As a recent RS employee, I can say the corporate professionalism is lacking. I was employed for 2 months but had to terminate due to conflit between the store manager and my sense of fair treatement. The store manager was vastly inexperienced and attempted to repremand me for actions that were completly within RS policy. He was "flexing" his authority in denying a customer a normal RS customre function. Another (longtime RS employee) accomidated the customer however because the manager had denied the transaction for me to complete, he assumed I violated his instructions. The transaction was done under my cashier number and I refused to say who it was when asked. As a result, I was to be "repremanded". I refused the repremand and terminaed.
I contacted the local district manager, but he supported the manger. I wrote Corportate but got no respons at all. IMHO, RS Management is much like Walmart's...Totally Lacking in class and expertise..

Radio Shack days are numbered, and it will not take long for them to be just a memory..I no longer patornize RS, there are better alternatives out there..

I wrote Radio Shack based upon my concerns on this situtation and they responded and I feel gave a great overview of how they acted. I accept what they stated and as usual the media only got it half right as did my opinion.

Thanks for taking the time to write. Please allow me to provide
a detailed description of our workforce reduction process to
explain a few things the news reports did not take the time to do:

There has been a great deal of media focus concerning our workforce
reduction. Unfortunately, no matter what approach a company takes, a
layoff is a difficult thing to manage.

When we started this process, our goal was to take every measure
possible to ensure all our employees, those receiving the unfortunate
news as well as their friends and colleagues staying within RadioShack,
were treated with dignity and respect. We went to great lengths to
communicate across our organization every step of the way, talking to
employees, making sure they were aware of the timing and the process and
ensuring they had a voice in how it ultimately was handled.

We realize that to some people notification by email may seem cold and
impersonal. To those who feel that way, we are truly sorry and
sincerely regret any impression that we intended to treat anyone with a
lack of respect. In an open office environment such as ours, where
everyone's workspace is a cubicle, notification becomes particularly
challenging. You can walk up to someone and tap them on their shoulder,
you can call them on the phone, you can post a list, or you can use an
individual, personal email. Our challenge was this: in an open office
environment such as ours, what is the best way to invite someone to this
kind of meeting while respecting and preserving their privacy and
dignity?

We believed that individual, personal email notification was the most
private means of letting affected employees know they were to meet with
their senior leader. And the reality is of course, we did have personal
meetings with every employee.

While much attention has been paid to one part of a very long and
difficult process, we can say we are proud of one thing: Exiting
employees and remaining employees handled themselves with great class
during this difficult day, and we believe people felt that they were
treated well. Many have made positive comments about the open and
forthcoming approach we took throughout the process. Our approach was
based on respect and dignity for our people, and we believe we achieved
that for our company.

We'd like to leave you with a timeline of the process we used to
communicate our workforce reduction process. Perhaps with the facts
in front of you, you might reconsider your opinion. We do hope so,
as we value our relationship with you.

Thanks again for reaching out to us.

RadioShack Corporation Media Relations

I tell you what just give someone the SMTP server address a few email addresses and a sample of the original message.....Guess what the entire corporation just got fired from top to bottom. It even would come from their own servers. So unless they Digitaly signed the message (of course the originating source IP would be visible) it would look like a Legit message. too easy........ Spoofing email hard i think not

Think that would stir the pot a bit what you think...

Once that happened I am sure they would rethink firing by email...

Well 400 employees is not a lot based upon the organizational size so although not a lot it is more the method used than the need to accomplish. I can always understand having to cut back on labor as it is the highest cost, but methodology of achievement to that end is my bone of contention. ziggz sounds like some young 30-40 year old fellow who has limited management skills but has no problem stepping on anyone to get where he is going. Most likely based upon the Peter principle.

sjc001, do you really think radio shack will go under ? Maybe in Canada it was a stretegic move on Radio Shacks part to sell off it's stores there.

Believe, i would love to see Radio Shack go under for personal reasons but I think I stand a better chance winning the New Zealand Lottery.

Radio Shack has a long history of poorly treating and poorly paying their employees. Did you notice that the article did not say from where the 400 employees were laid off from?

I doubt it is from their stores, those are the low paid employees and i doubt with the amount that 400 store employees make would hurt Radio Shack, don't you think ?

