Borders Reviews

Pros

Customers are friendly and passionate.

Cons

Benefits were poor, Stability of the company always a concern.

Pros

Good people to work with

Cons

Terribly mismanaged from the top down

Advice to Senior Management

Nothing to offer to a bankrupt company

Pros

Love of books, good employee discount, not too stressful, pay is fair for management positions

Cons

company failing, poor executive decisions, very high pressure to sell books you've never read and poor quality e-readers

Advice to Senior Management

its too late, too many poor decisions have doomed this company. better to end it now.

Pros

The people I've met, the places I've been, the knowledge that I've gained. I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.

Cons

The fact that we went out of business is a big downside. The lack of training was also another big downside.

Advice to Senior Management

Please remember to take the employees knowledge and experience into account. When we say that selling video games is bad, we know that from experience.

Pros

-decent discount, plus free borders rewards plus membership
-large variety of merchandise, employees got to check out books

Cons

- a lot of decisions that were made for the company were not beneficial to the company
- company spent way too much money on things in the end that werent even used
- lack of communication with corporate, upper management and with the stores

Advice to Senior Management

communication is key. Borders made a lot of decisions that did not help the company move forward. As a result, they are now going out of business.

Pros

Flexibility, pretty understanding of personal needs

Cons

not too many other stores see the "big picture" or think globally

Pros

The people ate Borders are top notch...something about this company attracts great people. This is the only reason I stayed with the company as long as I did.

Cons

The company has (or had) no strategy. Each week it changed, often before the previous strategy was in effect. Work activities conflicted directly with market research and resulted in extra man hours.

Advice to Senior Management

Ethnographic study of the store environment would work a lot better than the poorly-utilized CSI reports.

Pros

I always appreciated the health insurance for full timers and part timers. Also, I really like the co-worker and customers

Cons

The management turn over has created an incompetent staff, upper management that appreciates no feed back and policies that change from week to week with inefficient communication and little to no training.

Advice to Senior Management

Too late as we are in liquidation. I don't blame Edwards. The problems began before his tenure.. Too little too late. Future companies. take note. Provide a consistent shopping experience...value good staff, by communicating to them of what they contribute, and train them so they have good tools to do the best work if you value that. keep the focus positive and pay attention to what your company will be changing into in the next years and get out in front of it.

Pros

The books! And the customers were fantastic. I love being around people who enjoy reading as much as myself. I loved the atmosphere as well. The music was pretty alright. I thoroughly enjoyed hours! I still had time for a social life. I felt a strong sense of community as well. People looked out for each other. I had wanted to work for this company for quite some time. and when I was able to call myself a Borders employee I was really proud!

Cons

The pay. The lack of vacation. The instability. The inability to grow in company. The lack of training for managers. The list goes on. As awesome as it was to do work for the company, it was impossible to make any suggestions for change. And there is no checks and balance system for GM's. They can place anyone they wish in line for promotion with no regard for seniority or performance. The lack of recognition was a downer as well. You sweat blood for a company and they will ignore that and give you a review of things to improve.

Its was like finding out that my superhero was just a dude in a suit. That didn't like me that much.

Advice to Senior Management

Maybe listen to feedback? As a floor employee, we see how your great ideas play out on a regional and local basis. What works well in California doesn't necessarily apply to Idaho consumers.

Pros

The people you work with are amazing, there are a lot of opportunities to learn if you put in the effort, management is very accessible, the atmosphere and dress code are very casual, most people at the company truly care about the brand and therefore the work they are doing.

Cons

The company has fallen on hard times do to many poor decisions made by previous executives and a general industry decline, so stability no longer exists. Pay and benefits are below industry standards.

Advice to Senior Management

Put more focus on the website and e-readers as these are the future. Find more creative ways to bring customers into stores. Focus on marketing strategies that can drive traffic as opposed to simply increasing sales at the expense of margin.