Blinds to Go Reviews

Pros

The environment created by the managers made it comfortable to work. It was always a place that made me really feel like I was in a professional environment and that I made a thoughtful career decision.

Cons

The customers were not always patient which made it hard to solve the issue at hand. When the store was busy and there was not enough people scheduled to work that day it was challenging.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more hands on with everyone and less patient. Push people harder to grow to show that growth can happen.

Pros

-great benefits package

-they send you away for a week of training

-okay pay

-you work with interesting people who are all recent college grads

-great work experience

Cons

-work balanced life is horrible don't expect weekends off or personal time off ever

-you work 10 hour shifts and you are expected to be available in any store which me long commutes which could leave you working 12 to 14 hour shifts which is illegal but you cannot make a commitment you're labeled as a immature worker.

-Stand on your feet all day and will be yelled at if you ever sit-down

-some days are so busy that don't get lunch breaks

-feedback is unprofessional tasteless attacks attacks on your employees

-management lies constantly to employees and customers

-constantly recruiting employees because they cannot keep their current employees motivated to stay with the company very

Advice to Senior Management

Stop overworking employees with 50 hour work weeks. You are killing your employees motivation to stay with your company. There's more to life than just to work for Blinds to go. Your employees need time for their family and loved ones. Feedback also needs to be more positive it's sad that employees only get positive feedback from their customers and not their coworkers.

Management needs to STOP posting only positive reviews on this website. This is feedback from your employees if you want to fix your companies turnover problem then used negative feedback and fix your companies culture.

Pros

feedback is so Important and it kept me on track for growth within the company. There are so many things I did not know where important in being a leader that blinds to go taught
me. I also consider them my second family.

Cons

not enough staff can make the days long

Pros

-You learn about yourself through the feedback you receive. However most of the feedback is negative. As they say though, what doesn't kill you (or cause you to kill yourself) makes you stronger. Though sometimes painful to hear, some of this feedback will be useful in the future.
- You have the opportunity to get to work with some great people.

Cons

-Almost everybody in this company started out in sales, and are therefore well versed in the art of misrepresentation. Never take anything management tells you at face value, especially in the interview.
-They spend alot of time and effort recruiting because they cannot hold on to staff. They go to great lengths to draw potential employees in, including coming on sites like these to put in fake positive reviews to balance out all the real negative ones. You can tell a manager has written them when their only con is that you are expected to work hard, or work weekends/long hours.
- Your earning potential will be nowhere near what they tell you it is. The top sales person in the province will probably make $32000
-promotions to management are extremely rare. They don't open new locations, and they don't replace managers who leave. Many stores are without managers. Why pay someone the salary of a manager, when you can get ambitious people to do the same work for close to minimum wage.
- You will grow to dread the weekends, especially saturday.
-The days are long and you have to clean toilets.
- Though feedback is a good idea, people aren't taught how to approach this properly. Some people will take this opportunity to bully other people and call it "feedback"

Advice to Senior Management

You need to find a way to hold on to staff. Having a company run by a bunch of new people is costing you a fortune in training, mistakes made, and customers being lost due to inexperienced staff. Stop testing your employees commitment to the company by constantly trying to find ways to get more out of them for less. You wouldn't have to spend so much time, effort and money on recruitment if you just treated them half decent, and acknowledged they all have lives outside of Blinds to Go. As well, being misleadind during the recruitment process, just means that you won't beable to hold on to the people you do recruit for very long.

Pros

Good career growth, meeting people

Cons

intense competition, a lot of standing hours.
30 minutes break

Advice to Senior Management

favoritism should be avoided

Pros

Great learning place for someone who is just starting their career.

Cons

Long hours. most workdays are 10-11 hours

Advice to Senior Management

n/a

Pros

-Phenomenal benefits, health dental and a 401 K. Most American companies don't contribute nearly as much as Blinds To Go
-Corporate is very reachable, and now many of the lower men on the totem pole.
-Mandatory Christmas vacation, known as "Family Leave"
-You will learn a great deal about your own capabilities, a great stepping stone
-Paid training and board at a pretty nice hotel
-Really nice company parties and get togethers
-Many upbeat people on board

Cons

-You are expected to change fundamentally or you'll be let go
-There is no such thing as a sick day. They give you three all year and frown upon using them
-They expect you to travel in dire states of emergencies, like blizzards accumulating 28 inches and serious hurricanes where you will have to be alone and in the dark without power or safety. True stories, both of those.
-They only have a certain number of slots, so they will make excuses to keep giving you more responsibilities and not promote you.
-the only sales job where having very high sales will not give job security
-"Feedback" is negative, and not professional constructive criticism, but tactless attacks on personal character
-Management, despite saying they are, are never open to feedback from their teams
-You can be expected to travel up to 90 miles without reimbursement
-You'll spend 50 hours a week with the same 3 people, but will be chastised for forming close bonds with them
-Average career is about 18 months
-By upper management's own admission only "1%" of all people fit the mold and you "have to learn to play the game right"
-Earning potential is waaaaaay lower than they say. Whatever number they give, subtract about $7,000 a year off of it
-Days are 10 hours long on your feet. No breaks usually unless you work in a busier store. And even then you get 30 minutes for a 10 hour day, which is actually illegal, but what they expect.
-No such thing as a Saturday off, Sundays occasionally if you are very very lucky.
-Impossible to have a family with this job, they expect any moment when you're not at work to be thinking about work.
-Expect you to drive 100 plus miles to conferences on your day off with absolutely no reimbursement.
-Most people working their are straight out of college, and burn out very quickly

Advice to Senior Management

Give your people longer breaks
Give actual constructive criticism
Reward people based on hard numbers not on who you like better
Re-imburse people for far travels or traveling on days off for work related functions
If there is no power in the businesses for miles, it might be time to close for the day
Encourage comraderie and hard work

Pros

My team as well as senior leadership is interested in my personal growth. The business is always forward looking and after continuous improvement. A company the really believes in treating their customers right to increase loyalty.

Cons

Managers that recruit need to hire more staff so that the store is not short staffed. This could be very frustrating both to existing staff and existing as well as potential customers.

Advice to Senior Management

allow employees to take their vacation whenever they want.

Pros

Blinds To Go has taught me how take things in my hands. That I can drive it to the limit I want. Taught me that my growth is dependent on me. That growth is based on merit and not seniority.
BTG taught me the importance of listening to others and to take tough decisions when needed.
When I was assigned to start a new team I was so proud that they had faith in my desire to make a difference.
in our stores you experience:
Diverse team environment
A team work environment
personal and professional development
Continuous feed back
Fun atmosphere
.........

Cons

sometimes having to deal with customer service issues. However, this is the same everywhere in the retail industry.

Pros

Everyone has a shot at growing with the company, only your hard work and focus determine your growth rate and how far you can go.

Cons

It's hard to balance between work and personal life, especially when you have a familly, as the work requires to invest a lot of time.

Advice to Senior Management

Find a better balance between work and personal life, be more flexible with scheduling, that could result inretaining more good employees who otherwise end up leaving as they can no longer meet the availability requirements.