Gymboree Reviews

Pros

Great customers...especially the "little" shoppers! It is very rewarding to be able to help them coordinate pieces to create a wardrobe that will last for years to come!

Cons

Sales Associates only allowed a "3hr" shift normally because payroll is very limited! Most end up leaving because it just doesnt pay for them to ride for 3hrs making min wage!
Allocation problems creating added stress to the team!

Advice to Senior Management

Need to find ways to be a more attractive company to work for! Look at payroll......most stores need to have a full-time SM & full-time ASM!

Pros

Easy to move up to part time manager.
Fun to work with kids.
Good first job.

Cons

On call shifts, called an hour before shift to see if I was needed (I never was).
Worked about 23 hours over 3 months and never felt fully trained.
Unrealistic sales goals.
Expected to know products and sell them when there is a new line of clothing every week.
Had no hours for months before they finally let me go.
Wouldn't give me a letter of recommendation for studying abroad when I was let go because I hadn't worked there enough.

Advice to Senior Management

Make sure employees aren't feeling unappreciated and realize that the sales goals and expectations for amazing customer service are unrealistic.

Pros

Good compensation, Good medical benefits (as of 2011, changes in 2012 made it less desirable), Brand recognition and company reputation

Cons

60 hour work weeks for managers on salary, no work/life balance whatsoever, same day receiving of shipment/floorsets with no prep time, slow responses from home office in all departments, vague marketing direction, overabundance of stock despite doing a capacity survey and admitting to overstocking, poor labor allocation based on transaction count, unrealistic "legendary service" secret shops.

Advice to Senior Management

There is no feedback taken from home office. All concerns are addressed with a "well, it's always been this way" type of attitude. Managers are overworked. Labor allocation based on transaction count is ridiculous. High sales average = same unit count to be replenished and those transactions take a long time to ring. Not enough prep time for new lines makes for sloppines within stores. Ambiguous marketing direction with little or no warning of changes makes it difficult to provide "legendary customer service" when the website shows sales that the stores aren't fully clear about. Also, allowing more than one employee at a time in a high volume store is necessary to do well on secret shops. One person can only service so many customers.

Pros

Loved when I first started. was on my own for 9 months with no store manager and not a lot of support from DM.

Cons

If you are a favorite of the DM you will do fine, if not then good luck

Advice to Senior Management

Reevaluate how you calculate payroll. It isn't fair to work by yourself for hours and expect to get everything accomplished.

Pros

- job experience (good first job)
- you don't need previous education to get it
- great for part time workers
- customers are sometimes friendly moms

Cons

- I wrote that I only want to work 2 days a week max (I'm overloaded with schoolwork as it is) and this week and next week I'm working three 8 hour shifts. They keep overscheduling me - they don't care that I can't handle all that right now. My store is low on workers
- Bad training. I still don't know how to do everything I should be able to do and I've been here 3 months. My first week was that manager's last week and so I guess no one figured I still needed training after she left.
- screaming kids every day and their RUDE parents
- that obnoxious gymtv you have to listen to every day (the songs WILL get stuck in your head and in your nightmares)
- stressful when store is busy or customers are being difficult/want something I don't know how to do and the manager is too busy to help you
- some of the managers are terrible (some are nice)

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to what your employees want...you'll be a more successful companies. Also we do newline way too often. It's a lot of work to prepare for newline, replenish and move around the store all the time.

Pros

Always keeping busy
Fun atmosphere with the customers and children
OK discount
Great co-workers and amazing Store Manager

Cons

Never enough hours given to do what is needed
Contant new lines coming in with WAY TOO MANY CLOTHES!
No training hours for new employees
Compensation is low, I can work at another store not even in a management position for a lot less work and more pay
Unrealistic sales goals and survey goals

Advice to Senior Management

Try spending some time actually working in a Gymboree store so you can see how much work you are having us do in such little time. It might help you be more realsitic on what goals you set for us and what you expect to be accomplished.

Pros

Benefits are good and customers are great. love interacting with all the babies that visit.

Cons

Out of this world expectations with no payroll to execute. Total breakdown in communication from home office and upper management. Corporate completely clueless as to what is going on in the stores. Store manager training only one week and is very vague. Little to no support from DM. Poor work life balance you're expected to work 50 to 60 hours per week on salary. Alocation is a disaster and be prepared to be herassed by fire Marshall regurly. Single person coverage. Turnover rate extremely high for sm position.

Advice to Senior Management

Spend the payroll and time to effectively train new managers. Give more payroll, managers should not be forced to work alone 3 to 4 hours alone glued to the register ringing how are we suppose to get operations done and get our work done while being secret shopped every month. Reduce workload all managers are overwhelmed.

Pros

I have been lucky to have great staff!

Cons

-Horrible hours
-Way to many new lines
-DM's that offer little support
-No training hours yet they expect AMAZING LEGENDARY CUSTOMER SERVICE!
-Raises now partially based on how many reward cards you sign up.
I could go on and on about the lack of corporate support, payroll and being overloaded on stock but from what I read in reviews I have a feeling most people get the idea that this company has taken a turn for the worse and treats it's employees like crap.

Advice to Senior Management

Pull your heads out of your rear and come work in the stores. Stop raving about how people have worked here for years and love it we all know that's a steaming pile. Give us the payroll and see what will happen!

Pros

Discount customers can be great in some locations

Cons

Too much to do to little hous.

Advice to Senior Management

Say they listen to feedback but trully dont.

Pros

Discount,first dibs on sale merch
My DM was fabulous,but others in the region were less respected
Great relationships with other store managers in my district

Cons

I was the only full time associate,so I ended up working extra hours to get everything done. I had a great assistant that I felt I was taking advantage of because she wanted to work alot of hours,but she wasn't receiving any benefits.
Hourly associates are not paid extra for working holidays(Labor Day,New Years Day,etc) as most employers do.

Advice to Senior Management

I tried to support the company,but it was hard when we were given few hours to complete tasks and my entire management staff was part-time. If you want to have the ability to promote internally and not have high turnover,you have to open yourself up to attract better people with benefits and pay that is competitive.