Management
August 26, 2015 at 11:47 am
If the only person who soothed you during Monday’s stock market chaos was an extra-friendly Starbucks barista, thank Howard Schultz. In a flowery memo to the chain’s 190,000 employees (called “partners” in Starbucks lingo), the coffee giant’s billionaire chairman and chief executive told baristas to be especially sensitive to the customers asking them for a…
August 25, 2015 at 10:49 am
Amazon.com doesn't offer its employees a terribly good 401(k) retirement savings plan, according to an analysis of the plan by Bloomberg. Bloomberg even calls the plan "pretty brutal." That's a reference to a recent report in The New York Times that blasted Amazon's work environment, calling it "bruising." (Amazon's founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has refuted that story,…
August 25, 2015 at 10:43 am
Target Corp. has agreed to pay $2.8 million to thousands of rejected job candidates for upper-level positions because tests they were given disproportionately screened out applicants based on their race or gender. The payout was announced Monday by the Minneapolis Area Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and will be disbursed among more…
August 21, 2015 at 1:37 pm
Uniqlo workers, rejoice: three-day weekends are coming. Fast Retailing, the Japanese mega retailer that owns Uniqlo, Theory, and J Brand, is testing out a plan to offer 10,000 full-time employees in its Japanese stores the option of a four-day work week, Bloomberg reports. But to get their long weekends, Uniqlo employees will have to put…
August 18, 2015 at 2:59 pm
Abercrombie & Fitch is restructuring the management of its Abercrombie brand, as it seeks to turn around the ailing chain. The company plans to announce on Tuesday that it's creating six new positions, part of a strategy to organize executives by brand, rather than product. All but one of the new positions will be filled…
August 18, 2015 at 2:48 pm
Walgreens Boots Alliance confirmed Monday that it will lay off 270 Chicago employees in corporate support as it continues to shed jobs and consolidate functions following its merger. The retail drug chain said the Chicago layoffs are part of 370 corporate jobs being cut companywide. No store workers will be affected. Employees are being offered…
August 17, 2015 at 4:03 pm
The cruel and back-stabbing environment described by The New York Times in a report this weekend on the workplace culture at Amazon.com has struck a nerve with Jeff Bezos. In a memo to employees this weekend, obtained by GeekWire, Bezos says he doesn’t recognize the company described in the article. In the memo, Bezos encourages…
August 17, 2015 at 3:55 pm
Target Corp. CEO Brian Cornell took a major step in reshaping the company’s senior leadership Monday by elevating Chief Financial Officer John Mulligan to a new role and reaching outside the firm for a new finance chief. He tapped Cathy Smith, a former executive for Express Scripts and Wal-Mart, as Target’s chief financial officer, starting…
August 14, 2015 at 9:09 pm
Macy's chief Terry Lundgren said Wednesday it was a business decision to end the retailer's 11-year menswear collection partnership with Donald Trump. Trump stirred a storm of criticism by making disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants when he announced his bid for the GOP presidential nomination in June. Refusing to comment on what Trump said, Lundgren…
August 13, 2015 at 12:29 pm
Plus-size fashion apparel brand Ashley Stewart was on the verge of going out of business in 2013. The brand had been unprofitable for years, lacked direction and talent, had a toxic culture, and was days away from a second bankruptcy filing in a little over three years – one that it would very likely never…
