

Somewhere, a shamefaced little MBA-toting weasel is flipping burgers for his part in that brilliant mangement decision. Or so I would hope, anyway. Good.

  • The article doesn’t mention any inducements, such as higher salaries, restored seniority, etc. If all they’re doing is asking, I can’t imagine that they’ll have any success at all. (Assuming that seniority at Circuit City is worth anything. . .)

  • When they originally let these people go they offered them their jobs back – at drastically reduced wages. My guess is Circuit City’s position hasn’t changed and the old employees aren’t coming back.

  • Somewhere, a shamefaced little MBA-toting weasel is flipping burgers for his part in that brilliant mangement decision.

    More likely planning a run for President in 2012: Republicans like weasels with MBA’s.

    My guess is that Circuit City is offering those employees a chance to start at the bottom all over again. Here’s hoping that every one of them has found a better job elsewhere.

  • I haven’t shopped at Circuit City since they shafted me on some rebate deals 9 years ago. Imagine my distress at their predicament.

  • Isn’t this the same thing that happened in the movie Mr. Mom? That the jerk manager fired Michael Keaton and his pals as a cost saving measure, and then had to beg to get them back when costs actually increased? Will corporate whores ever learn?

    I wonder how many of these fired employees had wacky misadventures as stay-at-home dads, and how many of them just got sales jobs somewhere else.

  • An MBA weasle would have replaced them with a touch screen. A direct change over of personnel to lower wage employees is the work of an accountant. 🙂

  • I appreciate yours and Digby’s thoughts on this question, but I am not sure this is 100% consumer friendly, from the article:

    In March, Circuit City let go more than 3,000 workers and replaced them with lower-paid staff, a move criticized by analysts who said the loss of the more-experienced employees hurt sales of items such as extended warranties.

    Those warranties are big source of revenue for places like CC and are basically a rip-off for the consumer, particularly the inexperienced consumer. One wonders if a dropoff in the sales of these warranties is not part of the motive here as we head into the holiday season.

  • Management always thinks the worker bees are expendable. It doesn’t matter which company.
    Personally I think being a manager has almost no reward except financial, no creativity (usually) and no end product…jealeosy maybe?

  • It may be cruel, but I hope that with the economic downturn, Circuit City suffers a nice, slow death (slow enough for employees to jump ship) with this as the first of the bleeding. I never shopped there – and never will – and hope this story gets spread far and wide so people can vote with their dollars.

  • The reality was more discouraging for the company — almost immediately, the chain lost money when it sacked its best salespeople.

    Doh!

    lol

  • They think they’re brilliant capitalists- just figure out what the most evil thing to do that would piss off liberals the most and defy the liberal approach to labor and the economy most, and do it, and it it’ll have to work- sorry, contrary to what little babies believe, the world isn’t some extension of yourself subject to the laws of your own psychology. There’s such a thing as objective reality.

  • Y’know, I’ve never really had any reason whatsoever to go into a Jerk-it City store. I mean, WTF? Show me what they’ve got that someone else doesn’t sell for less? And now they want to bring back their quality staff to salvage the shopping season; staff that they’ll probably just let go again when the extra Xmas help is no longer needed.

    Let the damned greedmongers twist in the wind, for all I care….

  • DP said:

    …the loss of the more-experienced employees hurt sales of items such as extended warranties.

    Those warranties are big source of revenue for places like CC and are basically a rip-off for the consumer…

    That is an excellent point and I’m sure that it’s not just knowledge but pure salesmanship that C.C. is missing.

    I experienced it myself at C.C. about a year ago when I got a small HDTV. I made a decision pretty quickly but throughout the final purchase routine, I was pushed hard by the young 20 something salesguy to do the warranty thing and he was visibly peeved when I left without it. He was also reluctant to let go of the idea that I should buy the gold plated connector set vs. the more ordinary but perfectly fine connectors.

    He really wanted to tell me what I was going to leave the store with and I’m sure that aggressive approach is effective a lot of the time.

  • MBA flipping burger having learned his lesson???

    How little have you people learned from corporate America and Dubya?

    The guy is sipping a pina colada in Rio while being fed grapes by a nekkid supermodel.
    You guys keep confusing profits and accomplishment of goals with success!

  • LOL.

    Wal-Mart had every excuse under the sun for their lagging sales except one. They refuse to admit that ill-treatment of their employees is part of the problem.

