Pros

The people who work at penneys are very nice, and are usually willing to help out a new employee. The 20% off employee discount was always nice to have, especially during their 60 and 70% off clearance sales. The senior management sometimes were helpful, but usually had needless tasks to complete and were usually never around, which made it necessary for sales associates to make executive decisions. Because of these decisions, it appeared that the management did trust us, but unless you had the appearance of a yes-man, your privileges were very small. Employee moral was once deemed too low at the store because of this reason.

Cons

From what I can see, this small text box will not be able to fit all the downsides about penneys. Their (then) new "going back to basics" seemed to insult the intelligence of the worker rather than make it easier. Explaining the pricing of the clearance and sales seemed to never end. The fine print on those signs were a little too fine. This particular store went through a store manager transition when I started, and it just settled down about 3 months ago (two months after I had quit). It took almost a year for anything to get accomplished other than ridiculous policies and never-ending meetings about new training. The manager who approved time-off never seemed to get the memo about the TO until it had been pushed out of the system. The new manager re-organized the whole managerial system and did a poor job doing so. Their lack of understanding of how that particular store worked went against them in a serious way. Sometimes, it seemed like the store actually ran better without a store manager during that month period.

Advice to Senior Management

Although you probably worked on the floor a long time ago, don't think that the customers are the same today as they were then. Customers aren't the best people to work with sometimes. The only thing that makes it bearable are the fellow employees, and even they are leaving because of ridiculous policies and poor management. Just because someone has that "leadership" mentality doesn't mean they will make the best leader. Picking a manager based on how good of friends they are to other managers isn't the best way to do much of anything. All things should be considered when hiring a manager-- work record, work life, how well they get along with other employees, home life-- all of it.

By being out-of-touch with those who actually work the floor, you make our jobs more difficult and more stressful. You put Penneys as a fun place to work, and show nothing of the sort. Your constant push for I-CAPs really make it seem like you don't even care about how the quality of our service is, but if we asked about their penneys card. One reason I left was because of this. Your constant badgering about I-CAPs, and even when I did get them, I received no recognition for it. It's frustrating working your butt off for no recognition or reward.