What is really sad about reading this is I have a friend that had his hours cut to part-time, lost his health insurance and now can’t afford 3 of his prescriptions....and he works for Home Depot.
Hiring 80,000 part time employees? Sad, sad, sad.
Never heard of someone getting their hours “cut to part time”. You are either hired as part time (usual) or full time (rare) or hired as part time and “promoted” to full time (also fairly rare, but it happens). If you are full time then you are guaranteed 40 hours.
HD hires tons of folk every spring. They hire 80,000 with the idea that 40,000-60,000 will make it through orientation (so about an extra 20-30 people per operating unit). Most of them will not be watering plants or any knowledge intensive job. They will likely be cashiers and loaders.
My HD has about 20 long term associates who have been there since the beginning. It’s unfortunate that some of you have received less than exemplary service, but HD has to compete in the market, so they pay less now (the Wal-Mart model) and have less help available.