Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly: Workers should feel disposable, not indispensable

[Aquavit]

After an investor presentation last November, Joly told the Star Tribune that he intended to restore accountability to the company’s culture.

“You need to feel disposable as opposed to indispensable,” Joly said.

[link] http://www.startribune.com/business/195156871.html [/link]

Not that I buy much from Best Buy these days anyway, but having read this I don't think I can even step foot into a store. I am so unbelievably sick of workers being treated like this in the workplace!!!

[aquart]

1. Maybe that's why I feel so uncomfortable in his stores.

I won't even look at Best Buy circulars anymore. Just hate the experience.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

79. Or it could be the echoes of no customers. Best Buy is in a death spiral ...

I live in the Twin Cities ... Best Buy just announced layoffs at the corporate headquarters, firing 400 of them. That follows firing 2400 last year in the fall. And fourth quarter financial reports showing a $4+ million loss for fourth quarter 2012 (the holiday buying season), which is actually an improvement over the quarter financial report for 2011, when they lost $1.82 billion (billion with a "B&quot .

Lots of people losing jobs there and I think more to come.

[aquart]

86. It's a horrible place to shop.

I prefer to be treated as a welcome guest, not a potential shoplifter.

[Buns_of_Fire]

2. In a just world, CEOs would feel the same way... nt

[HereSince1628]

5. ^^^^THIS!!^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Aquavit]

12. They do...

The problem is that as soon as a CEO finds himself (or herself) "disposable," they also find several million dollars worth of the company's money has been "disposed of" with them. Case in point a month ago when another large Minneapolis-based company "disposed of" their CEO after he spent less than a year on the job:

"Supervalu also disclosed Monday in a federal securities filing that current CEO Wayne Sales has agreed to forgo $2.7 million due to him in a $12.8 million golden parachute package, waiving rights under his contract."

[link] http://www.startribune.com/business/189655631.html [/link]

[uponit7771]

85. Good point

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

3. That attitude

is EXACTLY why all workers should organize! We are not a commodity

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. ^^^___^^^ this

And strike as well.

[daleanime]

43. Hell yes!

[Prism]

4. "Shouldn't feel indisposed."

There, I fixed that for her. Finding employees in that store is like a perverse electronic scavenger hunt. Oh, sure, when you first walk through the door, twelve associates will fly tackle you like you were bringing cupcakes, but once you're in, forget it.

Maybe they could hire more workers?

Nah, too easy.

[Initech]

8. That might require them to make a dent in their $16 billion annual profits!

They're not job creators they're wealth hoarders.

[Prism]

13. They need that $16 billion!

To create ever bigger mounted TV displays. TV walls as long as football fields? The hell, you say. They won't stop until the moon itself is plastered with Samsung products.

But seriously, I have a friend who worked her way up from clerk to store manager. She has no life. They patently refuse to hire more help. Who doesn't want to work 80 hours a week?

[EC]

19. They work on commission

leads to that type of behavior. Sears is the same way.

[Aquavit]

30. Incorrect

The retail workers don't get commission anymore. And besides that, this move doesn't affect retail workers; it affects the rank and file at Corporate who, let's be honest, have a VERY small hand in Best Buy's struggles compared to decision-making suits like Joly.

[LeftyMom]

31. No, they don't. They barely get more than minimum wage.

Sears also has largely eliminated commissions.

[Earth_First]

32. So explain to me how a 30 second interaction with an employee generates a comission?

I've never once been followed to a register by sales staff following finding what I was in search of.

Is it magic that they know which agent helped me?

[olddots]

109. Commission was long gone years ago

I worked for commission and it was an incentive to obtain product knowledge,stock knowledge and know what products were dependable .Working for best buys you have no incentive and their head suit give them less reason to give a shit.
Sorry but I see the lack of commissioned sales forces as reason for crappy service and a shrinking middle class .

[beachgirl2365]

53. LOL!!!

your imagery and description is spot on! thx for the laugh....

