Pros
Overall, the best thing about working here has been my co-workers (anyone under stock supervisor level).
Cons
The pay - recently, the company rolled out a new policy to raise their personal minimum wage to $9/hour. There was a big hype and the managers really got everyone excited about it. After the policy takes effect, the employees are given the whole story: you are given the new hourly rate ONLY if you have either been working for the company for more than six months or if you are hired after the date that the policy took effect. It is a pretty well-known notion in the Gap Outlet community that the average employment of a sales associate is 3 months. Those of us who lasted longer than that, but have yet to reach the 6 month mark, are left making 8.50/hour for as long as five months. Maybe this isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but when hours are cut - it makes a difference. The Gap Outlet/ Gap Factory that I work at is almost unbelievably mismanaged. The managers, with the exception of our head of store, have an attitude that they are untouchable and indispensable and therefore cannot be bothered with the lowly sales associate problems or needs because they know there will be no reprimanding or correcting them. The stock supervisors are made to believe they are, in fact, managers themselves and can act and humiliate lower associates accordingly. Breaks are also an issue. One manager in particular seems to have immense difficulty giving breaks. I have never worked with her when there was not an issue with someone's break. She consistently lets people violate policy simply because she only wants to give a 15 or give a break late so she can coerce (read: force) employees to stay late. She let an entire closing team violate because she did not want to give the federally required 30 minute breaks. Lastly, hours are a huge issue - especially right now, when we have the awkward period between summer and the holiday season where we wait for business to pick back up. It is 100% understandable that this is a slow time in any retail environment and thus, hours are inevitably going to be cut. The issue arises when hours are not cut equally. When we have employees that are cut down to one or two days a week and employees (not managers!) that are still working 35-40+ hours during this 'slow time', we have a problem. When a manager is allowed to request that a specific employee work every shift (or as many as their availability allows for) with them, regardless of how many hours we are over our allowance - which is typically 100+ due to the demands of the store - and regardless of how many hours over 35 that gives the employee, something is wrong. When that request is obliged, it is unjust. It is almost like they schedule the hardest working people the least amount of hours because they know we will get the same amount of work done (because they don't give us a choice) in less time and they don't have to pay us to work more. At least, that's the way it is in our store. TL/DR - As my employment with Gap comes to an end in the next few weeks, my advice is this: avoid this sinking ship like the plague, the company as a whole is suffering right now. If you want hours, work here seasonally and only during the holiday season or summer.
