I have worked for the company for almost 5 years and decided to part ways because upper management does not value good workers. They treat staff as though everyone is replaceable, regardless of efforts or success in completing tasks.
The Sr. ASM role is one level below store manager, so it is to be expected that there is a lot of responsibility, however, DM’s do not hold store managers accountable (at least in my district) so you end up doing more work than the store manager while getting paid much less.
The pay bands are unreasonable, especially for sales associates. The freight position is typically an overnight position but they still get paid the same as floor sales associates.
The DM acts like a robot, per se, and shows no sympathy or support for their other managers besides store manager. Lastly, since the DM consistently has their store manager’s back (which is fine), the store manager is also never held accountable - mostly sits in the office as though it were a desk job rather than retail, pawns off tasks on the rest of the management staff as they say they have more important things to do, and hasn’t had a single developmental conversation with me to help me improve upon my leadership skills.
The HR department is very difficult to deal with and rarely allows the retail team to hold employees accountable for call outs or misconduct, without questioning the manager attempting to initiate the corrective action. This results in the team thinking it’s okay to call out without coverage, or not show up at all.
Finally, the staff I have worked with both previously and presently are often very young (typically 18-20) meaning there is constantly drama and rumors which makes the environment very toxic and difficult to work in. I have worked at 4 different stores, all of which were the same situation.
UA is a very operationally focused company that puts more value in processing freight efficiently instead of stressing importance of the wellbeing of teammates.
I have no bad blood with this company, and I did enjoy working at UA initially but unfortunately, things change, policies change, and I just don’t see the need to give 110% effort to a place that considers you easily replaceable.
