Benefits are constantly decreasing as the company opens new stores-- holidays have shrunk, from 10 when I first started 5 years ago to 7 per year. Sick time was recently reduced, and quarterly bonuses keep shrinking, while health insurance increases. In recent years, corporate has put a hiring freeze on full-time positions in lieu of hiring two part timers instead
If you're full-time, your schedule changes constantly, but if you're part-time, your schedule stays the same every week...seems a bit backwards to me. Upper management is largely absent (I've worked at several stores now, it's always the same), and leave most of the day-to-day functions to shift leaders, who are constantly struggling to juggle multiple roles. Since upper management is aloof, it's not uncommon for a shift leader to tell you one thing, while another shift leader or the assistant manager tell you the opposite of that in the same day. Upper management spends most of the day in the office doing who knows what. In recent years, even the small perks have gotten more and more watered down-- for example, you once used to be able to use your discount for friends, but now you can only use it for direct family. The corporate culture claims that they are open and honest, but upper management feels impenetrable. Stores are often understaffed, which leads to conflict and meltdowns among staff on the weekends. Store culture is very cliquey and if you don't fit into the clique, you might as well not exist-- on many occasions, shift leaders will gossip with their buddies for hours, often at the buy counter, in plain view/earshot of customers, while the less liked employees get assigned all the solo, harder tasks elsewhere in the store like shelving books or running the register solo. Management is also extremely lax and allows longtime favorites to slack off-; I've had many moments where I was running around the store on a busy weekend, helping out customers and putting out fires, while people in the backroom were texting or goofing off. This kind of culture makes the hardest working, most productive employees feel unwanted and unappreciated.
