*pay cuts…I understand that it’s necessary to do these in order to keep a business afloat at times, but it definitely sucked because it happened right as I got promoted. Getting a $1 pay raise compared to the prior rate was a big disappointment. The least the company could do is provide some sort of other incentive since we are expected to take on the SAME workload for LESS now.
*the insanely HIGH expectations for VOG…at first I respected the company expectations. Giving guests the best possible experience is admirable and I think it’s important to hold that standard in order to make this company one of the best, but there comes a point where the best isn’t always enough. Recently, my location failed a secret shop and the sad thing is even though the customer had ZERO complaints and a pleasant visit, we still failed because we didn’t get around to checking in on them in the fitting room and because we didn’t remember to offer a digital receipt…so in the grand scheme of things, it’s really sad that now we’re getting nagged 24/7 and told that we have to be better, when in reality, we’re actually doing pretty okay. We still get the same traffic regardless of those minuscule things. PLEASE consider revisiting the terms to a “successful” secret shop.
*the dress code…this isn’t a huge deal, but considering I’m working in fashion, I was really looking forward getting to wearing the clothes (as well as advertising it to guests in the process!!)
*lack of positivity and recognition for wins…there’s definitely more emphasis on anytime something is done wrong compared to the things we do right. And there’s little recognition for the people and moments that are outstanding. It feels as if when we do get something done well, we just get a “good job” and move on…
*shady price adjustments…I work on ship from store orders frequently and I think it’s quite dirty how someone is somehow paying $94 for a skirt when it’s actually like $45 in store, but we’re expected to peel off the sale sticker before packing it so they won’t notice it got marked down. (This has also happened multiple times with sales items that have been marked down more than once, but are still being sold at the higher price, rather than than the price it got marked down to a second time) And before someone says it may have not updated on the website, this was 3 days after markdowns were completed…that should be well updated on the website by that point!! Also I noticed they have had us mark the price up on things after we have already put them out on the sales floor, which also seems wrong and unfair. I actually purchased a top recently that was originally $34.95, but had to return it because it was snagged, and when I went to exchange for a new one in the EXACT same style, it had been marked up to $38.00. Not cool at all…
*leverage goal expectations…any time we deleverage, we get scolded and told we gotta be better, when in reality it’s not always in our control. I know at my location specifically, we get a lot of people simply coming in to look and not to purchase. (especially with some of the outrageous prices) I consider this to be pretty normal as I’m a window shopper myself and sometimes I just like to see what’s new, but unfortunately this hurts our conversion and makes it look like we’re not trying hard enough to make sales with everyone passing through. Big families with kids, people passing through more than once, other mall employees that just come through on their breaks, and teens with little money to spend also come through and its affects our numbers negatively, yet we’re expected to somehow still overcome that when it’s really not in our control. I’m never going to force nor coax someone to make a purchase. It’s just flat out unnecessary. If people wanna buy, they’ll buy. Half the time if you push people into buying, they’ll come back and do a return because the purchase was made out of impulse. Also we’re expected to write these emails when we deleverage, which is just discouraging. It’s always the same few things that causes it, so why do we have to keep reiterating it?? We know HOW to change it around, but sometimes our hard work doesn’t always show in the numbers.
