Dillard’s is known to be one of the hardest places to work. Looking for jobs, you usually read their business mission statement. So they claim that they are a 3 billion dollar business. A business with that kind of money is impressive, right?
Wrong. As I continued to apply my research talents I learned there is a darker side to the Dillard’s hiring saga. Why?
I found sites after sites of present employees, and ex employees venting about the Dillard’s policies of the sales per hour, known as the SPH. I dismissed the sites as mere disgruntled employees and ex employees trying to ruin their ex employer.
Earlier this year, I applied for a sales position at one of the Dillard’s located in Iowa. Upon arrival of the first day, we were explained that the training was revamped for the reason of high employee turn over. Employee turn over was what our Assistant store manager was most concerned about, but when we tried to bring the attention to what caused the employee turn over those reasons were dismissed.
Dillard’s employee turn over is Dillard’s own fault. In the sink or swim concept of the sales goals that they set for their employees is what is leaving Dillard’s sinking. Why would a employee affect Dillard’s?
Dillard’s holds high to its employee policies, no new fresh ideas are invited and in some concepts it is literally like working under the old Soviet Union. Why would I say such a thing, how ghastly for me to compare such a business to a country that once owned their very citizens in certain terms?
In a week’s time, I understood that Dillard’s was not an ethical place to work. I was still in my training class and I held to the hope that I was over inflating the concept of the sales per hour goal. I took a look around and looked at some of the other employees, they weren’t working. Clothes laid unfolded, crumpled, papers laid upon the floor. They stood as if they were waiting, waiting for prey to come walking down the marbled aisles. I thought to myself, oh, that is why they are getting a pay cut, because they are not keeping their department clean.
After my training class graduated, I went to the floor in my assigned department. I was not there a total of ten minutes and had my first customer. I was so excited, it wasn’t hard at all and as far as the sales per hour goal, they lady from what I calculated had at least that in her arm. This was easy I told myself.
It was time for the arm load of clothing to be checked out and one of my fellow new employees stood at my arm by the cash register. I thought to myself oh, she is here to help me, how nice. The customer asked for two bottles of water and the fellow employee nicely pointed me in the direction to obtain the water. I did. I was so excited, what else could we put on this sale in order to make my sales goal?
I returned with the water, too late. My fellow employee had already completed the purchase, my heart literally dropped to the floor. She stole my sale, in a matter of being on the floor for a total of forty five minutes, I did it for nothing. Though I still got paid my hourly rate, I knew that if I did not meet my sales goals I would receive a ten percent pay cut of my hourly wage, and then another and when I went down too far I’d be terminated.
The fellow employee then assured me I could ring up the two dollar water. I did as I thought to myself, how could she this is what I had to deal with in order to meet my sales per hour?
By the time the customer left I looked at my fellow employee and asked her, “Why?” and I was given a list of excuses. The excuses just made me really upset and I walked away and went to the bathroom.
As I sat in the bathroom, trying to collect my cool I remembered that she was one of the employees that I had seen waiting to pounce on the prey. I decided that I would show Dillard’s how hard of a worker I could be, as many of my other employers hated to see me go when I had to move away or quit because of health reasons. I had become irreplaceable at other employers, and my goal became to be a top notch employee with what is called employee morale.
Each day, I refolded the clothes that were on the display tables as my sales per hour suffered, but there was so much task work that no one else wanted to perform that I had a lot to do to keep me busy throughout the day. I was recognized as a hard worker by many of my managers, including the store manager.
Within the first month, I had made a $900 sale, which I was then floating on a glittery impression that I could make it despite the sales being stolen. Despite the heavy competition of who did the work and the lies, when all along it was me that had refolded the clothes.
We were given tasks to do each day, to move clothes around, mark downs, and other tasks that became busy work and it made the time go by quickly. I enjoyed the job and put everything into making the department looking neat and impressive. In two months, I was told that I was a magnificent hard worker, but my sales per hour were lacking. When I explained that there were no customers on a day that we received 3 inches of snow, she dismissed it and told me, “They should be coming to see you and want to shop with you. That is your job.”
Now I understood my job was to attract customers like a side show. What was I to do, dance, sing? What attracted customers. None came, the ones that did come told us to call them back when things went on sale.
It was now time for the Christmas returns to start rolling in, and we all learned to hate returns as it lowered our already obtained sales per hour. I saw my sales per hour literally drop into -$2,000.00 in one day. I will allow you to know that I was to make Dillard’s $2,000.00 a day. I became upset about the numerous amounts of consumers that tucked the tags and wore the clothing for the Christmas party and then returned them. Policy is policy and we had to abide by the policy to make the screaming customer happy.
It wasn’t but a week when the store manager began to fire people for low sales per hour goals; one by one they dropped like flies. I learned that it didn’t matter how hard of a worker you were, it was the goals, the numbers. Dillard’s just cared about the dollar signs and the numbers. I became extremely nervous as I continued to do my overwhelming task work and tried to attack the prey that walked down the marble walk way. “I am just browsing!” was a popular statement.
All the anxiety finally caught up with me, it was like being locked in a dungeon just to wait to see when you were going to get the whip and chains. Dillard’s was becoming a temporary job for me, sadly. With an anxiety attack that was becoming stronger by the minute, I made my way to my store manager’s office and asked to go to the doctor, home, or sit in the break room. The manager was upset with me and told me, “Do what you gotta do. I am not happy about losing business because of you.” “Do what ya gotta do.” That statement rolled around in my head as the anxiety attack increased. I made my way to the time clock and punched out and as so many of us learned the phrase, I walked the red carpet. I unlike the ones that didn’t meet their over inflated sale goal, was not escorted down the red carpet.
Why Dillard’s is sinking themselves? Number one, there is so much of a matter of time before they hire everyone in the small city of Iowa, before all of Iowa becomes an ex employee, a friend of an ex employee or knows and ex employee.
It is part of ethics, morality, morals and most of all loyalty. Which Dillard’s can not realize is one of the reasons they are losing business. Employees, are what make up a majority of a large retail store, without them, there is no one to wait on the customer to explain the over inflated prices.
Dillard’s will continue to sink into the Abyss, while Target is worth more per square foot then a Dillard’s retail store. Sad, but true that Dillard’s will continue with their policies, and never adapt or grown into the real world of the century.
