Trust is an Issue - Operations Manager PetSmart Employee Review

2.0
Mar 8, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Positive relationships with staff - Love of pets - There is a strong commitment to care for the pets in the store and customer's pets.

Cons

What finally convinced me to leave was that a Canadian Vice President placed a secret ban on internal salaried manager promotions that lasted a year while at the same time, Human Resources kept insisting that it wanted to develop talent from within. It was very embarrassing for Petsmart in Canada when this came out. The company did start to open up the promotions process after that experience but a lot of trust had disappeared in the meantime.

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5.0
May 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fun, welcoming, easy, flexible, growth

Cons

Weekends, slow, customers, busy, fast pace

1.0
Jun 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company pushes for more and more from the bottom level employees without better pay. I worked there before the restructuring and; not much can make me cry, but working here sure did, even back then. I can’t imagine how anxiety inducing it must be to work there now. Animal welfare is a complete non-concern. The only thing that’s pushed is sell, sell, sell. It’s borderline dystopian. Bad management seems to be a common issue, not only from my experience, but many others’ as well. I worked until I was an exhausted sweaty mess to make sure everything in pet care or, when I groomed, the salon, was cleaned to perfection as expected of me (and I reiterate: “me,” because these standards were not expected of my co-workers, just me) and overall felt very unseen. The only times I did feel “seen,” was when mistakes were made. Work was treated like boot camp. A co-worker that was subtley targeting/bullying me, and even started rumors accusing me of racist remarks(!!!), was promoted and anything I reported was downplayed because they were friends with the assistant manager. Working here was an overall traumatizing experience.

Cons

Employees are expected to be work-robots

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PetSmart Response
2w
We’re disappointed to hear that your experience didn’t reflect what we aim to create for our associates, and we appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. We invite you to contact the CareSmart line at 1-800-738-4693 so we can learn more and see how we can support you. Thank you.
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