Home Depot "temporary changes"

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Got an email from HD today. Looks like they're going to be making some changes. Stores close at 6, limited number of customers inside, no big sales to keep traffic down.

But the most interesting part to me was the section on what they're offering their employees:
Our associates are important to your shopping experience. We have implemented the following actions to support them during this crisis:
• Added 80 hours of paid time off for all full-time hourly associates and 40 hours of paid time off for part-time hourly associates to be used at their discretion at any time in 2020 and paid out at year-end if not used
• For associates who are 65 years of age or older, or determined to be at higher risk by the CDC, added 160 hours of paid time off for full-time hourly associates and 80 hours of paid time off for part-time hourly associates to be used at their discretion at any time in 2020 and paid out at year-end if not used
• Providing paid time off for any associate who has contracted COVID-19 until released by a doctor
• Providing up to 14 days paid time off for any associate required to be quarantined by a public health authority or the CDC
• Providing additional bonuses to hourly associates in stores and distribution centers -- $100 per week for full-time hourly associates and $50 per week for part-time hourly associates
• Providing double pay for overtime hours worked by hourly associates
• Extended dependent care benefits and waived co-pays
It's good to see a company like this stepping up to care for its people.
 
Got an email from HD today. Looks like they're going to be making some changes. Stores close at 6, limited number of customers inside, no big sales to keep traffic down.

But the most interesting part to me was the section on what they're offering their employees:

It's good to see a company like this stepping up to care for its people.

Has been implemented for a bit at my local HD

I saw the 150/store thing and the line at the door.
They're already closing at 6
And one of my buddies was talking about the bonuses for working more
 
Wow. Good on Home Depot. This is why I shop at Big Orange instead of Lowe’s. The way Lowe’s treats employees is sickening. Lowe’s should be ashamed of treatment of long term employees. Especially the older ones.
 
Let me add - I put in 5 years there (5 years and, like, 2 days or maybe 3)
It's a good company and I'd go back there if I needed some extra cash. Really did like it and felt that they looked after their employees pretty well
 
I remodeled two houses over 22 years with Lowes, and always preferred them to HD which was right across the street from them, till I moved 30 minutes away where there is just an HD and have been exceptionally pleased with the “lone hardware store in town”.

I am glad they are looking after their own.
 
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Harris-Teeter is doing much of the same. $250 bonus, $2 per hour bonus, generous time off if you’re sick.
 
Wow. Good on Home Depot. This is why I shop at Big Orange instead of Lowe’s. The way Lowe’s treats employees is sickening. Lowe’s should be ashamed of treatment of long term employees. Especially the older ones.
Lowes has already paid $300 to each full time employee. non taxed. And $2/hr raise. double time for overtime
And 120 hrs extra vacation time added for 2020. Per my gf was told to them in this morning meeting
 
I wouldn't know about employee treatment. I've had good and bad experiences with both, but I find both of them in Wake Forest to be pretty good overall. Anymore, it depends on exactly what I'm getting, or which card I've paid off most recently :)
 
I work in senior living. I have had a ton of my employees ask when our company will follow suit and give us crisis pay. After I get done laughing I ask them has he’ll frozen over yet?
 
Evil corporations. They're the devil! They don't employ anyone or contribute to this country's economy at all. Small Sub-Chapter S corporations are especially evil.
 
Lowes has already paid $300 to each full time employee. non taxed. And $2/hr raise. double time for overtime
And 120 hrs extra vacation time added for 2020. Per my gf was told to them in this morning meeting
I was told the majority of employees on the store level are classified part time. Is this true? My son worked at the one in Hickory and they never had overtime. I suspect the announcement is not costing them as much as it seems. With over a decade of letting people over 50 go they should have plenty of cash.
 
I was told the majority of employees on the store level are classified part time. Is this true? My son worked at the one in Hickory and they never had overtime. I suspect the announcement is not costing them as much as it seems. With over a decade of letting people over 50 go they should have plenty of cash.
The store where she works .. 75% are full time 25% are either kids or senior citizens. And of the ones I know from there. There are 7 over 60 5 have been there for over 15 years.
 
