Design Within Reach Reviews

Pros

Great Employee Discounts. Some very nice people

Cons

People who run this company have no idea what they are doing. Upper mgmt has, for the most part, never had any high level positions at other retail companies and therefore, have no inkling of how a company is supposed to do business. Additionally, the VP's who run the company (except for the CEO) are simply not qualified . Too young and inexperienced. This inexperience and youth led to an unprofessional work environment. Execs are simply too ignorant to know that they are handling things badly or talking to someone inappropriately. Turnover is very high there, mostly due to these reasons stated. Cronyism is a huge issue. All the higher ups have given jobs to their partners, nieces, wives, friends etc. It has not gone un-noticed that all these friends and relatives survived all the lay-offs, while other more qualified people were let go.

Advice to Senior Management

Execs should not be allowed to get their boyfriends etc jobs. Execs should take some classes on how to speak to people and how to conduct themselves in a way that is professional and ethical.

Pros

Great place to learn about american mid-century design. Great working with and educating, and exposing the local Community about modern design.

Cons

In my particular location there was an extremely high turnover rate in the management position. Upper management has no foresight and thus is forced to deal with issues in a reactionary way. Upper management treats the acct. execs. with no respect - resorting to threats of termination to raise sales rather than provide any concrete support. The amount of sales promotions increased from 2 major sales promotions per year to more than 5 per month.

Advice to Senior Management

Since there is a lack of true leadership at Design Within Reach -- there is no advice that would be accepted. No sense in throwing pearls before swine.

Pros

Fantastic product, & employee purchase discount. Studio staff are some of the brightest, most hardworking, underappreciated people in retail.

Cons

The micromanaging by senior management makes Design Within Reach a very stressful place to work. Decisions regarding promotions, studio openings are not well thought out. Cronyism is an issue at HQ. The antiquated ordering system means that the sales staff spends most of their time doing damage control on preventable issues. Because the studio staff is paid a commission on sales and online sales are more profitable, the company has no incentive to support the studios, and it shows. The commission structure creates animosity among coworkers in individual studios.

Advice to Senior Management

Important positions should be awarded to qualified individuals rather than friends and aquaintances. The company needs to stop making a profit off of the exorbitant shipping fees in order to stay competitive. Management could benefit from the input of the people working their front lines in the studios.

Pros

Employee discount on furniture and access to design information and resources.

Cons

Intense competition for commissions leads to underhanded behavior among floor staff. Company pursues illogical patterns in opening new stores very close to one another - this is furniture, not Starbucks. Workers at corporate offices need a class in polite and effective communication - they'd rather intimidate than work with and help the people who ultimately pay their salaries (the Studio Account Execs).

Advice to Senior Management

Require a psychological profile for all new employees to weed out those prone to lies, deceit, and histrionics. Fire the CEO and move the offices from San Fran to Chicago where they might be able to learn a few things from Crate and Barrel.

Pros

Decent discount on furniture. The people below executive management are competent, hard working, and passionate about design.

Cons

The executive team consists of 5 people who all have different ideas about how the company should be run and treat their employees like temps. There is no direction and Ray Brunner is more concerned with appearing right, than being right. There is a joke about Ray that goes, "He doesn't change his mind. He changes history."

Advice to Senior Management

The housing boom is over. There are not enough millionaires with the modern aesthetic to sustain $200mil a year in sales. Cut studios and focus on what you know.

Pros

Hip environment, some cool people

Cons

Lack of respect shown by senior management; lack of resources

Advice to Senior Management

Treat employees better, cut down on frivolous expenditures, cut down on inefficient senior management, now is not a good time to launch a new brand.

Pros

There are some very interesting folks at DWR and an opportunity to get exposed to the design community.

Cons

There seems to be no corporate strategy. Steps are not taken to examine issues and make correct decisions for the long-term. Since the founder, Rob Forbes, left some time ago, there has been a vacuum around strategy and vision.
Since going public, there has been a high-churn rate within the company. There is not a sense or synergy between the existing multi channel markets, but more of a provincialism. The current economic situation will probably impact the business more than it did during the bubble collapse of 2000 due to the existence or many more competitors now.
The way that projects are prioritized is based more on guesswork rather than any strategy.

Advice to Senior Management

Fix what is not working instead of plowing forward with the existing, "do this or heads will roll" strategy.