Home Depot has not had much positive media coverage in the past couple of years. Stories about declining morale among employees, sliding customer satisfaction ratings, and an ousted CEO who received $200 million to go away have not helped the one-time retail darling. Now, Home Depot has managed to make the front pages for all the wrong reasons by firing a store employee and general manager for stopping a shoplifter. Home Depot’s policies prohibit employees from taking such action, so the company fired Dustin Chester, a 7-year employee and former employee of the year at its Murfreesboro, TN, store as well as the store’s general manager.
One can understand why policies against employee intervention in a shoplifting situation exist. It can be viewed as a measure to protect employees who may not have adequate training to handle such situations, and it possibly minimizes the chances of a shoplifting incident escalating into a violent situation that could endanger customers and employees. But Home Depot did not handle this situation well. Assuming there are no other variables to consider (e.g., the employees had previous performance reprimands), the decision to fire the employees appears to be an over-reaction that has created a public relations embarassment. By adhering to its policies and failing to recognize a public backlash could occur, Home Depot has given many people in middle Tennessee yet another reason to shop at Lowe’s! Link
This just goes to show that number and rules and regulations can’t predict everything. The market is a constantly changing entity as well as its consumers.
I recently applied for a job as cashier at home depot (haven’t heard from them yet) but if i was working there i would defintely obey the rules.
First of all, if someone shoplifts from home depot, it’s pretty sad. Imagine a guy running through the store with a 4X4 to steal it. Weird.
Another thing, as a cashier there or a store manager i woudln’t want to put myself in danger. Simple as that. You don’t know if the shoplifter has a concealed weapon on him and since he’s stealing he must be pretty desperate. Let him go. That’s why they have cameras in all the stores: to catch shoplifters. You are not the police and you shouldn’t run in the parking lot to catch them. That is not your job.
I do think that Home Depot over reacted in this matter. If at all, i would have given them a week off unpaid to think about what they did, train them again or have someone from corporate come down to talk to them about the dangers of shoplifters.