We should all try to remember and support the companies that treat their employees right as opposed to the staffing company I read about that was withholding pay from contract medical workers.
Yep. I’m going to remember the suppliers who have price gouged me and said “sorry I can’t help you” when I had questions.
 
The store where she works .. 75% are full time 25% are either kids or senior citizens. And of the ones I know from there. There are 7 over 60 5 have been there for over 15 years.
I can see that. The store in Hickory was all about the managers. But Lowe’s had to adapt the last couple years due to low unemployment. With expected 31% unemployment coming companies will go back to their old ways.

I was working at a large laundry service company today which employees hundreds of Hispanics. They had their employees sew face mask for all the employees. Also they are stationing hand sanitizer across the plant. Anyone who gets sick is asked to stay out with pay which has not been done in the past. The majority of their business is hospitals and hotels.
 
I am in sales for Home Depot Exteriors which means I go out to people's homes and set up window sales and installations. While I'm a full time employee with benefits and retirement (which by the way are the best benefits I've ever had) we work on 100% commission. Right now as you would expect, we have very few appointments. Working like this for most companies, sales people would be starving to death. Home Depot has stepped up to the plate for us in a big way. They went back for a period of time and averaged out our commission and have guaranteed us a huge percentage of our average pay even if we don't have any sales. You don't know what a relief it was for us. The regional manager that announced what they were doing for us stated that corporate didn't want us to have to try and find outside work to make ends meet and at the same time, now we can keep our benefits and retirement going. I've said many times that Home Depot was the best company I've ever worked for and for a company to do the things they are doing for their employees during this time is pretty darn rare these days. I'm very proud to say I work for the Big Orange Store!!
 
HD took some very PC positions years ago that turned me off, so I have used Lowes ever since for 95% of home improvement stuff, but good to hear that both are doing this well.
 
HD took some very PC positions years ago that turned me off, so I have used Lowes ever since for 95% of home improvement stuff, but good to hear that both are doing this well.
What were those positions, if you don’t mind me asking?
 
Glad to see both are treating employees well. Have you noticed how busy both have been during the lockdown. I went to the Lowe’s in Sunn this weekend and it was by far the busiest I had ever seen. We struggled finding a parking space. I went to another Lowe’s in Apex yesterday around 10:30 and it was the same way. I guess a lot of people are catching up on home projects just to have something to do.
 
What were those positions, if you don’t mind me asking?

I didn’t remember the details exactly - it was a long time ago, so I just did a little research. 10-ish years ago they were promoting the same sex marriage stuff pretty strongly. Fine if the execs want to do that personally, but if the company wants to take that position they should be prepared for both positive and negative reactions. I don’t want my money going toward that.

I am libertarian - consenting adults can do whatever they want as long as nobody else gets hurt. But I don’t have to support or approve everything people choose to do, and it was clear then and even more so now that their agenda is to force everyone to accept and approve, using the big stick of the law. No thanks. We need less gov telling us how to behave, not more.

How far we’ve come in 10 short years. From “marriage equality” to 70 genders, an entire alphabet soup of “alternative lifestyles” and growing normalization of pedophilia. If Hillary had been President the last 3 years we’d be where Canada is, where gov “human rights commissions” can prosecute for not using some kook’s “preferred pronouns”. Forced speech, not free speech, in other words. And even if the gov isn’t enforcing that here, the universities, media, and social media are doing so to a great extent. Jordan Peterson is one of my heroes for publicly standing up to this nonsense.
 
As a contractor, I can say I get materials at both. Between the two, I prefer HD. The inventories are not the same between the two companies and you have to know who has what sometimes. Not only that, inventories differ between stores in each company, again know what's in each store location. I've even stopped in a new one in an area I'm working to scope out what's on the shelves and I do use the apps to look at inventories.