[Initech]

6. So these assholes finally admit it. Where do we get the pitchforks and torches again?

[Leslie Valley]

27. Walmart I think has some

Garden center.

[WinkyDink]

72. From China.

[Union Scribe]

97. Here you go.

http://www.usab2c.com/product/shovels_made_inusa/92370_american_made_spading_fork

[lpbk2713]

7. I'll make it a point to stay away from BB even more than I have previously.

I only go there maybe once a year, when I can't find what I want somewhere else and
I'm in too much of a hurry for the item than to order it from another vendor online.
This asshole needs to understand I need BB a lot less than he needs me.

[EOTE]

18. Same here.

I've typically gone at least a few times during the year, most often when it's most convenient. However, reading what I just read, I won't ever step foot in that place again. How the fuck can these assholes think they can say these things and not suffer repercussions.

[jmowreader]

9. Mr. Tact he's not but there's truth to what he says

"Indispensable" workers tend to stop doing anything...in any field of endeavor. No one is indispensable in retail.

He could have put this a lot better.

[Aquavit]

22. This doesn't affect retail operations....

It would be generally pretty tough to run a retail store if you let the workers work from home, no?

[gravante]

135. Indeed. He's not a native speaker of English.

[aristocles]

10. I've been working continuously since I was 16.

Started as a stock boy. I've had various jobs in academe, logistics, and IT. I've been a company director. I've had my own businesses.
One thing I've learned in all those years of work: NO ONE IS INDISPENSABLE.

[daleanime]

45. There's a difference between 'no one'......

and 'everyone'. Its long past due for workers to get a little respect and a bigger piece of the pie, instead of a few crumbs from the crust.

[DaveJ]

54. It's sad if that's what you've learned after so many years.

I've known since I was 6 that people where replaceable in a job function, but to say people are "dispensable" or "disposable" is ludicrous.

It goes against the fabric of civilization. Respect for other people is supposed to be what separates OUR way of thinking from moneys and rats.

People striving to do great things and distinguish themselves from others is essential to progress.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

56. Actually, what you should have learned,...

....is about the time you believe you are indispensable is when they dispense of you.

[aristocles]

61. The time you believe you are indispensable is when they dispense of you.

Case in point.

I once worked as an application developer for a large software company. We had almost 800 employees in our building: programmers, developers, professional services consultants, etc. We had offices in London, Paris, Sydney, and Johannesburg.

Another, larger software company acquired ours, paying in cash. One morning representatives from the acquiring company showed up at our main office. As I said, there were 800 people in that building. Our visitors called employees into a conference room one by one, made each sign a release, and then escorted them out of the building. By the end of the day only 12 of our people remained. Many of those let go thought they were indispensable. They were not.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

66. I know someone who said he was the guy everyone went to over the supervisor....

....been there the longest, well respected and liked, just bought a new car....

Gone.

Other workers see that crap and these companies wonder why employees have no loyalty anymore.

[Aquavit]

103. I've seen this too

At one I worked for, one guy was always beating his quotas and was helping some of us beat ours too, and then one day for no obvious reason he was gone. They never replaced him either, because there "just wasn't the money to hire." Morale was never high but it took a major dive after that. From the common worker's perspective, it feels like most major companies look at their employees as nothing more than an expense, ever, and that we are continually having to do whatever they say to keep from getting hit in the next wave of layoffs. It's horrible for morale and drives down productivity when companies treat their employees like this!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

105. I've mentioned this before and it fits here....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002913823#post15

Seems these guys are identifying the one guy everyone feels is gonna stay and letting them go to terrify all the others into submission.

People claim we live in a free country but when you are at work it's like you are living under a dictatorship.

[Protalker]

65. I agree but

There is a great distance between that and disposable.

[Nevernose]

94. I would argue that a responsible owner

Would at least make every worker FEEL indispensable (or special, or valued, or whatever synonym you want). At least that's what I learned when I was a manager. That's what make people want to come back the next day, work hard, and not screw me over.

