Limited Brands ACES ETM Employee

ACES ETM – Lbrands ACES ETM Associates Login

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Are you a Lbrands employee? If so, then it is possible for you to access all your work-related resources online. There is a portal, commonly known as the ACES ETM portal, through which Lbrands employees can access their paystubs, work schedules, benefits information, direct deposit information and many other work related resources. This means that you, as a Lbrands employee, only need to go to the ACES Login page and sign in there, after which you would be able to access all work-related resources you need in a convenient manner.

The ACES ETM portal website

The ACES ETM portal website can be accessed at aces.limitedbrands.com/UserMgt/LoginUser?cmd=login. So that is the address you are supposed to key into your browser, after which the browser should transfer you to the ACES ETM sign in page. When you get to the ACES ETM portal, you will encounter a welcoming message, followed by some instructions on how to go about signing in. Towards the bottom end of the page are spaces for entry of user ID and password. There is also an ‘Espanol’ link you can click on, if you wish to use the ACES ETM portal in Spanish.

Requirements for you to use the ACES ETM portal

To use the ACES ETM portal, you need to be a Lbrands employee. You also need to have a computing device with which to access the portal – which could be anything from a desktop computer to a laptop, smart-phone or any other Internet-enabled computing device. If it is the first time you are using the portal, and therefore don’t have a password with which to log in, you would need to liaise with Lbrands’ Stores Technology Services for help in setting one up.

4 things you can do through the ACES ETM portal

Firstly, through the ACES ETM portal, you can access your Lbrands paystubs.

Secondly, through the ACES ETM portal, you can access your Lbrands work schedules.

Thirdly, through the ACES ETM portal, you can access your Lbrands benefits information.

Fourthly, through the ACES ETM portal, you can access your Lbrands direct deposit details.

ACES login

Before you can access your work-related resources through the ACES ETM portal, you will be required to sign in first. To login to ACES ETM, you will need to use the following 3 simple steps:

First, go to the ACES ETM portal. Just key in its address (aces.limitedbrands.com/UserMgt/LoginUser?cmd=login) into your browser. Your browser will then take you to the portal.

Second, after getting to the Lbrands ACES ETM portal, enter your user ID and password into the respective spaces. The user ID is derived from your employee ID whereas the password is the one you’d have set up through Lbrands’ Stores Technology Services.

Third, after entering the user ID and password into the respective spaces, click on the ‘Submit’ button, after which you should be able to access your work-related resources straightaway.

How to use the ACES ETM portal

After signing into the ACES ETM portal, you will find menus and links through which you can navigate around the portal, and access whichever resources you need. Whether you want to view your paystubs, direct deposit details, work schedules or anything else, you will find self-explanatory links and menus to help you.

Link(s)

Retail Employees During COVID

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Working in retail this year has been significantly stressful for employees. With a pandemic at large and the stress of making sufficient funds, employees can often be left stressed and uncomfortable. A question arises, what can we, as employees and employers, expect and how can we overcome these challenges.

It is no secret that big businesses and small businesses have been impacted negatively within the last six months. However, even with the recent opening of retail stores, employees and employers are unfortunately not experiencing the easiest transition. For example, due to the recent transition to a mask wearing society, many customers get agitated and often put the employees in uncomfortable situations.

As a retail employee, there are now a lot of new itinerary that they need to keep in mind.  As an employee it is important to keep the customers safe.

Here are a few rules to remember during this pandemic :

  • Do not show up to work when sick, even if you think it is just a common cold. This way, the retail store stays open and the customers stay safe.
  • Even though in retail you are not specifically handling food, it is important to not only wear a mask at all times, but to also wash your hands as frequently as possible. Remember to take use of the company’s hand sanitizer.
  • Although we have heard this a million times, social distance. It is important to keep a reasonable space between the customers and the employee. It is almost important to keep a distance between employees and coworkers, at least as much as you can without stopping the flow of work
  • As an employer/manager, it is imperative to make sure the employees have proper care. Keep hand sanitizer, tissues, and sanitizing products throughout the store for customer and employee use.
  • Employees should remember to wipe down high traffic areas such as; doors, shelves, and cash registers. It is imperative to keep the store extra clean during COVID.

The next obstacle that an employee will face during COVID is customers that are not complying to company/state health regulations. There are a few things to know and ways to deal with this.

  • The first step to dealing with any customer that is not wearing a mask, is to know your county’s, store’s, or city’s policies regarding in store rules. Some areas do not require masks and some are able to completely refuse service. Be sure to talk to your manager if you are unclear on procedures.
  • It is hard to deal with customers who fail to follow policies, however when seeing a customer without a mask make sure to first ask if they have one. It really helps if your store provides masks for those who forgot to avoid angry customers.
  • If a customer is refusing to wear a mask, in a store that requires them, it is important to politely refuse service. This is mainly because, by not asking them to leave, other customers are at high risk of exposure.
  • As a retail worker, if a customer is refusing to leave the best thing to do is to calmly get the manager, this way there are no customers on employee verbal disputes or vice versa.
  • Emotionally, violent customers can be discouraging and draining, however it is best to remember that the employee is only doing their job. Do not let this type of customer bring an employee down, otherwise work will feel dreadful and customer service with deplete. Always take a minute to step away alone if a situation was too intense or frustrating.

