Kohl's is an "OK" place to work - Sales Associate Kohl's Employee Review

3.0
Jun 29, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Kohl's has flexible scheduling, a good training program, great dress code options with the exception of shoes, a good variety of positions/departments to work within, lots of employee recognition, and a good over-all working environment. It's great for college/high school students looking to work part-time.

Cons

The employee discount is a joke, you get 15% (except on big items like luggage or electronics, which is less or not at all) which is OK but less than competing retailers that offer 30% or some even more. They lead you to believe you can actually GET 30% or more of a discount, but then tell you it's ONLY if you have a Kohl's Charge Card because you can stack coupons with your discount. They push credit hard on their employees, not just their customers. And they basically only give discount incentives to the employees with the charge card. It's a huge disappointment, especially for those who can't get approved for a card or don't want to risk their credit by opening one. The dress code calls for closed toe shoes only but absolutely no tennis shoes or sneakers, only casual dress shoes. This is uncomfortable and bad for your feet when you are standing for 6+ hours in a day and/or climbing ladders in the stock room to get items, etc. They often ask you to stay past your scheduled shift after you already took your quick 15 minute break, so then if you are over 6 hours, you don't get a lunch break. You are not allowed to have water with you on the sales floor, period. Even if its over 95 degrees out and you are running around all day. Pay is very low. Average Sales Associates/POS Associates start at minimum, NO negotiation. I actually had retail experience and still was only offered minimum. There are credit card sales goals you must meet, you are required to push credit on each and every customer even if they try to politely say no thanks. Also you need to push to get emails from them, and then get them to take an online survey. Associates get only $1.00 for each credit card application they process that gets approved. They schedule too few employees in a department with little back up from other departments. I was stressed for three days straight and was ready to almost quit because I had JUST finished training and was on the floor and they scheduled me to be the ONLY person in my department during my shift, I hardly knew anything yet.

Explore other reviews about Kohl's

5.0
May 21, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Strong client connections, opportunity for growth.

Cons

short breaks, lots of downtime

3.0
Jun 29, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

managers can be friendly at times

Cons

Little to no training been working here for almost a year now there’s still something I don’t know every day. What was most difficult for me was being at registers as I was trained in two days by shadowing someone. There are so many situations and problems that will come up every day and you will learn something new! They never taught me about Kohl’s cash, how to read receipts, reprint or edit receipts. They schedule so little so when you do learn something there’s no chance of rehearsal because you come in three weeks later working at a different department.

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