That's what I've heard from a few sources. Unfortunately the people that were on their way to check out Netshops Central were stranded by the blizzard. Perhaps as many as 20 people stranded on their way here to Omaha is what I'm hearing. My advice? Stay warm and wait it out.
***Update*** I've been told from another source that there are not 20 people on their way to check out Netshops Central. (I'm not there, so all I can go by is what info is given to me. If they are or aren't on their way to Omaha to check out the 'home office', either way my advice to wait it out and stay warm remains the same.
There are people who are considering the transfer however, so the information below remains the same. I've been told those individuals need additional information to properly decide if they want to make the move. Email me or post a comment with what info you need and I'll do what I can to get it for you. ***End of update***
As far as transferring to Netshops Central, good luck to the people up north. I hope they go into this decision with their eyes wide open about how things are done at Netshops. (Keep your resume up to date gang, because if you think you're anything more than an employee number, you're dead wrong.)
Now, keep in mind, you're going to have to move all your stuff from Duluth to Omaha. That's approximately 380 miles. I've done some checking (since I have nothing better to do with my time now that I'm unemployed) and an approximate cost to move from Duluth to Omaha is $3072.00. That's if you pack and load everything by yourself. If you have someone do it for you, the cost jumps to between $3792 - $4032. If you want someone to unpack your stuff for you, the cost jumps again to $4032 - $4392. Not a small cost to incur especially if you aren't guaranteed to be employed long enough to recoup that cost.
Who knows? Maybe Netshops can have your stuff shipped via Home Direct.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
move to chicago then - it looks like a much better deal
here is an option ;-)
http://www.opticsplanet.com/careers/
Hello,
I am from Netshops North, and am wondering a few things.
We up here run like a family, so even considering a move is hard.
The 60 peeps layoff sounded hard, but in big business you never know what can happen. After touring the office, I noticed that everything is pretty micro-managed, and no one really knows who to talk to on a specific level. what were the up sides to working there? what were the downsides?
Up sides? Up sides look a bit different now with some distance and perspective. While I was there, I kept telling my wife (and myself) that this is a growing company - I got in on (or near) the ground floor and when it hits big, I'll be going along for the ride. I've gotten lots of experience in the retail world and get to work online - no long hours walking the floor at Target or Nebraska Furniture Mart for me! Even though they weren't paying me what I had agreed to when hired ('the budget just wasn't there in '06 to get to the amount discussed, but if we hit profit #'s there will be a substantial bonus.. - I guess my bonus was my severance pay.) I felt like it was worth it.
Now that I'm away from the company, I've found many of the 'skills' I picked up there really aren't applicable in Nebraska. Not too many internet retail companies based here, y'know?
I was doing WAY more than my position called for and I was trying to do it the right way - keeping the bottom line in mind. Maybe that wasn't the Netshops way.
As far as micromanagement, unless things have drastically changed, you're only getting a glimpse of the big picture. They don't even know how much a single customer service related call costs the company - how 'micromanaged' (or 'managed' in general) could they possibly be? Beyond having reps clock in and out for the day, breaks and lunch, there isn't any micromanagement in place.
As far as not knowing who to talk to on a specific level, that's standard Netshops operating procedure. "Who do I talk to about this?" "Try Frodo." Frodo sends it to Aragon, Aragon sends it to Bilbo. Bilbo doesn't handle it either and forwards it on to Gandolf. Gandolf doesn't have time to figure out who it should go to, so it sits in his email box until everyone forgets about the original question. It's a merry quest for the one person who knows how to do something.
Hopefully you really consider the move and how important the job is. Is Netshops going to pay your any relocation costs? If not, do you really have a spare $3000 - $4500 to move?
Communication is a big problem at NetShops as the author said. It is just ridiculous how a small company can be so incredibly awful about it. Forget trying to bring your ideas and methods from your last job things are just stuck like they are and you will find that soon everything you loved about Thralow has been smashed into the NetShops system and has all the fun taken out of it.
You really need to ask yourself if you want to risk moving down just to be laid off like everyone else. They may be begging you to come down now and tell you that it won't happen, but they were doing the same thing last year and have let 80+ people go since then. You really aren't going to stand a chance against people who are already friends with your supervisors once you have helped them transition everything and you're just another employee, whether you gave up everything in Duluth to come down here or not they are going to reorganize again and once Thralow is just in the NS system it will be much more "efficient" not to have you on the payroll. I'm sure you met Doug, and he probably helped convince you to consider moving, he is a very charismatic guy, but he is a much better motivational speaker then he is a CEO unfortunately.
Interesting info. I look forward to reading more.
(This is Jeff Meadows by the way. I was let go too.)
Communication definitely broke down with the old org chart. Since the layoffs and the revised org chart, the structure makes a lot more sense, in my humble opinion. Also, depts are now being tasked with creating SOP (standard operating procedures) which is par for the course with most companies of this size. The SOPs are going to specifically address accountability and provide training material. We are long overdue for them.
As far as moving to Omaha from Duluth, if you love Duluth more than you love your job, don't leave. And vice versa. I don't expect there to be any more layoffs since we're running pretty lean right now.
Post a Comment