Brinker Reviews

Pros

1. Balanced Scheduling, which is hard to find in the industry.
2. Committment to Quality of Life throughout the company.
3. Fair salaries.
4. Well-known concept, popular within the community.
5. They give back to the communities that they are in through donations, fundraisers, etc.

Cons

1. A slow down in growth has caused there to be very few opportunities in all departments.
2. Lack of continuity from store to store, region to region.
3. Lots of shifts in what is important, they have a tendency not to stick to their guns.
4. Very bottom line focused currently.
5. Poorly trained learning managers - no ongoing development.

Advice to Senior Management

1. More focus on creating top line sales.
2. Raises based on actual performance of the individual - everyone got the same raises last year!
3. Create better training programs and ongoing training for managers!! Soon!!

Pros

It was a great place to learn the fundamentals. At times the company was very organized and planned ahead. Some of the policies were strict and easy to follow.

Cons

Very little regard for amount of hours worked by salaried employees. I worked 100 hour weeks and was never given any additional time off.

When new standards or policies were introduced there were few tools available to institute them. One year Catering was made a critical component of our job but no catering training or supplies were offered.

 In the last few years of my employment they began making rash decisions with little forethought other than, "We must do this because our competitor is doing it."

Advice to Senior Management

Area Directors can be good or bad but Brinker had several poor Area Directors who were responsible for many of the better people leaving. These same Area Directors OFTEN broke the very rules they maintained (such as fraternization) and showed poor leadership. Who is managing the mid-managers?

Pros

Large company with good ideals. Service is a key component that drives every aspect of the industry

Cons

They don't reward there managers for a job well done but they expect the managers to reward the employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Concentrate on the positive feedback, Don't use scare tactics to drive managers.

Pros

Family life, holidays closed and Salary

Cons

When it comes down to it, Dallas does not take care of the managers that devote more time to them than their families. It used to be a situation where it was fun to go to work. It was awesome to work at Chili's. In the past 4 years it has turned from a place where you felt appreciated to a place you do not want to be. Bonuses used to be designed to reward their management but have now became a joke. They are not even 30% of what they used to be. Also if you get sick or go on medical leave they will try to find any reason to get you out the door.

Advice to Senior Management

Know what your area managers are doing