That said, what annoys me most about both, the employees who descend on me when I'm in there getting supplies with "can I help you?" when I'm in there on a mission with a list and limited time. Not only that, said employee often doesn't have the knowledge of the trades my helper does. I understand it's marketing and customer service for the average person, but as a contractor who's done my homework on what's where and what I need, it can be an annoying distraction. Now with the plague going around, they don't both me as much and I'll have to say, I like that. In each store I frequent, I know employees in the Pro Desk and who actually knows their $hnit about the trades and those people can be a good resource. The new checkout stands at HD are a joke. Don't like them one bit given the plague. I'm not enthusiastic handling the scanner that God knows how many people have handled before me.

Knowing something about both, I'd say HD is by far the better company to work for. Everybody I know that works for Lowe's isn't happy with how they get treated. The guys I know at HD are pretty happy overall.
 
As a contractor, I can say I get materials at both. Between the two, I prefer HD. The inventories are not the same between the two companies and you have to know who has what sometimes. Not only that, inventories differ between stores in each company, again know what's in each store location. I've even stopped in a new one in an area I'm working to scope out what's on the shelves and I do use the apps to look at inventories.

That said, what annoys me most about both, the employees who descend on me when I'm in there getting supplies with "can I help you?" when I'm in there on a mission with a list and limited time. Not only that, said employee often doesn't have the knowledge of the trades my helper does. I understand it's marketing and customer service for the average person, but as a contractor who's done my homework on what's where and what I need, it can be an annoying distraction. Now with the plague going around, they don't both me as much and I'll have to say, I like that. In each store I frequent, I know employees in the Pro Desk and who actually knows their $hnit about the trades and those people can be a good resource. The new checkout stands at HD are a joke. Don't like them one bit given the plague. I'm not enthusiastic handling the scanner that God knows how many people have handled before me.

Knowing something about both, I'd say HD is by far the better company to work for. Everybody I know that works for Lowe's isn't happy with how they get treated. The guys I know at HD are pretty happy overall.

While I don’t work for the stores, I represent several depending on what part of the Carolinas I’m in running appointments. That being said, as a long time employee, there can be a huge difference between stores based on the management and the particular employee you deal with. Usually in my experience and it seems yours as well the associates at the Pro Desk seem to be the most knowledgeable. Sadly every store whether it be HD, Lowe’s or even WalMart have a certain percentage of employees that don’t give a rat’s ass about anything except getting a check on payday.
 
HD has better finishing type wood and their hardware section seems larger. Tools I like Lowes because of the kobalt series of 24volt tools.

I don't buy finished hardwood from any big box store, it's ruinously expensive. I have a source for rough sawn hardwoods which I take to the shop and introduce to Mr Planer and presto- smooth hardwood in any thickness I want.
 
HD has put a stop sale in place for all N95 masks, what we have and on order will be donated to hospitals and other agencies that need them.
Remember that the new CEO at Lowe's was the #3 man at HD, he was at JC Penney for two years before moving to Lowe's. Marvin is a good man, he will turn Lowe's around to be a formidable competitor for HD and Menard's. I have over 21 yrs with HD p/t. Service sometimes depends on who is helping you or lack of any help, had a guy at Lowe's in plumbing dept. he knew his stuff, from up north, was in the trade. Too often you get young or older hires that are there to get a check and do the least amount of work no matter what company you are shopping with. To busy with their personal phone in their hands to help you.
 
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Lowes always has and always will have a strong place in the Carolinas since its their home. I have a couple of buddies at HD that came from Lowes and they have had their share of problems nationwide. A bunch of layoffs etc. I actually hope they get their act back together. Good competition makes us all better. I used to work for Sears Home Improvements when they were King of Home Improvements nationwide. Home Depot and Lowes were both way behind. Sears thought they couldn't be touched just like they thought they would be King of Retail forever and we all know what happened. HD and Lowes both have done a lot of changing in their Home Improvement Divisions. Hopefully we will all get stronger. As far as retail stores, HD is growing nationwide faster than Lowes, but I think both companies are still very strong and have done so with different business plans. Lowes tends to have a lot of smaller stores in a region and HD usually depends on bigger stores. I don't think either company is anywhere close to following Sears or JC Penny.
 
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