Ann Taylor Reviews

Pros

Great discount; nice clothes; nice people.

Cons

Training is weak; done in bits and pieces. If you don't know something that you weren't taught, management acts like it is your own fault rather than taking responsibility for overlooking training in that area. Management needs to be a little more humble and acknowledge when an empoyee says that training was inadequate. But instead, the employee is made to feel inadequate as if you should have instinctively known what was not taught or told. If an employee is doing something wrong it should be brought to the employee's attention immediately--not weeks or months later. When it is brought to your attention that something you have been doing from day one is not the most ideal way, it's a bit of a surprise. It would be nice to know this right away so as to make the change.

Sometimes members of management (this includes sales leads) are not as pleasant to the sales associates as they are the clients. It's a bit discouraging to walk through the door and hear a member of manangement pleasantly acknowledge a client and yet not extend the same pleasantness to you, the sales associate. Management needs to set the mood for its employees as well as for its clients.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate better with the sales associates and with fellow management. Be as pleasant with your sales associates as you are with the customers. Make the sales associates feel like you appreciate them, even if you don't.

Pros

The 50% off Discount is nice!!

Cons

Lack of communication
Senior Management does not respect anyone
Changes in promos every day
They care more about the bottom line than product quality and customer service.

Advice to Senior Management

Respect your staff!!! Don't run your store managers into the ground!!! Get it together!!! You should also consider health benefits like Starbucks!

Pros

Immerses you in many aspects of running a retail business, very supportive management team, close knit store-to-store leadership team, room for growth, great discount.

Cons

Long and strenuous hours (especially during Store Set execution), You always have to be on your toes with promotional/visual updates, the constant promotions have drastically reduced the integrity of the brand.

Advice to Senior Management

Make certain that you are always caught up with the ever changing rules and regulations of the company. Hang in there

Pros

You get a discount at Loft, Ann Taylor, & the Outlet stores - 50% off full priced merchandise and 20% off clearance merchandise.
The store is smaller than others I've worked in, so it can't get too messy.
The management team and my co-workers are all very nice and friendly. Management cares about you as a person, rather than a moneymaker.
Pay is above minimum wage!

Cons

The register system is confusing and antiquated compared to other places I've worked (Gap).
Everyone is expected to push credit, even on people who already have our card (they can convert to the Master Card which equals another "point" for our store).

Advice to Senior Management

Credit should be less of a focus. You do a great job respecting our availability and personal lives, so please respect us enough to do our job the way we want to - for some of us, that means not being forced to sell credit cards!

Pros

The pay is negotiable so get what you want if you think you are worth it.

Cons

Competence of upper management is embarrassing. Colorado district manager runs her team like a popularity contest. Your advancement within the company is purely based on where you rank on her list and really has nothing to do with your ability to show on paper what you have and can achieve.

Advice to Senior Management

It is important for a District manager to be able to separate emotions from business. Failure to admit that you have a store manager who is not capable of managing a store on all levels is the worst thing you could do for your company.

Pros

The discount is pretty decent

Cons

Working 4 hours a week.
Listening to gossip among management
Paying for managements mistakes (i.e they over hired now there isn't enough hours for workers)
Weeks I wasn't even on the schedule.
Making barely enough money to buy dinner.
Inexperienced management team.

Advice to Senior Management

Do better.

Pros

The associates are loyal and have a strong work ethic.

Cons

The turnaround in management has brought instability to the store, which has affected long time associates.

Advice to Senior Management

Management should value the people that are working for them and invest in them, it will ultimately benefit the store.

Pros

Ann Taylor is a reputable brand. The quality of the product is solid. The employees were fine to work with .

Cons

Upper management fails to do their job in developing their store managers. The district managers were not professional in many instances and often failed to fulfill their responsibilities.

Advice to Senior Management

Do what you say you are going to do. Hold your district managers accountable to doing their job and to leading their teams.

Pros

The discount is really good 50% off full price. Great job if you only want to work 2 days a week-otherwise, no hours.

Cons

Store management needs training on how to talk to people. Also needs traiing to respect other people's time and that this is a PT for most associates. Most have other jobs and are contributing members of society.

Advice to Senior Management

Store Management and DISTRICT Management is weak at best. Better training on how to talk to educated adults. Better training on time management. There also doesn't seem to be any direct line to the upper mgmt about client feedback. District Mgrs seem young and inexperienced. Good Mgmt starts from the top-down.

Pros

This is a decent place to work for individuals who do not shoulder the burden of their own expenses, management's only form of bonus is a discount on their own clothing. Their goal is to keep as much of the money as they possibly can and they don't bother to hide their motives very well at all.

Cons

There are barriers to advancement that border on illegal, for instance if you do not wear their clothing to work you are not considered for advancement regardless of your success or competency.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a good look at the core values that you preach so proudly and then look long and hard at your daily routines and ways of handling issues. I think you will find that they are diametrically opposed.