The CEO of Best Buy is a moron. Even if he was thinking it, he should never have said it out loud. I've heard so many business people over the years say "Morale doesn't matter!" Those guys have always been the most incompetent, because morale is the grease that lubricates the engine.

[datasuspect]

116. work isn't happy play time

your boss isn't your mommy.

they aren't there to make you feel special. they are there to use you as a resource.

[adieu]

131. I don't think that's the issue

No doubt you are correct. Anyone can get fired or removed. The point is how one treats employees and subordinates. Treat them as if they were indispensable and you'll get better results and more loyalty. Treat them as if they're disposable and you'll get your back stabbed.

[Earth_First]

29. I smell a whole lot of bullshit in this post...

...a WHOLE lot.

[aristocles]

34. Report me to Penn & Teller n/t

[Rex]

14. No problem Mr. CEO, we humans feel disposable

and not just as workers in a huge corporation. No, thanks to the Owners we all feel like human capital more than human beings.

Thanks, I just want to say how wonderful it is in this mass consumer environment created by people like YOU Mr. CEO. We are the victims and we are the perpetrators. When it comes to sacrifice, we are the commodity. We do our best Mr. CEO, so you don't have to sacrifice...well...anything.

You can thank the GOP for the current plutocracy you take for granted. It has helped you immensely and hurt us in way you can never imagine.

[jsr]

15. Yeah, Our People Are Our Greatest Asset.

Our people are our most valuable resource.
Our people are our competitive advantage.
Our people are our key stakeholders
And all that jazz.

[KG]

16. he's not special, pretty much every CEO feels that way...

[HughBeaumont]

17. Well, Hubie, you just lost my business for life, fucko.

He needs to have several hundred bees sting his balls for that assholish comment.

[Skidmore]

20. I'm going to contact this jerk.

I'm in the market for a new laptop and guess, where I'm going to buy it now? Costco, not BB where I have purchased at least 3 computers in the past.

[aristocles]

26. Buy refurbished...Apple, Dell, HP whatever.....save hundreds of dollars n/t

[Initech]

106. I build my own computers. I will never deal with Geek Squad or Staples.

Or Dell or HP, or whatever big box crap you can think of.

[harvey1941]

130. COSTCO will be your best bet

I have been buying my electronic gear from Costco for a number of years. Always good quality and top name brands at a great price.
Everything from Cameras, to Televisions, from music systems to digital telephones. Excellent prices always.

Just recently bought one of my grand daughters a new laptop that is top of the line, and saved considerably over the price for the same unit at BB or Staples.

[Fuddnik]

21. Best Buy is good for one thing.

Showrooming.

Go there and check out and compare things you can buy cheaper online. Waste the employees time. They don't get paid commissions anymore, anyway.

I bought a defective GPS there about 7 years ago, and they hit me with a $30 restocking fee. Fuck them. I asked the manager for a pair of scissors, and cut up their credit card right in front of them.

And the only time I enter the place now, is to check out something I'll get elsewhere.

[Kencorburn]

47. After being followed my the resident meat-heads

(no offense intended to any meat-heads present) three times, I only use BB for showrooming.

[Arcanetrance]

23. Lol I couldn't afford to shop at his store to begin with now I wouldn't period

[joeybee12]

25. He said what they're all thinking...

The scum.

[Fresh_Start]

28. oh I already feel disposable....(i don't work for best buy)

and that is why I'm not spending...
and if you make all workers feel the same, there goes the consumer economy.

[LeftyMom]

33. That's not news. Most of their employees work there for less than a year.

Which is why they don't know enough to answer any question you couldn't answer yourself by reading the product tag, box or website.

[wryter2000]

35. Adding it to Whole Foods

Lost my business.

[diabeticman]

36. adding this place onto my list of not too shop/eat at.

