Banana Republic Reviews

Pros

50% off Banana Republic and Gap full priced merchandise
25% off Old Navy full priced merchandise
10% off all sale merchandise
Sometimes bigger discounts combined with seasonal sales

Cons

Getting up at 4 to do 6am shipments isn't so fun !
Also I only got about 10 hours a week due to budget constraints

Advice to Senior Management

Don't promise hours you cannot give!

Pros

The discount is one of the best.

Cons

There is no work/life balance. Hours are such that it is hard to balance having a family with a fulltime job.

Advice to Senior Management

Spend more time listening to your employees and actually focus on internal advancement. Also, spend more time actually developing your employees.

Pros

work life balance and health benefits

Cons

unfairness of assessment of one's performance and promotions & terminations.

Advice to Senior Management

promote social interaction among co workers to share ideas. bridge the gap between leadership and the employees

Pros

Great atmosphere, great bosses, great co-workers

Cons

crap pay, stressful on the weekends, understaffed

Advice to Senior Management

If you start giving raises maybe people will stop quitting every two weeks!

Pros

The people, the environment, and the benefits are quite good for retail

Cons

Sometimes you have to put in tough hours (early morning or late night) and have to get things done by deadlines

Pros

My store mangers were very fair, tried to work with everyone's preferred schedules, praised good work and made shift trades easy.

Cons

Not immune to the retail bane "clopen" shift.

Pros

Employee discount is really good.

Cons

Too much work for the pay.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop cutting hours and blaming associates when they can't do the work of two people.

Pros

The Managers are really nice, and actually help out all over the store, from painting to opening shipment at 4am to cashiering. All of the employees were nice, with a variety of races and backgrounds. If you ask for time off like a month in advance, you'll get it. Has a really nice atmosphere, unlike some big retail stores.

Cons

I found out that people in my job position usually get hired at $8.25 - $8.50 an hour, but I was only hired at $8.00 an hour. No chance of ever being promoted, even if you work there for years. They only hired Managers from outside the store. My store went without a Manager in charge of the Non-Sell Team for months, and even though my Supervisor did both her job and the empty position's job, and had been with the store for three years, she was passed over and the job was given to someone from outside the store. That new Manager only lasted like 4 months. When I saw that happen, I knew I would never be able to work my way up the ladder at that store. My Supervisor left the store after this, and so did I.

Advice to Senior Management

Look inside your store for great talent, or it will leave for another company.

Pros

Work life balance and friendly people. Access to a wealth of resources to do your job and the support to get you to the next level.

Cons

Managers are not trained to develop talent or how to use the variety of resource provided.

Advice to Senior Management

Create a solid training program for store managers that helps them to not only learn to work through their people, but to also develop high potential associates into managers. A solid succession plan based on truly developed and trained staff will lead to engaged and committed employees.

Pros

50% off BR, old navy, gap, and piperline
ability to work early mornings and weekends

Cons

Studying for school was not recognized as a reason not to work