Do not even think of working for this company EVER - General Manager Ulta Beauty Employee Review

1.0
28 Jan 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

As far as working environment-none. Discounts you can get at any employer.

Cons

This company has gone south in a big way. They run their stores on a skeleton crew of one manager and one cashier. The stores just churn their stocks. They try to increase their margin by adding stores every year. eventual that old trick will run out and investors will lose. They use phantom salons to sell professional salon products. At any given time there is only one stylist in the salon. This company is NOT a green company. They toss tons of chemicals into our landfills every day. They do not recycle plastics or paper- and boy do they waste paper. Shipments come to the store most times with a giant boxing carrying one nail polish or something of the like. Your job will never be safe. If you are not liked for personal reasons by a superior, they will take you down and lie and cheat to get you fired. Ulta's HR department is a complete joke. They have them doing so many tasks that they cannot possibly handle any grievances in an appropriate way. You are not allowed to THINK. Tasks are laid out for you and the you have to spend just as much time entering into a program stating that you indeed completed such task. They can't even trust you do daily things that are in your job description. Ulta's new CEO, who came from MC Donald's and the horrible US Cellular (think Jitterbug) spends more time trying to be a celebrity, changing company colors and fonts that result in more printed materials being tossed in the trash instead of being recycled. Take a search on google and look at the lawsuits that have been filed against this company. Exempt managers are using most of their time doing the tasks of nonexempt employees and cramming in management duties. This is against the law for companies this size to call someone exempt and not pay them overtime when they really aren't doing a different job than others. District managers are lay. They come into the store and pick on managers without lifting a finger to help achieve a deadline. They are allowed to torment and pressure people to tears and HR does nothing. Do yourself a favor and check with former employees. this is a place to steer clear of. Nothing to see here but people doing more than one job to raise stock prices. the company does not care that there is no one to assist customers in the store.

Explore other reviews about Ulta Beauty

5.0
3 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Everyone at the location was friendly and helpful. The employee discount was a huge plus. Great store to work for!

Cons

During the slower months, hours get cut unfortunately.

2.0
4 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

good benefits for full time employees from what I hear. hourly pay if commission goal isn't met which is nice for those building clientele

Cons

this could just be the case for my store, especially because it's a very high volume store, but as a stylist I don't feel valued at all. I expected this to some degree coming to a huge corporate salon, but the biggest issue is that they try to pretend they care about you. but at the end of the day, if you're not meeting the sales they want/growing quickly enough, they don't care about you as a stylist. if you don't already have an established clientele, business is highly unreliable as there is no late cancellation/no show policy. many services are underpriced in my opinion, making it hard to meet their sales goals as an entry level part-time stylist unless fully booked every day. all they care about is getting as many clients in and out and quickly and possible and they hire more stylists than there are chairs, making every day inconsistent and chaotic. the relative stability of hourly pay is commission threshold isn't met seems enticing for stylists still building a clientele, but the hourly pay is wildly inconsistent between stylists, even those of the same tier. as a stylist of over 3 years who moved and is starting over with no clientele, I make over $2 less per hour than a fellow stylist who just got her license a few months ago and started taking clients for the first time last week. you're better off working at a place like Great Clips or Hair Cuttery because at least they're honest about what they are.

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