Let's see:

Papa John's
Dominio's
Applebee's
Walmart
....

Yeah, so many more I won't bore you.

[CrispyQ]

112. This is what we need!

For every American to start compiling a list of stores they refuse to shop in! And grow the list!

[niyad]

113. I have been doing this for decades--starting with all the states that refused to ratify ERA

and all the companies in those states. people occasionally ask me how I can keep such a list in my head--LOTS of practice.

several years ago, I ran across a "yellow pages" of christian-owned businesses in this area (and, at that point, learned that the business in whose building I was, was one of them) My friend and I were right by the counter, so I held it up, and said "oh, look, how very thoughtful of you to put out a list of all the businesses I should avoid" . the owner did not appreciate that at all. it never occurred to the fundies here that we can use the same boycott tactics that they do.

[Orrex]

37. Companies hate nothing more than an indispensible employee

I've stated it before, and it remains true: if you make yourself indispensible to your company, you make it your company's business to dispense with you.

Indispensibility would be a mechanism for applying leverage, and employers have no interest in allowing employees any leverage at all. Better to keep them terrified and docile.

[BrotherIvan]

38. If you treat your employees like crap how do you think they will treat your customers?

And one thing I never understood is why these genius CEOs don't understand that salespeople are THE most important ingredient in a transaction. If you don't care about customer service, you don't care about your customers.

I just figured they were dinosaurs and couldn't see online coming and biting them in the ass. Didn't they learn from Blockbuster? If there is no selection, cramped/ugly/dirty stores, and no/unhappy/underqualified salespeople, why on earth would anybody shop in-store?

It is true, they are becoming showrooms for people to check out an item and then buy it online. Especially if the only thing these stores have to offer is low price, they're going to have to cut to the bone to keep up with online retailers who have no overhead and only stock staff. But if they went back to the old model of good service, it would be a whole different ballgame.

There have been a lot of lists of all the store closings by many retailers. It is absolutely no shock to me. What's shocking is that shareholders are letting these CEOs run their businesses into the ground while paying them for their superhuman intellect and awe-inspiring business acumen. With that attitude, I'm sure Best Buy will no longer be in business in the next ten years or less.

[bettyellen]

39. WTF- their workers started a ROWE program (work from home) and

We adopted it. This must be a different CEO. Hate to hear this.

[Igel]

40. Try that with our "employees."

Do you want the salesperson where you shop to feel indispensable?

How about the waiter? He's indispensable. If it wasn't for him, you'd go hungry, after all.

Your doctor? If he screws up, oh, well, he's indispensable.

How about your Congressperson? They do something you really don't like but it's okay for them to feel indispensable. What are you going to do, vote for the other candidate in the primary? As if!

How about teachers? They're indispensable.

What's lacking is perspective. There's symbiosis, and if either believes himself to be the be-all and end-all of the relationship, there's incredible dysfunction.Marx faced no consequences of the implementation of his theories. Lenin did and inaugurated the NEP. Stalin decided that the NEP was wrong, and all you had to do is bully people into doing what he wanted and eventually everybody would be a true-red new Soviet man.

Most Stalinist-Leninists dropped the "Stalinist" from their names and "Leninist" from their ideology.

[Aquavit]

92. Wow. Really?

So granting employees a little flexibility, so that they can do things like take care of sick children without missing work, is the same as Stalinism or Leninism? REALLY???

God, this country is worse off than I ever thought....

[Starry Messenger]

111. Nice post, Mr. Joly

[ThoughtCriminal]

41. Sure, ask Circuit City how well that attitude worked out

Oh wait... you can't.

[Mnpaul]

44. I was just going to post the same thing

I hope BB suffers the same fate.

[noiretextatique]

42. he should be disposable

and of course, he is...jackass :puke"

[Populist_Prole]

46. He's probably just another conservative Obama hater deliberately thumbing his nose in defiance

Sure many CEO's really do feel that way but it was always regarded as impolitic to say shit like that for public consumption. The present, soon to be dinosaurs, power elite are freaking out over what they surely see as a cheeky populist challenge to their hegemony. In other words, he just wants to be seen to go down swinging.