    Lose an employee, you not only lose a customer, you also lose that employee’s family, friends and others who here the story on blogs and in the news. And no one burns through an employee market like Wal-Mart. Their employee turnover is astronomical.

    Circuit City tried to save money and it shot them in the foot in the end. Good.

    Circuit City, Wal-Mart and other big box retailers need to learn a lesson. Your employees are the family and friends of your consumers. Treat them badly and your sales will suffer.

  • Yes on Mr. Mom. There’s no justice when it comes to corporate leaders. This country was built on the belief that everyone must get shafted to make money!

  • fire them
    let them suffer unemployment for a few months
    then re-hire them around the holidays when money is tight
    btw guys do you think these employees will be getting their old salaries back with their jobs? 🙂

    hats off to whichever evil exec at CC came up with this plan. i believe rove-esque is the current nomenclature. but certainly it is ingenious.

  • I took a job one Christmas to make etra money in a “big” store…please understand that the employees are forced to make the pitch for warranties and all sorts of additions to the sale. If they aren’t seen or heard making the pitchs then they can get in all sorts of trouble and they do need the job. So, even though I don’t work there anymore, I listen and then say no. It is dispicable how companies will exploit their workers and then discard the ones who are actually making them the most money to save some money.

  • Actually, they want to rehire all the laid-off employees at $10 – $11.75 an hour regardless of their previous pay and non managerial positions. A few of my previous co-workers were invited back just to find out that it’s a publicity ploy…. making the public consumers think that they want to rehire everyone with experience back… they failed.

  • I used to work for CC for nearly eight years until I was laid off on March 28th this past year at Bloomingdale, IL. What happened here was a bunch of democrats who graduated from liberal college thought this would be a safe, cost cuttiing move and they got cocky. Now they are taking it in the rear. Capitalism made this company great, and now that CC blew away their identity, capitalism will destroy CC. I moved on, and have not set foot in a CC since that day nor will I. I recieved a letter in the mail inviting me to come back to work for them. I just turned around and laughed at it. CC did this, not president Bush, not republicans, not corporate capitalistic America, CC DID IT! Laying off your best workers is NOT capitalism.

  • I worked at cc for 10 years. thought i was doing a good job, getting the raises, fairly happy,got my 10 yr award, only to be told that i make too much, and got laid off so some lower paid and inexperienced workers could take my place. I felt betrayed, of course, and will not set foot in there. I miss my friends(the few that survived the slaughter) but that place blew it. Now they are suffering. they send out letters asking the experienced workers to come back, get our jobs at a competitive wage. when I read this letter, i didn’t know if i wanted to laugh, scream or cry. They’ve got nerve, the greedy idiots. I am much happier without them.

  • I WORKED AT CIRCUIT CITY FOR 12 YEARS. WAS A TOP SALESMAN EACH MONTH. THEN I WAS LAID OFF BECAUSE I WAS PAID TOO MUCH. NOW CC JUST REPORTED THEY LOST 200 MILLION IN THE LAST QUARTER. 200 MILLION. THEY SENT ME A LETTER ASKING ME TO COME BACK. NO WAY. I HAVE A BETER JOB MAKING MORE MONEY. WITH A COMPANY THAT REWARDS IT TOP SALES PEOPLE AND GETS RID OF THE WEAK ONES. WHAT A CONCEPT!!!! CIRCUIT CITY DESERVES TO GO DOWN.

  • I was an employee for 20 yrs at CC when I got the boot on March 28,2007 along with 4 other co workers with at least 15 yrs expereince with the Company.We also were told it was due to pay scale which we were not aware that there was one.I was making 51 cents too much for my lead position.All ofus would have gladly taken a pay cut but none was offered.The whole process took about 20 minutes and we were escorted to the door.Just the day before I was told how valuable I was to CC WOW!!!! I guess not so much huh!!! Not one person ever called to see how any of us were getting along but did receive our comeback letters in Nov.When I first started with the company ,it was a great place to work but I have seen many changes in Management which have not been good in the longrun.To me Cust Service is important and I always gave 110% and hopefully CC Higher Ups are realizing that the 2007 decison lft not only their employees in a bad situation but affected their customers in a negative way.I believe you should treat people the way you want to be treated.with courtesy and decency and I hope the Big Guys have learned their lesson.

    • Comments are closed.