Like the title says, the company is solely focused on improving the value of its stock. SPIFFs and commissions were taken away from the sales force, essentially demotivating anyone hired on with the expectation of making more than an hourly wage. Management is too concerned with everything from pushing speciality sales down our throats to punishing employees for petty slip ups (forgetting to empty a trash can) that they have become blind to the fact that simply no one cares about their jobs anymore. My only reason to perform better than my coworkers is to keep my job until my solid sales figures land me a position with another company. There is a certain level of uncertainty when coming to work each day; what am I going to be in trouble for today?
If your plan is to move up in the company, enter Lowe's as high up as you can. In the last year alone, five positions in our store were filled by internal applicants whose previous positions were abandoned to save on payroll.
Sales Specialists and other associates have lost thousands of dollars this year with the elimination of SPIFFs and commissions. Personally, I took a $10,000 hit compared to what I made last year. That figure would be $20,000 if Lowe's didn't offer an "allowance" totaling 50% of SPIFFs and commissions made in 2011. It's only a matter of time before the allowance also disappears.
