Large Corporate Environment With Some Perks - Software Engineer Kohl's Employee Review

3.0
Nov 28, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Decent corporate campus with wellness center, on-site clinics, banking, etc. Cafeterias are incredibly decent, free coffee and tea is available. Shuttle runs between buildings, great for rain or snow. More than enough parking. Child care is available. Great programming on campus for events like Veteran's Day, Town Halls, charitable events, etc. CEO works out of New York office but frequently visits Wisconsin HQ. 15% off discount is nice at Kohl's, plus more lenient requirements for a Kohl's Charge which gives you an extra 5%. At some times during the year, about one weekend a month, you get stackable coupons sometimes totaling up to 60% off when spent in store on a Kohl's Charge! This alone is what keeps some people motivated to work at Kohl's. Benefits have stayed decent, despite rising costs. Salaries for some competitive positions, like IT roles, remain high to start. Technology is migrating to modern trends, like Cloud Computing, full stack development, updated plans for tools, etc.

Cons

Despite being told that IT continues to be an important asset to the company's long-term success, and great company profits, cost-cutting is still prioritized. Many jobs in IT are now contracted out to places like Brazil and India. California tech office is close to 80% contractors, most on H1B visas. Innovation can only happen if it saves the company money. Much like other companies of similar size, the concept of loyalty is dead. Once you start to no longer become useful to the company, or can be replaced by either less experienced or outsourced labor, you're gone. The IT layoffs earlier this year took those with experience and useful Kohl's-specific knowledge out to be replaced by cheap contractors, some with contracts as small as 3 weeks to do one task on a project. Contractors are treated like second-class citizens with no appreciation, smaller desks, and sometimes abuse from managers. Teams are incredibly siloed and do not work well together. Teams also have individual cultures. Some IT teams are made of people who work laid-back 35 hour work weeks, while others are pulling 60+ hours rushing to get a pile of tasks done. Store associates are treated poorly depending on location. Credit signup and application quotas, low starting pay with insulting raises as low as pennies (yes, one got a $0.03 an hour raise), and competitive (sometimes cut-throat) atmospheres exist at all stores. Not worth the pay in my opinion. Oh yeah, as others have mentioned, some co-workers can be racist or otherwise make inappropriate comments without intervention from HR.

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5.0
Jul 3, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Air conditioning is awesome there

Cons

Working during busy season hurts

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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