[BestBuyPR]

48. Best Buy CEO was talking about himself

Yet another reminder that you can't always believe what you read: Today's Minneapolis Star Tribune story left the wrong impression that the CEO of Best Buy described employees as "disposable." The fact is (and the quote below makes clear), he was talking about himself.

Here is the actual, full quote:

“In a turnaround transformation, direction needs to come from the top. I make sure to get to a conclusion based on fact. You need to feel disposable as opposed to indispensable.”

"Direction from the top" is, of course, a reference to himself. "I make sure to get to a conclusion based on fact" is the second reference to himself. Finally, "you need to feel disposable as opposed to indispensable" is clearly the third reference to himself. It is not yet clear why the local paper would interpret this quote in any other way then the way in which it was intended. When I find out I will let you know.

Matt Furman
Best Buy

[GiveMeFreedom]

55. Really? Best Buy PR

I feel my leg being stretched.

[Renew Deal]

84. At least they're honest about their intentions

[ellisonz]

87. Not sure if Matt Furman

or unpaid marketing intern

Also, I wonder how your management would react to any attempt to unionize your store employees to that they would not be "disposable."

[hatrack]

88. Feel free to post the full text of his remarks at your convenience

We're not bad at judging context, on the whole.

[BellaLuna]

99. this sounds like him to be honest with you

I worked under him for about 7 years and he was a decent guy.

This surprises me AND I wish the article had made this more clear.

I'm very disappointed in him if that's what he meant.

[Rex]

124. Thanks for a link to prove you didn't just make that up!

And I doubt you are even employed by BB.

[Kurska]

49. Welp, I'm done shopping at best buy. n/t

[caseymoz]

50. Why the false dichotomy?

If you're not dispensable you're irresponsible? I'm tired of it being presented by that.

Are managers such meatheads that the only incentives or punishments they can think of are minimum wage or firing?

I have an idea: let's make CEO's dispensable and cheap. See what that does to their job performances and dedication. Better idea, let's flog them, too.

[raccoon]

51. And I suppose this asshole thinks he's indispensable?

Such hubris!

[BellaLuna]

96. He doesn't care..he'll walk away with the fat payoff

CEOs are sacred after all.

[Taverner]

52. What a prick.

[frylock]

57. this is why i don't feel badly using his stores as a showroom..

review item at best buy and make purchase from internet, because these big box stores are so.... what's the word? disposable?

[geardaddy]

58. An asshole, just like his predecessors

[malaise]

59. Well now that will be my Best Bye Bye!!!

No more Best Buy for us.

[Schema Thing]

60. What an idiot. Best Buy has impressed me lately, and I'm not easily impressed

I NEVER rely on salespeople for anything, if I can help it. However, in the past two years, both in the cell phone department, and in purchasing a flat panel tv, Best Buy sales people have gone above and beyond (in the TV dept, I'd already purchased the TV online; but the in store people helped facilitate the sale/pickup very nicely and with real old-fashioned customer service).



He should nurture whatever it is I'm seeing - not destroy it.

[rurallib]

62. doesn't the CEO (or owner) have some constitutional right

to own their employees 24 hours a day 365 days a year?
They must. They surely act like it.

[Aquavit]

78. This.

This is pretty much how it feels to be an employee for any large corporation these days. Hell, even some small companies act like they own their employees.

[DRoseDARs]

63. Nice little distortion you got there. In context: "[does] not apply to Best Buy’s store employees"

Seriously, it's right there in the 3rd paragraph, paragraphs that are 1 maybe 2 sentences long. Got everyone's dander up about the minimum wage workers, and they ARE poorly treated, but this article has NOTHING to do with them.

