An open letter to Jerry Zucker from a Canadian Consumer.

As someone who has not only shopped at the HBC family of stores for my entire life, but who once worked for HBC for a few years, I applaud Jerry Zucker’s promise to breath new life into the company, but it is my opinion that if Zucker and his team wish to reverse HBC’s fortunes, they have their work cut out for them.Every article in the business media that deals with the woes of Canada’s oldest retailer make the same points; a hypercompetitive retail marketplace, strong American competitors moving in, and HBC’s inability to differentiate their brand. However, I have never seen anyone draw the inference that most, if not all, of HBC’s struggles stem from an inertia-laden corporate culture that resents change, and a fundamental disconnect between the directives of the Head Office and the attitudes amongst the rank and file sales associates in the stores.During the years that I worked in two different Bay department stores, I observed that store-level culture and morale are dictated by a cadre of senior associates and sales managers, all of whom have been employed for a decade or more. When Head Office and store management call for the execution of a new marketing program, the prevailing attitude is almost universally one of cynicism and apathy. More than one senior associate confided to me that since they get paid the same regardless of how hard they work, they had no desire to deliver more than the bare minimum expected of them. Conversely, associates show a great deal of initiative when it comes to maximizing the use of their coffee breaks and sick days.I can’t imagine that this comes as a surprise to any Canadian who has tried to round up a sales associate in a Bay store on a busy Saturday. More often than not, when you do find someone to help you, they are neither helpful, nor well-informed. Regardless of the efforts of the buyers and merchandisers to create attractive displays full of hip, eye catching products, and the sophisticated logistics necessary to fill the stores with stock, I strongly suspect that the Bay’s lackluster sales metrics ultimately result from the lack of buy-in amongst senior associates (who I often refer to as “lifers”) who believe that their employment is an entitlement.Sadly, this culture is deeply ingrained at the store level. In any staff break room in the company, bitterness and complaining is a universal pastime that I can only imagine has reached a crescendo during the Maple Leaf Holdings buyout drama. In order to affect a turnaround of a Canadian retail icon, it is going to be necessary for Zucker’s team to address the deep-rooted disaffection of HBC’s personnel, no matter how drastic the solution may be.

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