Hopefully, they got rid of some of the District Managers turning their resposibilities orver the the Regional Managers. I know the one we had in the Hartford, Connecticut Region was useless (Are you Listening Vic?).

Something else that people are not taking into consideration, is that Radio Shack has Foreign interests too. Although not confirmed (well Kept secret), d*** Smith's (just like Radio Shack), in New Zealand and Australia carry Radio Shack's Private label brand of Optimus.

Those of you who know, Optimus is carried by no one other than Radio Shack and it's affiliates. So, maybe there is a relation there after all. Hey, after all, it great money for Radio Shack. What we pay $5.00 for here in the states, the poor people over there are paying 3 and sometimes 4 times that amount.

So, I'll ask again. Is Radio Shack really going under? I don't think so!

ziggs, your language is unacceptable: "you morons", "pimple faced teens". These are not factual arguments and I am very surprised that BetaNews did not remove your comment. This should not be the place for vociferous crowds. Why don't you post your photo so that we can see if you are a moron and pimple faced.

John the finance expert.. this is a business, not a charity organization. If they are seeing red on their income statements, they will need to cut costs ASAP and if they dont, then the entire company goes down, with everyone in it. That means more jobs lost, that means lost of competition to the economy, that means.. oh why do i bother.. you think somehow the company owes you for life once they hire you.. good luck at burger king with that kind of thinking.

We have a troll, it sounds like.

ziggs, your language is unacceptable: "you morons", "pimple faced teens". These are not factual arguments and I am very surprised that BetaNews did not remove your comment. This should not be the place for vociferous crowds. Why don't you post your photo so that we can see if you are a moron and pimple faced.

ziggz the employment personnel expert has spoken who appears to have very little professional skills and a heartless spirit to go along with it. I love that "I have got mine" attitude it is so prevalent of the current ME generation. No thought as to people that may have to support families and are two weeks away from a soup kitchen. Mother Teresa if she were alive would be so proud of you. The company used a method that is appalling, that the majority of good companies would not use. No one needs to kiss any one's posterior but most better companies think that their employee's are part of their success and usually care enough to at least go over a layoff situation so that the people affected can start putting together resumes, and unemployment compensation paperwork.

Oh please.. yeah Radioshack is really afraid of telling a couple pimple faced teens to get a new job.. you morons, they have 400 people to get rid off and the fastest and most efficient way is to send a huge list of emails to those who are fired. They dont have to sit you down, buy you a cup of coffee and maybe dinner, and cry with you as they tell you you're no longer needed, but seeing as most of you sit on here all day and prob dont have jobs, your fantasy world ideas of how one should be corretly fired is taken with a grain of salt.

rijp??? You back?

Radio Shack may be breaking new ground and setting a precedent here, but around here, we still call it chicken $hit.

There are no more Radio Shacks in Canada. They were all bought out by Circuit City. Its days are numbered.

I'd lay 10 to 1 odds that everyone who could have been affected had already been notified, either in a group meeting, or face to face.

Still far better than the way they let me go: didn't tell me. Waited till I tried to make a phone call, and my company phone was out of service.

This little firing by email stunt is just plain ridiculous. but then again I have nothing positive to say about radio shack anyway.

Radio shack is in trouble, recently in my area the radio shack stores have gone through a remodeling. They offer the following items: Phones, mp3 players, 5 computer mice, cell phone accessories and radio controlled cars, a couple tv's and sounds systems. guess what, they got rid of all electronic components. Nothing that made radio shack unique or interesting.

I mean who is going to them for those kinds of items? I mean you walk in, you take a few steps you walk out that's how big it is. why would I go there rather then best buy or circuit city even? At least there I can go through several rows of TVs. I guess online and some mom and pop specialty store is only available now for electronic components. But then again now days most electronics use ic's hard wired on the boards. So im sure soon there won't be a reason to need them in any way shape or form soon enough.

Yeah, it looks to me like all they do is sell cell phones. I tried to buy an ear piece adapter and spent 15 minutes in line while the only two salespeople were selling phone contracts. There's just no good reason to go to a Radio Shack anymore.

