Borders Reviews

Pros

decent employee discount--33%
flexible schedule
decent work/life balance

Cons

clueless upper management
non-competitive compensation
bonus based on ridiculous targets
poor corporate communication
at one point in time advancement was a good possibility, but with the elimination of so many management positions in the past few years, career advancement is very unlikely

Advice to Senior Management

communicate more often and better with the field about key issues concerning the direction of the company.
stop hiring upper management that has no clue about the book industry.

Pros

Flexible scheduling and fairness amongst store level management. Great merchandise to work with and opportunities for creativity and variety. Atmosphere is unique with passion for reading.

Cons

Lack of vision and favoritism amongst middle management - i.e. inconsistent labor practices. Lack of support towards professional growth and development.

Advice to Senior Management

Communication and connection is broken down between upper levels of management and store level personnel. This issue existed much before recent financial troubles - and may even be a contributing factor.

Pros

A casual and fun environment. A great place to work if you love reading. Book discount, the people. Getting a chance to interact with many different readers

Cons

The pay. Corporate decision making. The company makes changes without listening to employees who actually work with the customers. The store I worked at was great but the serious disconnect with corporate kept us from reaching more customers.

Pros

Casual work environment with a great base of coworkers. You get a great discount and you are allowed a very flexible schedule.

Cons

They pay is really low without much room for bonuses and after all the store closings you can kiss your chances of advancing in the company goodbye.

Advice to Senior Management

Raise your pay rate or offer more bonus opportunity. You will never keep long term employees if you can barely pay your rent.

Pros

People employed there, management and staff
Customers who visit the store
Products to recommend, depth of iinvntory
Employee discounts and special offers

Cons

Limited advancement opportunities within the store
Bare minimum number of supervisors to run the store
Filed for bankruptcy and let employees go from 200 stores
No severence pay for long term employees who were let go

Advice to Senior Management

Quit reinventing the wheel
Change is good, but too many changes over too short a time is hazardous to business
especially senior management and CEOs at the top.

Pros

Even as recently as five years ago, Borders always had someone at the helm who listened to (and hired) good employees and managers, who in turn, also hired good store people and so on.

Cons

All executives point blame on other executives and no one is stepping up to take responsibility. Also, there are people with great work histories and good ideas that are ignored and dismissed.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to the people that have work experience and results, not just consultants. If the consultants find an expense to cut, question the data and demand a solution.

Pros

I loved working at Borders because I was able to work with many wonderful people, to help many appreciative customers find products to purchase, and most of all, to see all the new books come into the store.

Cons

Working at Borders, I found it very hard not to spend my paycheck on books, music, movies, coffee beans, and food.

Advice to Senior Management

Borders needs to get back to the basics of bookselling and concentrate on selling books and e-readers, not pens, home goods, etc. to customers in order to save the company.

Pros

The culture was art-centric, literature-centric, film-centric. Know-how in these areas was welcome and encouraged, and I had some of the best conversations with some of the best people I've met there--coworkers and customers alike. Plus, access to the books, music and movies was great; employees also had a book loan perk, so the store operated as a library for us.

Cons

Unfortunately, the company appears to be on its last legs, which is heartbreaking. In its heyday, the place was heaven. Otherwise, salary is abysmal unless you reach management, and even then it's, well, retail salary. Not great. But who works in a bookstore for the money?

Advice to Senior Management

The store management was too often put between a rock and an impossible place, trying to hold the store together while dealing with the conflicting directives sent down from the corporate office. Bad corporate decisions made store management difficult.

Advice: allow the store managers to manage the store in more than name. Allow them to make decisions for the store and to better represent the local community in inventory and events.

Pros

Decent discount. Diverse work environment ( I was able to keep in all my piercings and you can dress in your regular clothes. No lousy uniforms! ). Employees and managers were like family, and all hung out and did stuff together when off the clock. The customers were awesome as well, so many different types of people!

Cons

It was difficult getting someone to take a shift for you when something came up and you couldn't make it to work. Though, they did a good job understanding, they would still dislike when you called off your shift without finding a co-worker who could cover (Rightfully so! It's just hard when people are selfish and won't help you out and cover or switch shifts). Also, notes (about scheduling days off) left for managers in their mailboxes often times went unnoticed and you were forced to find people to cover for you, work that shift even when you couldn't, or call off and have co-workers/management in a tizzy because it was one less body on the floor and they had to try to call other co-workers in on their days off.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep hiring diverse people and keep the current dress code! It makes for a relaxed fun environment and people will always remember Borders for that. Try to pay attention to the notes you receive from your workers! I know it's hard to balance all the managerial duties, but it will keep the workers happy and more willing to come in on their days off if you need them. :)

Pros

Great evnironment
Fun to work around books, music, and movies
Great opportunity to help people

Cons

Low pay and late hours

Advice to Senior Management

Give more feedback about job performance