“Your lower working bees are the cheapest employees.”
Due to regulation and minimum wage laws there is no such thing as a cheap employee. Laws and regulations get more onerous as a company gets bigger and has more employees, requiring even more costs on each employee. Lowe’s stock is soring and making value for Lowe’s owners, the stockholders, is the main goal of management. Lowe’s has done a wonderful job of that. Outsourcing employees who are more liability than asset is part of creating more value for the owners...that’s people who hold Lowe’s stock in their retirement funds. Everything is a tradeoff and Lowe’s management is making a tradeoff in support of their fiduciary duty to the stockholders.
“You kill your back bone then you entire operation will suffer.”
I suspect the implication here is that the janitor will advance to be a sales associate or cashier. That may happen but for the most part the people Lowe’s hires have already completed a career or are in their middle ages. While their are younger employees who can be expected to move up the pay and responsibility ladder, the ones being laid off probably, on average, are not.
I spoke with the Lowe’s associate who is my contact for big orders. He told me that Lowe’s management is transforming their business model towards more automation. And, yes, it has been painful for the employees. But, as he said, “We’ll get used to it.” Incidentally, he buys stock in Lowe’s with every paycheck. He is thrilled with the way the stock is going up.
“Incidentally, he buys stock in Lowe’s with every paycheck.”
He’s a fool; that’s called “putting all of your eggs in one basket. His paycheck and investments are tied up in the same company. On top of that, eliminating his paycheck will be the prime reason the stock would go up.