The reality of the position:
*Not enough time given to properly style clients to the clients satisfaction or specifications. You are only given 13 mins. max. It may be even less now since I was an employee. They are consistently cutting style time for the stylists & there are penalties for not keeping w/in the time frame. Mixed signals; they push using an algorithm & tools that are supposed to help the stylist speed their time but tends to make Fixes generic & very similar no matter the client (yet they press that the Fix is supposed to be personalized & individual to each client). Clients have an entire, detailed profile that they often alter w/each scheduled Fix. Repeat clients have an entire history of comments & detailed feedback that they expect to be followed. Its impossible to read & then execute on that feedback in the time allotted for a Fix. Clients often have very specific requests & style guidelines & when things are missed, they perceive it as the Stylist ignoring their requests & become frustrated. They then rate the Stylist poorly & leave negative feedback which becomes very demoralizing over time to the Stylist & Stitch Fix penalizes the Stylist for it. In addition to styling, you are also expected to write a detailed, personalized note to the client following & touching on specific, required points on the items being sent. All w/in 13 mins. There is simply no way to curate a custom, personalized, client specific Fix EVERY TIME in the time you are given. There are other reasons for this besides time constraints. Read further.
*Lack of variety & inventory. A client will often want something that SF has advertised on social media or in other marketing campaigns & the items will not be in stock or available which frustrates clients to the extreme. Again, this translates to the client as their Stylist ignoring their requests which isn't the case. The Stylist hasn't the time to search in detail for specific, tailored requests & is often forced to send an item they know their client won't like because there is no inventory. An example: this past Spring/Summer every client requested an off/cold shoulder top. 9 out of 10 times there would be none in inventory to send. There is no way to specifically search for these types of on trend styles forcing the Stylist to dig, mostly only being able to narrow the search by color/sleeve length (which still doesn't consistently or accurately pull available items up) in the system, which eats quickly into the 13 mins given to style the client. This occurred with the simplest of client requests such as cut off denim shorts or capri pants to the more complicated ones such as wedding appropriate dresses in a certain style or color. This leads to a generic Fix that doesn't feel personal to the client (& it isn't) where the Stylist is left with no choice but to send what's available in inventory knowing its not to their clients taste but having no other option. Because Stitch Fix doesn't like for you to tell clients that there is a lack of inventory, you are often left making excuses that are untruthful, trite & frustrating, especially with repeat clients. There are only so many ways to tell a client that their size or requested style of top, jeans, pants aren't available.
*Quality vs. price. The clothing is expensive, period. Yes, the clients are paying for a service which explains the added cost to an extent but the quality is lacking. The quality is very similar, in many cases, to what you would find at Target, WalMart, Forever 21, etc. yet the client is paying a premium price for it, comparable to a Nordstrom or Dillards, etc. Clients constantly complain that items are cheaply made, are of poor fabric & construction & come to them damaged w/stains, holes, missing buttons or broken zippers, etc. Because the client often thinks the Stylist is physically, hand picking these items for them, they are frustrated & confused as to why items lacking quality are being sent to them. Again, this all falls on the Stylist & results in poor ratings from the client which Stitch Fix penalizes for. I can't count the times I sent a client items based on their specified budget & received feedback that they could buy the same style/quality top at Target for $10 vs. the $40 SF was charging & were upset because there was a hole or some other quality issue with their items. SF is good about trying to rectify this for the client BUT it is the stylist who is required to write a report & submit it to customer care, all within their limited time frame. Considering this occurs multiple times on a daily basis, again, this not only eats into your time as a Stylist but reflects poorly in your Stylist stats & ratings.
*Low pay
*Lack of support from Lead. In my situation, my Lead was very nice but she was overworked & stretched too thin to give any true support. If you had an urgent, time sensitive question or situation, this often went unanswered. Even basic email communication was sporadic. You are on your own after the initial training & this can be very stressful in the initial set up & learning process.
*Ambiguous communication/explanation regarding your stats with high performance expectations. You mostly have no idea why your numbers are high or low. Unless you are a horrible Stylist, which is highly unlikely if you make the cut, these numbers, whether high or low have little to do with your actual abilities to follow direction or style a client. Much of the time this seems a result of low client ratings & purchasing which for the reasons discussed above, you often have very little control to change. Yet, you are held accountable & constantly asked to explain them, especially if they are low. When getting feedback, a tiny detail you may have missed in a client profile is pointed out & picked apart as a contributing reason to low stats or ratings. Often this "missed detail" is a result of not having the item in inventory or it not being in the clients size or price specifications to be able to send to them. Often these details are buried in past profile comments & history which are extensive with repeat clients so of course, details will be missed in the 13 mins. you have to style. For example: you have a client who specifies they ONLY like boot cut jeans/pants. They don't like skirts, dresses or shorts. There are no bootcut jeans/pants to send them in their size & inseam. They give you a poor review & are upset. Your Lead uses this review as a talking item in your next meeting & asks you what you should have done differently, why didn't you send them bootcut jeans. This happened constantly & becomes frustrating, counter productive & repetitive with no real solutions offered.
Conclusion:
The Stylist position, in theory, sounds amazing & they sell it well. Getting to work from home is great. The reality is that its an underpaid position for what you are expected to do & much more stressful than it initially seems. You often end up putting more time into the position than what you are compensated for. The Stylists, as I see it, are the backbone of the company. We are on the frontlines with the customer & although there is a lot of perceived support initially from the company, as you get into the position, the expectations & pressure are overwhelming for the pay & you feel unheard. You have no control over your stats & are given little insight into how they are derived which is frustrating as you are constantly asked how you think you can improve them. Client complaints are constant & take a toll on the Stylist, especially as you realize how powerless you are to control or improve their experience as much of it is based on their false perception of what their Stylist is able to achieve for them. You are constantly asked to discuss & explain low stats & customer ratings which after awhile, gets repetitive, frustrating & counter productive as you begin to see the same patterns causing them which are beyond your control. There is a forced sense of positivity in the company culture which leaves you feeling as if you can't be honest about your concerns or frustrations without being perceived as a complainer or unwilling to look to yourself for solutions & performance improvements.
