Von Maur reviews

2.8

35% would recommend to a friend

(1,455 total reviews)
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James D. von Maur

37% approve of CEO

34% positive business outlook

Von Maur has an employee rating of 2.8 out of 5 stars, based on 1,455 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Von Maur employee rating is 21% below average for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
1.0
Apr 4, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Off on major holidays, no "holiday hours". Enjoyable customers.

Cons

Females MUST wear pantyhose, skirts & dresses. Males must wear suit and tie. Salary isn't bad for Sales Associates. In smaller stores where foot traffic is minimal, it may be difficult to attain sales goal (which can lead to dismissal) and low commission in some departments. You won't find VM's management style in ANY university course, its a style that they have developed. For people who have a business degree, it's mind boggling!. Most department mgr.s and floor mgr.s are VERY young & inexperienced, not only in business, but in life /people skills. This works for VM because they easily drink the Kool-Aid. Their security and upper management watch employees on selling floor from cameras while customers walk away with the store. You are always afraid that you will do something that mgt. doesn't like, which can be anything. Sometimes it's brought to your attention, if it's not, it's saved for future misconduct reprimands.

1.0
Mar 24, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great pay for retail. Holidays Closed. Relocation Advancement. Sale Merchandise.

Cons

Those who drink the "Kool Aid", many of which are Upper Management, will stand behind any company policy procedure no matter how unethical or immoral. They are robots with heels. Saddest people in the world. When the company needs to clean house, they often let people go with out adequate reasoning or proof of factual events. This includes Associates, Department Managers and even Floor Managers at times. Everything is subjective. Highest turnover of any company I have ever worked for. Five Department Managers left in a two week time period voluntarily to work for competitors.....think about that. Really think about what that says about a company when they have twenty something Department Managers in one location. Floor Managers are expected to have no personality. They, along with Store Management, will tell Department Managers, "What are you going to do" when issues arise in which Department Management have no control. Department Managers are nothing more than glorified Sales Associates. They do no hire any employees but are expected to handle some of the most unprofessional and stressful coworkers I have ever worked with in my life. When Upper Management hires plenty of lackluster people, it is the Department Managers job to "mold" them into great sales leaders. How is this possible when all Department Manager input is overlooked, unheard and unappreciated? Answer: They don't care about you. Never have and never will. Upper Management will dig for information for you. They love those who nark on others since it provides reason for the company to lighten their overall work force by means of "discovered" information. Loss Prevention is always watching Associates and searching stock rooms weekly. This is an attempt to find problems with workers considering all is well when the workforce is a little lighter than before. Policies that date from 1872 include: -Outdated technology that is always breaking -Sexist clothing for woman -Men are not allowed into fitting rooms in fear that it may offend female shoppers (Less than five percent all of Floor Manager and Store Manager roles are held by men....very ironic if you put some thought into it considering it is retail) -Customer is always right and the employees are always wrong mentality -Upper management never second guesses their actions but are first to judge anyone else The company has recently opened two stores in the Metro Atlanta Area. Reverse discrimination is apparent in both locations. Many selected employees who have had valid customer complaints are still put on a pedestal and their faults have been overlooked. This has happened several times over the course of a few months. Numerous customers observe the ever increasing amount of diversity and communicate it to Associates and Department Managers directly. Executive Management continues to overlook this disturbing trend. Stores are understaffed intentionally. Plenty of call outs daily, leaving other Associates to cover areas left empty by feed up employees who call out (Can you blame them?)

5.0
Mar 19, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

For a retail job, this is top of the line. You get all holidays off and even get paid for them after one year on the job. Their hours are normal 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with no crazy early or late hours. I love that Tess auto schedules three weeks ahead of time. That way you have time ahead to trade days with co-workers if something comes up. You don't get last minute phone calls to fill in shifts, because they post unfilled shifts on a bulletin board. If you pick up another shift, you get paid over-time if you go over 80 hours in two weeks. The store is uncluttered, open and airy, you can see the whole floor at a glance, restrooms are huge, clean and elegant. You get to put out your own new merchandise in your own department. Training is one whole week, with a couple days on the floor working with your department manager, before they throw you out there on your own. Commission is awesome, but it can get a little competitive. For the most part, everyone is taught to work as a team. Upper Management has been very responsive and has an open door policy. If there are ever any department manager or co-worker disputes, Store Mgr. and HR Mgr. call meetings with Floor Mgr. and Dept. Mgr. until they are resolved. Even though upper management are mostly young college graduates and they do promote fairly quickly, all managers have worked on the floor and know what has worked for them. If you want an office job where you have weekends off, and you want a more flexible schedule, this may not be your cup of tea, but for a retail establishment, I appreciate the higher standards and higher dress code. This is a boutique kind of store, many of the customers do purchase higher end merchandise, and you get to develop a closer relationship with your customers as you have time to actually show them merchandise out on the floor and get other sizes for them in the fitting room. I've found that the more you communicate with upper management, and your team of co-workers and dept. manager, the better off you are. I love, love, love our customers! They are so much fun! Having worked at another retail establishment for 3 years where I never was able to get a full-time job, I am pleased as punch to have been at Von Maur full-time for the past 8 months. I would have been here 3 years ago if only I'd known what a great place to work this is!

Cons

When upper management trains what they call "the Von Maur way," department managers can be slow to catch on to the new methods of training. Sometimes department managers can be territorial, and micro-manage your whole day, when they could be more responsive to encouraging you to follow the new methods of training. New managers are in touch with upper management in the company, and they seem very responsive to new employees, to new methods of suggestive selling, and are very fair to new employees who come in off the street and have worked in other types of retail establishments. Sometimes department managers have a hard time being flexible and listening to upper management.

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