[Aquavit]

69. I'm not distorting at all!

I've made the point multiple times in this thread that this applies to the workers at Corporate. That said, NO WORKER should ever be thought of as disposable.

[Bainbridge Bear]

64. Get ready, workers,

this asshole CEO is just stupid enough to voice what most CEOs think. You are now part of Neo-Feudalism, American style. As for me, this is just another reason to buy refurbished and good quality used things and never set foot in a Best Buy. I've already made that decision about Wanker Mart.

[kimbutgar]

67. Now I really have an excuse to stay out of Best buy. Go to Frys instead they'e privately owned and

treat their employees a lot better.

[Cleita]

68. This is why we need to start going more towards cooperatives that are employee owned.

The CEO is then elected by the employee/owners by Democratic process. The CEO becomes disposable. I actually stopped shopping at Best Buy a few years ago. I could never find what I wanted and most of their garbage was out of date. The employees were not very helpful when you asked questions. It's like they couldn't tell you the truth about something in order to make a sale.

[moondust]

70. "After an investor presentation"

The idiot made the mistake of talking to the paper when he was still in "tell the investors what they want to hear" mode (i.e. we'll do anything for profits so invest in us). It's the equivalent of Romney walking out of his 47% talk and without thinking telling reporters that half the country is a bunch of moochers.

[geardaddy]

71. Looky, Best Buy cares what DU thinks.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022462337#post48

[valerief]

73. I wish CEOs were disposed of regularly. nt

[durablend]

74. Sounds like more "showrooming" is in order n/t

[riqster]

75. Same way they view their customers in my experience

I avoid that place, they wouldn't know from customer service if it bit them on their corpulent asses.

[The Wizard]

76. Haven't been there

in couple of years. Better prices elsewhere. I certainly won't go back now.

[Rider3]

77. Never again

This company is now on my list, along with Walmart, The Olive Garden, Red Lobster, etc., etc... I'll never step foot in there. They show how little they care about their employees.

[BlueJazz]

80. As a Tech (and other techs I know) ..we don't buy shit from Best Buy. Their "Rocketfish" brand of

...computer stuff are pure junk.
Plus...their prices can be beat nearly everywhere else.

[Downtown Hound]

81. Bingo

I used to tell people that they could get HDMI cables for under $10 at little mom and pop computer stores. No one believed me until they came with me and saw it themselves. They were used to paying anywhere from $30-$60 for the same cable at Worst Buy because it had that insane packaging that you have to saw off of it to get it open. I guess that extra packaging made it official in some way that it should be way more expensive, even though it had the same cable inside of it.

[BlueJazz]

82. One of my customers told me that one time, a Best Buy saleswoman told her..

"Our cables are made with "Special Wire" so the signal is faster.
Maybe they grease the copper so the atoms slide better.

[Downtown Hound]

89. I had a friend who worked for Geek Squad

he got fired because he told an old lady about Open Office who didn't want to shell out $400 for MS Office. What great customer service.

[City Lights]

83. That's how I feel about Best Buy.

And CEOs. When are we going to start outsourcing their jobs?

[toddwv]

90. That's the same way I feel about stores

that charge $20.00 for a cable that costs $1.50.

[Budgies Revenge]

91. All I can say is

I'm not shocked in the least to hear the sentiment--I'm surprised that he was stupid enough--or arrogant enough--to say it out loud. I can't speak for all large retailers, but I know the one I used to work at couldn't give less of a damn about their workers if they tried.

[AsahinaKimi]

93. He must think he is in China..

or North Korea.

[BellaLuna]

95. I used to work under him in a company owned by Vivendi a while ago.

BOY has he changed - he was a good leader then. But then Vivendi was French owned and treated their employees quite well. Best Buy is pretty evil from what I hear -even before he took over.

[BellaLuna]

98. After actually reading the article..

It appears he's saying accountability starts at the top. hmmmm this article should have expanded on that better and made it more clear.

