Poor Leadership Decisions, Massive Layoffs Last 2 Years & Low Morale - Anonymous employee Petco Employee Review

1.0
20 Jan 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Pets in the office creates a great working environment. Corporate in San Diego was nicely designed and has a coffee shop and cafeteria.

Cons

*Pay is notorious low. *Benefits don't kick in until 60 days after your first day - they will make exceptions and pay COBRA for high level positions, IF YOU ASK before they make you an offer. *Bonuses have not been payed out the last 2 years. Although I was told that the executives DID get paid their bonuses. *Merit increases are minimal, if at all. *The executive team required everyone in the corporate office to take PTO the week between Christmas and New Years. Then they laid off around 145 people 4 weeks later. They obviously did this because they didn't want to pay out PTO when they laid these people off. Savage move! *Health benefits are expensive and the coverage is very poor. *Low morale and uncertainty across the company due to major layoffs (100+) at the corporate level in January 2017 and then again (145) in January 2018. *Director level and above get unlimited time off and stock that they call P-units while everyone below director get "use it or lose it" time off and no stock. *I also watched them hire several people during the middle of the year only to lay them off 6-7 moths later. Poor leadership planning on their part.

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5.0
2 Jun 2026
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Pros

Good environment, good management and able to learn and improve

Cons

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2.0
2 Jul 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

friendly store managers usually good discounts nostalgic

Cons

Forced to stay short staffed. Couldn't take proper breaks most days as a closing lead unless it was during the first few hours of shift. At the time the regional manager seemed more worried about the aesthetics of the back animal rooms floor that only employees saw when we had ac issues, issues getting access to an exotic vet, and only had enough hours to have two employees working at a time most shift on most days. I only had a couple interactions but that was one of them. Could not call off sick without leaving the store scrambling to find someone to stay open. Also sold improper habitats.

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