Monday, June 26, 2006

Is this helpful?

In every brainstorming session, we are told there are no bad ideas. In the real world, oh honey. Just look at Home Depot's decision to reward clerks for doing a good job. Sounds laudable but: "industry experts question whether offering employees as much as $2,000 extra a month and $10,000 a quarter is enough to overcome what they say is a shortage of salespeople in the aisles....'The problem [with the plan] is that it doesn't solve the basic, core problem of having knowledgeable people working in your stores,' said George Whalin, founder of Retail Management Consultants. 'In recent years, Home Depot has spent very little educating people.'"

Turns out Home Depot's full of ideas. "[I]n attempting to cut costs, Home Depot's management had effectively replaced its more knowledgeable and experienced store staff with less seasoned employees, plunging many of its stores into relative disarray." But not to worry. The guys at corporate are getting taken care of. Really taken care of.

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