But then I'm expecting writers to have the ability to explain things clearly. Now, I don't know what to think. My history with Joly was good but I do admit that was a decade ago.

[B Calm]

100. I don't give a shit attitude

for employees will run rampant, especially with employers like this one!

[Jasana]

101. As a former union rep....

I can guarantee him that when people feel disposable, their stress levels are higher and they generally don't like working for said company.

When people feel indispensable, this can also lead to trouble with workers not sharing critical info with others who may desperately need it.

Workers need to feel important. They need to feel like their ideas and contributions to the company matters. They also need to feel some job safety. This is when you get the best performance out of them.

That man in the article is an idiot.

[Jenoch]

102. I believe Best Buy

made a mistake when they took their sales staff off commission more than 20 years ago. When they were on commission they made more money and actually went out of their way to help customers. I remember going into a Best Buy ready to purchase a new television and couldn't get anyone interested in helping me.

[alittlelark]

104. Only shopped there once - never again.

Sociopathic CEO's get almost nothing from me.

[kurt_cagle]

107. Best Buy Fading Fast

I have, in general, had some of the worst retail shopping experiences ever at a Best Buy. Two hours to get a replacement phone because the person selling it couldn't figure out how to work the sales software, phone sent back for repair and losing the memory card, appliances that lasted two months before dying, generally impossible to get help when you want it but getting pestered when you're obviously just browsing, computers that had obviously been returned and repackaged, missing critical pieces. In general, this is a sign that the managers don't care - they aren't paying their employees enough, aren't training them, and are accepting massive turnover simply as the cost of doing business on the cheap. I miss FutureShop.

On the other hand, I also don't necessarily see the electronics oriented stores lasting much longer anyway. Targets, Costcos, Fred Meyers, etc. are all moving into the same space, the Internet is making it easier to order directly (and usually at better prices and reasonable shipping), and the market's changing fast enough that stock obsolescence becomes a major issue. Of course that trend, taken to its logical conclusion, will be that nobody has a job, which is a bigger part of the picture than any idiocy on the part of Best Buy, but, yeah, BB's days are numbered.

[Skittles]

108. that is the problem

we should feel somewhere in the middle

[AngryOldDem]

110. Meh -- I've felt that way for most of my working life.

Particularly in the current job I'm in. If I could go into business for myself, I would do so in a heartbeat.

I do not understand this mindset of showing no respect to -- or for -- the people who work for you. And we wonder why employee morale and the quality of what we produce are so poor. Many companies are just one step up from plantations.

There have been days when I wish I could post this sign at my desk: "I'm just the dumbass who works here." Because that is EXACTLY how I'm made to feel.

Memo to Best Buy CEO: We are ALL disposable in this economy, asshole. Even you. Come back to us in another year or so and dispense your business philosophy when most, if not all, of your stores are sitting big and empty.

[we can do it]

114. BB sucks. Their service sucks, probably due to the fact of how they treat their employees.

[alfredo]

117. Attitude flows downstream in a corporation. I remember a business owner that would verbally

attack an employee in front of fellow workers and customers. His attacks were personal at times. One day he complained that his workers are stealing him blind. Gee, I wonder why.

Sabotage and theft are ways employees get revenge.

[we can do it]

118. True, and just how much motivation does one have at minimum wage and hateful management?

No wonder the "help" gave us the 47% video of romney.

[alfredo]

121. Treat your employees like shit and they will return the favor.

[Javaman]

115. any wonder why they are doing the slow death spiral? nt

[Swede Atlanta]

119. This is the inherent problem with American business....

Because they consider employees "fungible" and "discardable", they create an environment in which employees have ZERO loyalty to their employer. They do the minimum they can and find every way to "screw" the employer as the "employer" screws them.

This is NOT a winning relationship. As late as 30 years ago an employer and employee entered into a relationship (union or not) where they both respected one another and attempted to work together. The employer laid our the objectives, the employee delivered to hose objectives.

