Belk – “Belk”

Pros

Management is fairly flexible in regards to associate work schedules. There are many college students and people who have other full time positions that work as sales associates along with a few full time people.
The company uses a pay for performance plan that allows associates to receive raises based upon their sales and credit goals which are easily attainable.
The company as a whole is financially strong and has continued to grow.

Cons

This position has many job duties, which include providing customer service, running the register, maintaining the department, putting out and merchandising new merchandise, promoting national events, semi-annual inventories, and other tasks as they arise. Unfortunately, there is seldom enough employees to handle these tasks. Many times, the work load can become overwhelming. You have to learn to balance customer service along with projects that you are completing. Also, many employees will waste time while a few carry out the majority of tasks.
Evaluations also include customer service satisfaction which is based on the store as a whole. As such, employees that work hard and consistently receive great customer service ratings receive the same score as someone who simply does as little as possible.
Opportunities for advancement are limited and most often are time consuming and difficult to pursue.
Training is limited and barely prepares employees for the job.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide ASMs with enough available hours to accomplish assigned tasks.