Possibly one of the hardest things that employees had to deal with in retail this past 6 months is a major downgrade in pay. This loss of income can be scary, especially in minimum wage jobs where you are already paid at lower costs. Being overwhelmed by this can cause an employee to feel lost and miss opportunities to continue making money. There are many ways to keep afloat during hours being cut or stores closing down

  • Firstly, communication. If hours are cut make sure to always keep in touch with the manager. Express concerns about the scheduling and ask if there are extra shifts that can be picked up. This may not give a ton of extra hours, but it will still allow you to make some extra cash.
  • Fortunately, there are a lot of resources for those who have been put out of work or are being underworked. Most notably, unemployment is significantly more flexible during COVID, by allowing employees to apply if they are under a certain paygrade.
  • Now, what does an employer do if they are at risk of COVID during regular work hours? The FCRA allows paid sick leave for COVID related issues! Also, unemployment also works if you are gone from work for a certain period of time due to coronavirus
  • It is also important to note that there are a lot of online job opportunities available while also working retail, until you can get stable pay and hours.

So, even with the stress of not being paid, there are reliable resources to help retailers get by. Just make sure to really try and access those, especially since COVID has and will be an ongoing issue.

In addition, as a retailer make sure to take care of yourself. Retail employees do risk their health by going to work during this virus and need time to really take care of themselves. Retailers should not let themselves get infected or over stressed! COVID has drastically changed the way that employers work, however with a little help from employers and some extra precaution, things can go a bit smoother. There is no guarantee when COVID will end and there are a lot of obstacles that retail employees will face, as a community we must learn to respect and take care of our essential workers.

It is imperative to research the effects of COVID and how to decrease your risk, be sure to avoid stores in any other areas if you are showing symptoms.

Strategies for Reducing Employee Turnover in the Retail Industry

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One of the challenges that companies in the retail industry struggle with is that of high employee turnover. This is a situation where the retail industry companies are simply unable to retain employees for long. If you check some retail industry company’s records, you will find that the average employee there works for something like six to eight months before leaving. This leaves the retail companies in a situation where they have to be always recruiting and training new employees to replace those who are always leaving. Yet as we all know, recruiting and training employees is a costly affair. Most companies would ideally prefer a situation where they don’t have to do it so often. In other words, most companies would prefer a situation where they experience lower levels of staff turnover. And the question that arises is as to what strategies the companies – especially those in the retail industry – can use to reduce employee turnover levels. That is the questions we will be attempting to address in this article.

Without further ado, if the businesses within the retail industry want to reduce employee turnover, they need to:

  1. Pay the employees reasonably well: One of the key reasons as to why employees tend to leave retail industry jobs is the feeling that they are being underpaid. In other words, the employees will tend to tell you that they felt that they were being subjected to ‘too much work for too little money’. Therefore if any company within the retail industry wants to retain its employees for long, it needs to figure out what a reasonable paycheck would look like. It needs to start by figuring out what the ‘living wage’ within the area it is operating in is. Then it needs to ensure that it pays its employees reasonably well as per those benchmarks. Otherwise you are likely to have a situation where the company’s staff would be always on the search for greener pastures. It is important to understand that when all is said and done, people primarily go to work in order to earn money. Whatever other employee retention strategies you put in place, if you don’t pay the people well, they will always be leaving for other industries where they can get better wages. Thus, if the retail industry is to retain its employees for longer, it needs to pay attention to this area. It needs to ensure that it is paying its employees salaries that are at least as good as what they would get in other industries. Otherwise the retail industry is likely to keep on losing its employees to those other industries, once the employees discover that they can earn better elsewhere.
  2. Supervise the employees in a respectful manner: Another major reason why employees tend to leave their jobs in the retail industry is in that they feel that they have been ‘disrespected’ by their supervisors. It is not a petty issue — because if you visit most retail industry stores and warehouses, you will tend to find that the supervisors are unnecessarily harsh to the employees. You visit some places and actually wonder how anyone is able to last there for a week, let alone months! It is therefore important to ensure that the supervisors are properly trained on how to get the employees to do their jobs without being harassed.
  3. Create reasonable working schedules for the employees: The retail industry is notorious for its difficult work schedules, and there are many employees who leave the industry when they are unable to cope with the said schedules. If businesses in the retail industry are to retain their employees for longer periods of time, they need to ensure that their work schedules are humane. And it is not just about getting the employees to work for reasonable amounts of time. It is also about ensuring that the workloads that the employees are subjected to during those periods are reasonable. So the idea is to ensure that the employees are not subjected to work schedules/workloads that are likely to induce either mental or physical burnout.
  4. Recruit the right people: The idea here is to hire people who are likely to treasure the jobs in the retail industry (as opposed to hiring people who are likely to view the retail jobs as ‘stop gap’ measures). You have to understand that in certain social circles, retail industry jobs are viewed as less prestigious. If individuals from such backgrounds have to work within the retail industry, they are likely to view it as a stop-gap measure – something they do while searching for ‘better work’ elsewhere. Yet if retail industry HR managers are careful in their interviews, they can always detect such attitudes in good time. This would include by posing questions on the potential employees’ career aspirations and listening keenly to the responses given. In a nutshell it is important for the retail business to ensure that they avoid hiring ‘overqualified’ individuals, as such individuals are unlikely to last long in their jobs. It is actually better to hire individuals who will require more training, but who are then likely to last longer in the jobs once they acquire the necessary skills.

