Circuit City to employees, "You're fired."

Here's the work ethic Circuit City is teaching its employees:  "Work hard, earn a raise, then earn a pink slip."

The local Circuit City just laid off some of its employees because of a pay issue -- they were earning too much.  In a cost saving move, Circuit City is sacking 3,400 employees company wide.  But in an odd twist, it wasn't the new guys who got the hook, it was the ones who were making more money than CC wanted to pay.  So those workers got fired, and their replacements will earn less.

It's certainly a curious approach.  Unless CC had some unusual system of awarding pay raises, it would seem that the highest paid employees could have provided the most benefit to the company.  So most likely the new clerks will be more like order takers than sales people.

My last visit to Circuit City was around Christmas in 2006.  And while I was satisfied with the product and the price, the sales person really pressured me to provide personal information to be fed into their computer.  I resisted, but because of that experience I'm reluctant to buy anything there.  Perhaps I should fabricate an in-store alternate identity:  "My name, Jose Jimenez."

So here's my tip to Circuit City's new employees:  Kindly allow your customers to opt out of your database without a hassle.  And don't burn any employment bridges to take the new job at CC.

For Motley Fool's take, see Circuit City Cuts Costs, Corners.

And thanks to PEGJOVI for the heads-up.  Hopefully, those people laid off locally will be able to find better jobs quickly.

Comments

[Eric]

Laying off the highest paid employees and retaining the newbies has always been the forté of the oil bidness during bust times. I saw it happen often.

Of course, it's biting 'em now, when all those former geoscientists are firmly embedded in other careers.

[Geo]

Excellent comparison, Eric.