At the company's annual meeting in Atlanta, investors complained that efforts to improve the shopping environment have not fully trickled down to all stores. Finding goods on the shelf and helpful workers who make eye contact with customers is difficult, they said.
"I want you to know how badly we need more aprons on the floor," said Gary Patton, a 16-year Home Depot employee from South Carolina. "I just long for the days back in the beginning when we were the destination store. Now we're just one of the other stores."
Shareholder Ken Kaplan said he hoped a move to boost the bottom line would not keep the retailer from spending money to attract knowledgeable workers.
"Pay what it takes to get the ones who defected, the good ones, back from (rival) Lowe's ," Kaplan said.
After the meeting, Kaplan said the company's falling share price was leading shareholders to speak out. Home Depot's stock has fallen about 30 percent in the past year as the slumping U.S. housing market hurt earnings.
"It's an apparently different landscape out there," Kaplan said. "There's been a significant slowdown."
At the meeting, shareholders elected 10 board members. Four board members, including company co-founder Kenneth Langone, retired from the board.
