Personnel

In light of the leaked internal strategy for squashing unions at Wal-Mart as well as other firsthand accounts of shady management policies, an unidentified Wal-Mart employee of five years emailed Gawker this week with a list of answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). He or she seeks to explain why the big-box store's customer service is abominable. It's really thorough, so we've snagged a few choice quotes.     

Barnes & Noble, the largest U.S. bookstore chain, is cutting jobs as revenue at its Nook tablet unit continues to shrink. "As we've aligned Nook's cost structure with business realities, staffing levels in certain areas of our organization have changed, leading to some job eliminations," Mary Ellen Keating, a spokeswoman for the New York-based retailer, said in an email. She declined to say how many jobs were cut and from what areas of the company. Barnes & Noble reduced Nook prices during the holidays amid continued competition from Apple's iPad. 

Home Depot said Wednesday it will hire 6,300 associates in Canada to support its spring busy season, down from last year's plan for 6,700 employees. Home Depot and peer Lowe's have been a rare bright spot in the retail sector as they continue to benefit from the U.S. housing recovery. Rising home prices and improvements in home construction and new home sales have led homeowners to open their wallets for remodeling projects or big-ticket items. The home improvement retailer said it will hire full-time, part-time and seasonal workers across its 180 Canada locations.

Wal-Mart said on Tuesday it would invest about $500 million this year to strengthen its presence in Canada, creating more than 7,500 jobs including construction. The investments include more than $376 million for store projects, $91 million for distribution networks to expand fresh food capability and $31 million for e-commerce projects. Wal-Mart's expansion plans comes a week after Target said it would open nine new stores across Canada, adding to the 124 it opened last year.

Best Buy said Thursday that it's laying off 950 of its Canadian employees, the first major cutback since the electronics retailer reported disappointing holiday sales earlier this month. The company said the layoffs affected 6 percent of its workforce in Canada and will not result in any store closings. At the end of January a year ago, Best Buy closed 15 stores in Canada. It currently has 265 stores in Canada and had 16,000 Canadian employees before the layoffs. The move is another sign of retrenchment from the upward trajectory the consumer electronics giant experienced for much of last year.

Sears Canada is laying off 624 employees, the second time in as many weeks the struggling retailer has announced cost-saving cuts to its workforce. The company, whose sales have fallen for the last seven fiscal years in a battle with stronger rivals like Wal-Mart, Costco and Winners, said late Wednesday that the layoffs will lead to more effective communication between management and its store associate teams. The cuts result in an average reduction of five associates per store from a mid-tier level, the retailer said. 

Teen apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch stripped its chief executive, Mike Jeffries, of his chairman duties, bowing to investor pressure to reduce his control over the struggling company. "It seems like it's a political and respectful way of approaching a CEO issue without saying we're gonna throw you to the curb," said Simeon Siegel, an analyst at Nomura Equity Research. Jeffries, 69, hired in 1992 to revamp what was an ailing sports brand, has faced criticism for failing to stop the retailer from ceding market share to chains like Forever 21 and Inditex's Zara. 

Wal-Mart said it's eliminating 2,300 workers at its Sam's Club division as it reduces the ranks of middle managers in a bid to be more nimble. The layoffs, which cut 2 percent of the membership club's U.S. employee count of about 116,000, mark the largest since 2010 when the Sam's Club unit laid off 10,000 workers as it moved to outsource food demonstrations at its stores. The cuts come as Sam's Club strives to compete better with Costco Wholesale Corp. and online players like Amazon.com's Prime membership service. 

Target on Wednesday announced plans to eliminate 475 jobs from its global workforce. The cuts come about a month after Target reported a major breach of customer information during the holiday shopping season. Spokeswoman Molly Snyder said the cuts are unrelated to the breach. "We believe these decisions, while difficult, are the right actions as we continue to focus on transforming our business," she said. "We will continue to invest in key business areas to strengthen our ability to compete and thrive well into the future." The discount retailer has about 361,000 employees worldwide and more than 1,700 U.S. stores. 

American Eagle said after the market closed Wednesday that Chief Executive Robert Hanson has left his post after less than two years, a move that stunned Wall Street. The teen apparel retailer said Executive Chairman Jay L. Schottenstein, who was previously chief executive from March 1992 through December 2002, will temporarily fill in for Hanson. The company said it will start looking for a permanent replacement. Executive Creative Director Roger S. Markfield, who is also vice chairman, agreed to delay his planned retirement and continue in his current roles, according to American Eagle.