JC Penney employees: 52 YouTube videos a day?
An internal probe found that workers at the retailer's headquarters spent plenty of time goofing off last year.
J.C. Penney (JCP) employees took goofing off at the office to new heights last year, when internal studies showed they watched 5 million YouTube videos in one month alone.The 4,800 employees at the headquarters in Plano, Texas, had plenty of time for videos of cute cats, LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" and other viral hits in January of 2012. That's the month executives counted up the YouTube views.
That month had about 20 work days. So for 4,800 employees, that works out to about 52 YouTube videos each day while on the clock. In fact, about 35% of the Internet usage at the main office was used for goofing off, The Wall Street Journal reported.
No wonder J.C. Penney's chief operating officer, Michael Kramer, described it to the Journal like this: "I hated the J.C. Penney culture. It was pathetic." CEO Ron Johnson had only been on the job for about two months at that point, and likely had no idea this kind of workplace relaxation was going on.
That kind of YouTube viewing is almost unbelievable. How could anyone get any work done? In fact, you'd almost think people were putting in weekend hours to achieve that level of YouTube activity.
You don't have to be a retail genius to know what happened next: layoffs. Some 1,600 workers have been laid off since then.
Speaking of YouTube, J.C. Penney is getting praised Monday for its "Yours Truly" commercials that aired during Sunday's Academy Awards broadcast.
That is not the only problem at JCPenney, Since Johnson there is nothing of value to buy in the stores and when you walk into a store it is like a tomb. Tried to buy sheets and bedspreads this weekend and the store was almost bare. What it is in the store is shotty merchandise. I am so sad and disappointed about what has happened to JCPenney. I use to buy a lot of things at Penney stores but I haven't bought anything in about 1 1/2 years.
Which explains why they're less interested in customer service than they are in stealing as much time as possible. JCPenney needs to do a massive employee dump and overhaul so they can get back to the way they used to be, with updated quality product, not garbage from China. Also I want an upscale shopping experience, and if I wanted the same kind of South American-street-market atmosphere I get in places like Walmart and Burlington Coat factory, then I'll go to those places.
Lastly, what's good for Apple isn't good for JCP. Funny how they managed to stay in business for over one hundred years, through depression, recessions, wars, idiotic clothing trends, before some decided "new blood" was needed. Well the "new blood" of course failed. Penneys never needed that, but they needed to update and keep in line with internet sales. They can still be saved, but if they're smart, not at the expense of their brick and mortar customers.
Congratulations! This article takes the heat off of Ron Johnson's plundering decisions and refocuses the companies woes to corporate employees lack of focus and vision; but hang-on - isn't that the executives job? Please, the real problem with Penney's is Ron Johnson's new direction. It alienates core customers and isn't really bringing in new ones. Let's keep our eye on the REAL problem(s).
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