What Benefits Should Retail Industry Companies Offer to Their Employees?

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Retail industry companies can greatly improve employee retention and productivity rates by offering competitive benefits packages.  Look at it this way: if you give your employees a decent benefits package, the core message they are likely to get is that you care for them. And once they get that message, they are likely to reciprocate — by doing their work in the best manner possible and by being loyal to you as an employer. Conversely if you only give your employees the minimum benefits required by law, they are likely to get the impression that you only care about your business’ bottom-line and that you don’t care about them as people. Consequently, they are likely to only do the minimum necessary to keep their jobs. They are also likely to be constantly on the lookout for better opportunities with employers who can give them better benefits packages…

The question that arises then is as to what benefits retail industry companies should offer to their employees. That is the question we will be tackling in this article, by looking at some of the specific benefits that progressive retail industry companies should offer to their employees.

Without further ado, the benefits that retail businesses should offer to their employees include:

  1. Medical benefits: In most places, employers are required by law to offer their employees some sort of health benefits. And even outside the legal requirements, it makes sense for a retail business to offer its employees health benefits, in order to get the best output from them. If the employees are offered adequate medical cover, they are likely to operate with peace of mind. This peace of mind would be based on the assurance that they are well-covered should anything happen to them health-wise. Conversely, in the absence of adequate medical benefits, the employees – especially the ones with families — are unlikely to have peace of mind, and this is likely to affect their output. They are likely to be ever in search of opportunities in industries/firms where they can get better medical cover. It usually costs very little for an employer to offer employees medical benefits that are over and above what is required by the law. Thus, for instance, if the legal requirement is to offer a basic medical insurance cover, an employer can opt to also offer dental and vision covers. So that would be over and above the basic medical insurance cover that is required by the law. This would surely serve to send the message to the employees that their employer cares for them as individuals. And when you look at it objectively, the benefit you get from offering the extra health insurance coverage is likely to outweigh the cost by far.
  2. Retirement benefits: By offering employees retirement benefits, you give them the impression that there is a ‘future’ they are working towards. Conversely, if (as a retail industry employer) you don’t give your employees retirement benefits, they are likely to start feeling as if they are in dead-end situations, without any ‘future’ to look forward to. Retirement benefits can be particularly effective at improving retail industry employee retention rates/reducing retail industry employee turnover rates. Employees are, for instance, unlikely to leave jobs where they were co-contributing towards 401(k) plans or other retirement schemes. On the other hand, in the absence of such schemes, there is very little to bind the employees to you.
  3. Overtime benefits: Retail industry business employees are often forced to work overtime. In some places, employers are under obligation to pay for the overtime worked. In other places (or for certain cadres of workers), the employers are at liberty to either pay the overtime or not pay. But even where the employer has the option of not paying for the over-time worked, it is still a good idea to pay the overtime benefits. That is because not paying for overtime worked is likely to demotivate the employees greatly. And the last thing you want in a retail business is to have demotivated employees. On the other hand, if you pay your employees for overtime worked, they are likely to be greatly motivated, and to feel that you respect their time and effort.
  4. Paid leaves: Retail industry jobs tend to be very intense. Therefore the employees need some time to unwind. This is where paid leave benefits come in handy. Employers in the retail industry should endeavor to give their employees paid off days every week (at least one off day per week), as well as several paid leave days every year. In the absence of those, you are likely to end up with high levels of employee burnout. That would inevitably lead to less output as well as high levels of staff turnover.
  5. Insurance benefits: These include worker’s compensation and disability insurance benefits. In most places, employers are required by law to offer such insurance covers. But even where such legal requirements don’t exist, it makes sense to offer the retail employees such insurance benefits. The employees are likely to have peace of mind in knowing that they are ‘covered’ should anything happen to them in the course of their work. And with such peace of mind, the employees are likely to give their best possible output. At the very least, getting such insurance cover (which by the way tends to cost very little) gives the employees the impression that you really care for them as individuals. That in turn is likely to translate into higher levels of employee retention and higher levels of employee productivity.