It’s hardly unusual to read a news item about corporate downsizing. This one caught my eye, though: Circuit City to cut more than 3,500 jobs. Here’s why: The company is downsizing by laying off their highest-paid employees. Not the ones with the worst performance ratings, not the ones who’ve been there the shortest amount of time. They’re firing their best-paid retail employees.
I don’t know the details of Circuit City’s employment practices, but generally speaking, you have to either be good at what you do and/or have been with the company a longer amount of time in order to get better paid. So if that holds true here, then Circuit City is deliberately dumping the cream of their retail workforce in order to save money.
In other words, they are firing the people who actually know where stuff is in the stockroom, or how to get it if it’s not there. Laying off the ones who know how to ring in a return on the register without having to ask for help and take 10 minutes doing it. Getting rid of the people who actually know something about their products and can talk intelligently about them.
That sounds like an incredibly boneheaded move to me.
But what do i know? After all, I only managed a retail store. I wouldn’t know anything about how much more productive a seasoned employee is than someone who’s still learning how to do their job. Nope, I must be completely wrong.
Or maybe not. Even Home Depot seems to know better:
Circuit City’s cuts come at a time when other retailers are trying to put more knowledgeable workers on store floors. Home Depot Inc., whose new chief executive is struggling to re-ignite sales growth at its stores, said it has raised pay to attract skilled tradespeople, such as carpenters and electricians.
Good luck with the layoffs, Circuit City. I think you’re going to need it.