we are all ears

Most of the store directors I know are dinosaurs waiting for retirement. They are clueless as to what goes on at the front end. I could tell you some stories...smh

Agreed, but if we were able to look at Follett's finances, particularly at the store's where the layoffs occurred, I would say this goes deeper. Online and other retail competition from chains is putting pressure on these stores. Having worked in the... — read more 

Hmmm. Turning 570 fulltime employees into part-time means saving $6,000 in medical insurance premiums next year per employee or $3,420,000. And Follett gets a 1-year reprieve from complying with the Affordable Healthcare Act. The new part-time... — read more 

A good comparison would be with one of my former employers- Borders. They tried to improve profitability by cutting the biggest controllable expense: payroll. All they succeeded in doing was diminishing customer service and employee morale. It turned... — read more 

Seriously, you don't lay off a big chunk of your instore staff to improve customer service--you lay off full time workers to replace them with part-time minimum wage workers who don't have the experience or skills to really help the customers, but... — read more 

That's the only way to go, there is enough space for everyone, there is space for fair wages, there is space for healthcare, and there is space for corporate to make money. Everyone should be happy. Treating employees like shit, customers as kind of... — read more 

As listed: Who will cushion the nearly six hundred full time booksellers who’ve just been let go? Are they, as anonymous commenters are attesting on thelayoff.com, being forced to sign away their right to unemployment insurance? Is this a move to... — read more 

Mary Lee is merely trying to put herself in our shoes: those of us who can't afford: drycleaning, to buy an iron or pay a hair dresser.

I left follett a while back and glad I did. The problem with the situation is companies are starting REALIZE the less people THEY have to pay out on salaries and insurance the better for their bottom line. I the company let go experienced salaried... — read more 

When was the last time you were allowed to bring on a full time hourly associate (who wasn't replacing a full time hourly associate)? The company, itself, said they were enforcing and 8:2 part time/full time ratio. They are using Walmart and Circuit... — read more 

I was also laid off--in the long run it probably will be a good thing. If they laid off FT people and then encouraged them to apply for PT jobs it's probably partially a result of the Obamacare government regulations that are forcing companies to... — read more 

http://www.mhpbooks.com/how-to-lay-off-600-booksellers-with-a-delicious-dollop-of-horseshit/

You've probably searched for something regarding layoffs, if you used google, yahoo or bing you've got a cookie that will track you. Just delete your history and cookies and you'd be fine

I will never long for staplers or stickies again, so I have that going for me.

Anybody else regretting they voted for Obama in '08?

But it isn't this site that is setting the cookie - doubleclick grabs your history when you go to a bigger site, and you're tagged as a guy needing a job :)

Saw a banner ad, telling me I could get a great job in retail, got suspicious, and realized I was getting targeted off this site! That happen to anybody else?

Additionally, even though I think the "leaders" of the company are laughable at best with their strategy and tactics, I think it's a bad idea to post things here that potentially reach into their personal lives. That's not going to help and it could... — read more 

Why would you point to a year old story, unless you were trying to make us look dub to reporters? Or can you not read a byline?

We should not be treated like this. We have given this company our sweet, blood, and tears and they are treating us like this. How the handle the layoffs was disgusting and we no regard to another ones feelings. What happened to the core concept of... — read more 

If you go on that page you should either be logged out of your personal facebook or be on a dummy account. The Facebook algorithms tend to suggest friends to the person who visits their page so it could be a sucker play to find out who is looking her... — read more 

Hey everybody! Mary Lee has a Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/mary.l.schneider.5

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20121003/EMPLOYMENT/121009876?template=mobile&X-IgnoreUserAgent=1

I'm so sorry. 4 weeks isn't worth signing for.Good luck to you. I hope you get your 20 weeks.

I know of a great attorney who negotiated a severance package and some other verbiage after I was terminated from a major publisher. What state are you located in? If in Illinois let me know.

No. Left them a few years back during what felt like the beginning of rough times. Cronyism at its worst, misplaced faith in fixed margins, an overall pessimistic top-down decision making structure were the early indicators. Now, they're in a tight... — read more 

1 week for each year with company for severance pay

I was a salaried ASM who was let go on Friday. I worked for the same bookstore for over 20 years. Our university outsourced us about 3 years ago to Follett. I was taken on by Follett with my years of seniority that I had while at the university. I... — read more 

But of course, many associates cannot live on less than 20 hours a week and no benefits so I can't see those former full timers staying long, sad to say....

Tom Kline, a spokesperson for the 980-strong chain, told The Bookseller that the 570 people who had lost their full-time positions last week would be able to reapply for part-time jobs and added that he hoped the “majority of people would do so".

Living the Follett values??? You’ve got to be kidding. Let’s see...disregard for the service and loyalty of long term employees, lack of respect in the manner in which staff has been suddenly laid off and failure to be honest with workers about the... — read more 

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/follett-makes-570-redundant.html

This morning's newsletter: http://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=2127#m22195

To: All Associates From:Bob Scholl, Sr. Vice President, Retail Operations Subject:A Message from Bob Scholl Date:11/08/2013 Earlier today, managers across many of our stores took a series of difficult actions tied to an important Follett initiative... — read more 

Another reference to our posts here http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ar/theshelf/2013-11-13/follett_lays_off_10_of_college_store_staff.html

Follett just declared itself the Circuit City of booksellers. Same strategy: Fire anyone with institutional knowledge and loyalty to the company in order to bank their pay and benefits; bring in low-paid, part-time, retail migrants, expect to profit... — read more 

Follett can spin this any way they want, but when it comes down to numbers, they are cutting full time staff to save on higher salaries and benefit packages, not to "better serve the customer." Many college stores across the country are struggling to... — read more