Pros
I honestly wish I had pros, but of all the jobs I’ve had, this is the worst company I’ve worked for. The company messaging around flexibility, support, and competitive pay over the intercom does not match the day-to-day reality in the stores. I have already told several people to not apply when they expressed interest because of the unethical exploitation of employees. Our ASM abruptly quit after leaving home several times crying and being fed up as it started to affect her mental health because upper management treats employees as slaves rather than co-workers. That was TWO managers that quit because of the toxic environment after working there for years within one month. Our DM and SM only care about the awards; not the employees helping operate it the store. Our SM intentionally sets schedules with limited workers to stay under the payroll budget (aka labor shaving) so it looks good on paper for our store while ultimately putting all the work on 3 people, causing over exhaustion and resentment.
Cons
Ongoing understaffing, especially during late-night closing shifts. Closing teams are frequently scheduled with only 2-3 employees total, including the Manager on Duty, even during extended holiday hours when the store remains open until 1:00 a.m. There were NO employees on the floors as each employee needed to be at the register. That leaves the entire store open to theft as there aren’t any eyes on the floor. During the holiday season, this resulted in associates regularly staying well past their scheduled shift end to complete recovery and closing tasks due to having only one associate and one manager scheduled. Many part time employees end up working 9-10 hours with only 1 lunch. We’ve had managers tell us they DON’T give breaks no matter what. Imagine how exhausted employees are with only 30 mins of lunch out of 10 hours? The store manager does not take into consideration that many associates are in school or have children to take to school, and associates are not permitted to leave until all cleaning and recovery is completed. We don’t leave our store until 12/1am or later (2:30am during the 1am extended hours). This has resulted in employees missing school during finals or operating on little to no rest, despite education and family responsibilities. The workload placed on such limited staffing creates physical exhaustion and safety concerns, particularly late at night when customer volume remains high and visibility and coverage are limited. We have had several theft incidents during several late shifts this holiday season. There were also multiple instances of unprofessional management communication. New hires were referred to as “HORRIBLE” by management in front of employees, which was demoralizing and inappropriate. Additionally, staffing shortages were openly discussed in front of customers, including statements that only three people were scheduled to work until 1:00 a.m. Several customers expressed concern that this could increase theft or put employees at risk. This information should not be shared publicly in a customer-facing environment, as it creates unnecessary safety exposure for staff.