Can you imagine how embarrassing it must be if you decide not to check your email for a few days? Is the manager going to have to shed some light when he/she comes in or let em find out that hard way by not being able to clock in... ;x

Their reason of a cost-cutting move to send emails is so bogus. Everyone knows its hard to face someone and fire them. If its a downsizing, usually you want to show the departing employee you care about them and will have them back if things improve.
However I doubt very much any of these 400 employees will have anything good to say about Radio Shack now.
If fact being in the retail business you would think Radio Shack understands how much more quickly bad news (bad service) gets around and impacts sales.
Bad bad bad. I don't shop there anymore though used to when younger. I just can't stand the hover over you sales people and the high prices/poor selection of brands.

It's difficult to imagine a more disgraceful act of disrespect to a company's staff than this.

Guess we have the winner for this year's Catbert award for HR evil...

In most large organizations when people are fired (downsized, right sized, let go, pick your term); they are removed from any corporate systems that could be used to cause trouble like access to the network or email. How do they maintain control if the employee decides to email the world about how much the company sucks or if they have access to the network or other resource they don't start deleting things?

Radio Shacks HR and Management don't have (excuse my french) have the balls to talk face to face with a human being and say "We're letting you go!". The hardest part of being a manager is having to give this type of bad news to an employee; but I can respect a manager who can face me and explain it all to me. I don't respect a company that can't look you in the eyes when they cut you off at the waist.

It's bad enough they are being laid off but to add insult to injury were not going to talk to about it face to face.

Boy Radio Shack sucks!

All I can say is WOW, what a sh!tty country! Do you know any other place in the Western world where you can fire people by notifying them through e-mail: it's illegal, but not in the US of A.

Illegal? How?

LOL pwnd
... lets see...
spam...
spam...
gimme ur credit card number...
uh... you got fired... LOL

The RS human resources team has always been "quirky" as far as I've heard.

My own personal experience simply involves trying to get a job there. You have to jump through tons of hoops. When I tried to get a job there in the past, I was told to go to a regional training event, which was without pay. By going, I could have a CHANCE at a job - nothing was guaranteed. Nor would they even allow me to request my local store (which was actually in need at the time of employees), but rather they would simply assign one after you were hired.

I decided that their method wasn't the ideal one for me. I've seen other companies that use regional training centers for new hires, but usually you have an idea that you even have a job before you schedule a day to waste, but not at Radio $hack.

spineless.

the next killer app: pink slip notification server

-----

IM from Corporate: U R SAK3D

IM to Corporate: Thank you for the nice new laptop you brought me recently. Byee!

...

Radio Shack is no model-employer.

And they've positioned themselves
as sort of the 7-11 of electronics.
A kind of convenience store...

Over-priced, but you can just run
inside and get it.

But you wouldn't want to work for
'em !

...

The Computer Rodent

...

Radio shack has always treated it's staff poorly. When I studied Labour Law in the late 80s, we used a lot of Radio Shack cases as examples of bad companies to work for. Of course, many of the people they hire should not be in radio shack at all. It used to be a great store, now I use on line services to get what I used to buy at radio crap.

Seems Radio Shack believes in delegating via e-mail. Usually that means they are highly out of touch with their employees to begin with. Maybe that is one of the biggest reasons they are not performing. It's really sad that they don't treat their employees like an asset because, most of them, are Radio Shack's sales force.

You know if they diversified their products a little more and gave their old sales system a major overhaul that might be a step in the right direction. Their current sales program offers very limited flexibility and it looks like an old DOS program. It cost me a great deal of time dealing with them as a company. Waiting in the store with them online to a support center that couldn't really help them. It took them 4 days to get it right.

For a company that sells technology products and all those cute little gizmos, gadgets, and adapters you would think they would be more up-to-date then what they are.

Hmm, I can hear Steve Case's voice now. "You've been Fired!", make a great wave file, huh?

All I can say is WOW, what a sh!tty company!

The management of RS is a bunch of immoral cowards.

It is so typically the American Way to threat your staff so coldly. And what about the stay-behinds? If i was one them i would think: f@ck the management, f@ck the company.

The American way to motivate its staff is not my cup of tea.

*edit*

This is the Radio Shack way, not the American way. Pry yourself from the broadstrokes im sure you criticize others of doing, Mmkay?

The Radio Shack way is just a further extension of the American way. Unbelievable how American companies threat their staff like sh#t.