Where to start, as someone who has been with the company several years, I've seen a lot of things come and go. Vacation accrual used to be higher, was reduced to "encourage associates to use vacation". Not long after accrual was reduced, it was reduced again they gave associates only a few months to get below the threshold as you would not begin to accrue more vacation until under the threshold. Several vacation requests are denied because it doesn't fit the needs of the business and we're understaffed.
Design studio and store metrics beaten into you. Company expectation for design consultations is 2 per month, but managers set a standard of 4 per month minimum in the store. Email, phone capture, UPT, ATV, conversion are drilled into us repeatedly day after day.
-Managers lack any real leadership skills. They spend so much time behind closed doors in meetings, calls, pulling reporting; they're hardly on the sales floor, so training is left for senior staff to train new hires, instead of having them focus on sales. Their idea of motivation is "you guys are doing ok, but you need to be doing better". Your best is not good enough mentality. When we bring up the tone of emails we get "well imagine how I feel im getting texts at 7am from the regional manager asking to turn our business around. Management also expects us to go out and do our own prospecting outside of the store, handle our own customer service issues.
Constant turn over. Most associates complain about lack of support, training, and true understanding of their position, before ultimately quitting.
-No feeling of advancement.
-Company is not as transparent in communication as it used to be.