Today, the employer set out the slave-labor conditions and cracks the whip. There is no mutual loyalty and corporations wonder why employees give up trade secrets, etc. to competitors?

The oligarchs should be tried, convicted and executed. It is only when they understand the public will no longer stand for their criminality they will change their ways. Neither Obama (no prosecutions for the 2008 debacle) nor Congress (Demoncrats or Republics) will ever go after the hand that feeds them.

We need a bona fide peaceful revolution (like they had in Iceland) where bank CEOs sit in prision.

That is the only way forward......

[Marrah_G]

120. I wrote to Best buy and received a response

"Thank you for sharing your concerns and reaching out to us regarding this quote. It was brought to our attention today that this quote is inaccurate and not in the proper context.

The full, accurate quote was : "In a turnaround transformation, direction needs to come from the top. I make sure to get to conclusions based on facts. You need to feel dispensable as opposed to indispensable." Mr. Joly was speaking about himself when he provided this answer to a question on how he personally intended to conduct himself as he worked to help transform Best Buy. The word disposable was not used in any way and especially not in reference to our employees.

Thank you again for your feedback.

-Melissa"

Perhaps we jumped on this a little to fast.

[on point]

122. Start with the CEO, Pay him a miserable $10 / hr until he does job better!

[HCE SuiGeneris]

123. Another A-hole CEO exposes himself.

Fuck you, and your stores, Joly. May you be disposed of soon.

[Auggie]

125. I won't purchase ANYTHING from Best Buy. Never. Ever.

[Rex]

126. As an IT professional, I've bought tonnes of products from BB.

Never again. I don't really have to with all the wholesalers in my area. Just liked BB; worked at one of their stores (helped put the inside together and worked the CS desk).

Never again.

[Rainngirl]

127. Wow!

Way to gain your employees' respect and loyalty. Good luck with that, you elitist, out of touch, selfish prick. Romney must be his idol. Won't be shopping at Best Buy anymore.

[lumberjack_jeff]

128. Corporations should feel equally disposable.

If an individual corporation no longer serves the public purpose for which the public chartered them, then their assets should be mined, exploited sucked dry by the public and the used up corpse should be left to rot.

Too big to fail? No. Just too big for one meal.

[Skidmore]

132. Yes. Corporations have come to believe that they should be guaranteed

a no-risk environment and excessive profits without reinvesting in themselves. The notion of a free market has been made a mockery of by a predatory corporate class. I heard someone on NPR yesterday in a discussion on Chavez and his policies make a comment to the effect that Venezuela before Chavez had a lawless economy and this would happen here if Republicans were allowed to pursue the policies that corporations are demanding in the USA. It was a startling comparison and whatever ambivalence I had toward Chavez brought back to me that he started out in the right place with his people in mind. Sadly, Bush's coup attempt down there really had a negative impact in more than one way.

[adieu]

129. With that attitude

I'm surprised the workers hasn't looted the company for everything it has. Workers should go into the store en masse, take everything off the shelves and run off with them. Go ahead and try to catch them all. Go ahead.

I've been working with various companies and I realize the sole asset of any company are the workers, from the lowliest to the CEO. That's what make a company succeed. The products and services they sell are just commodities. Best Buy can turn around and sell plants the next day and could do just as good a job if it has good workers. But no company can do well selling anything if the workers aren't properly motivated and incentivized.

Remember what "Company" means. A company means a group of people. That's what a company is. It's not a group of products.

If I were the board of Best Buy, I'd hand this guy his walking papers ASAP and mention to all other boards that he's not fit to lead any company. Let him go work as a sole proprietor.

[gravante]

133. Joly was misunderstood!

Mr Joly was talking only about himself.

I myself am at BBY as a contingent worker and I have never been made to feel disposible!

Mr Joly is a non-native speaker of English and may not have phrased his words well.

[azurnoir]

134. Mr Joly has been working for American companies since 1982

I would think his grasp of English would be quite well established, but it was a valiant try