Indigo Books & Music Reviews

Pros

- Great discounts
- Opportunity to work with very interesting people
- Managers are usually very nice and engaging with employees
- Get to meet authors and attend midnight release parties

Cons

- No discounts for magazines
- At times it is difficult to get somebody to cover your shift or to get some time off
- Sometimes not very busy, depending on location

Advice to Senior Management

Allowing more leniency for those who wish to book holidays off would be great. Sometimes a last-minute vacation is needed and those who need it need all the help they can get with relief of their shifts.

Pros

A few stores, usually the smaller ones, have great staff teams who really know their stuff. Working in small format also gives you the opportunity to learn the most both in terms of actual product and in terms of administrative responsibilities. Small format store management tend to be extremely knowledgable, understanding and pleasant to work for. The general 30% staff discount on regular priced books is nice too.

Cons

The large format stores are a joke. The management teams there are almost always incompetent; it makes you wonder if some of them can even read. Large format and Head Office management consistently focus on the wrong things, like loyalty card sales percentages or how often the posters in the break room are changed, instead of focusing on selling the actual stock or accommodating the customers. Communications from Head Office are usually vague, patronizing, incomplete and grammatically atrocious. No thought is given to how stock fluctuates from store to store. Every location just gets exactly the same stock and is expected to sell it regardless of whether the genre is ever a good seller at a particular store. The compensation levels are pitiful. They will pay you the bare minimum they can get away with and career progression within the company is practically non-existent. They say they offer benefits if you work a minimum number of hours per week but actually getting signed up for the program is another matter. I worked the minimum number of hours consistently for 3 years and then moved to full time for another 2 years and they still wouldn’t sign me up for benefits; there was always a ‘delay’ or I ‘wasn’t eligible until the next registration period’ etc. etc. It was honestly one of the most frustrating work experiences and environments I’ve ever had.

Advice to Senior Management

I have several pieces of advice for Indigo Management:
1. Stop treating your store employees like they are illiterate morons and actually be forthcoming in your communications.
2. Stop spending so much time, energy and money focusing on loyalty card sales. Cards don't build loyalty, proper stock and customer service do.
3. Promote from within. The best store managers are the ones that have worked in floor positions, know the stock intimately, and grow with the company.
4. Offering even slightly higher pay will start to attract higher-quality employees who will in turn work harder for you and be better customer service reps.
5. Show long-term employees the gratitude they deserve for being so loyal to you. I was there for 8 years and my salary increased a total of $1.50. That's it. And trying to get benefits was like pulling teeth. Receiving a shiny little pin that just advertises the company's name for your 5-year anniversary is bogus compensation for that amount of loyalty to a retail job.
6. Stop running a retail chain as if it were a political soap box. The party leanings, religions and personal campaigns should in no way influence the way the company is run. A book store should sell books to whoever wants to buy them. Too bad if the subject matter makes you, personally, uncomfortable. Free speech means that if someone wants to read something, they should be able to get it.

Pros

I started off as a seasonal hire but then within 2 weeks of being there I was asked to be permanent part time and then continued onto full-time. Within my first month of being there I was promoted to the leadership team and keyholder, after this I was in line for an assistant manager position. I really enjoyed working here, It was something I enjoyed and I got along really well with fellow employees and my boss was great. It went down hill when my boss was promoted and moved to another store, she was replaced with a manager from one of the smaller coles locations. Not even a week in the store and she was rude to all the employees and talked behind their backs. She changed everything and just ruined that rare feeling of enjoying coming to work.The employees took their concerns to the regional manager and was told to suck it up because that manager had been with the company longer than us. Needless to say she forced everyone into a corner. Several people quit and others walked out.

Cons

Oh and the Irewards program is a total rip off. The regional managers only cared about selling the irewards. Every person who came to the till was asked if they had a discount card and if not we were supposed to shove it down their throat. If the store wasnt' over a certain % then we would be "talked" to.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to the employees concerns. We are in the store the majority of the time and we see things that the higher ups don't. Don't just ignore us, value our opinions.

Pros

Great employee discount
Great people to work with

Cons

Company is top heavy so salaries for mid and lower level employees are lower than others who do the same job in other companies
Raises are minimal
No corporate culture and employee morale is low
Terrible systems
No opportunity for growth or development

Advice to Senior Management

Develop, grow and retain employees
Have a clear organizational structure

Pros

The people are great. They are committed and passionate about what they do and are loyal to each other and to the company - although this is changing. The benefits are fairly good for retail and they have part time benefits as well. The work is interesting and so are the customers. The book loan program is also a good benefit.

Cons

Recently the hours have been cut drastically and this is having a noticeable effect on work quality, service levels, and morale.
Communication from head office is spotty and contradictory. The overall direction of the company seems confused and they are relying on knee-jerk strategies to get by.
Most of the things that made the company great (values, best practices) are being ignored or forgotten.

Advice to Senior Management

Either change your values or start following them again. Make intelligent decisions based on feedback rather than dictating based on assumption.

Pros

good pay, location, nice people

Cons

old technology, no process or planning

Advice to Senior Management

upgrade technology, have better process

Pros

Indigo has some great people, a good location downtown, nice office, awesome industry. People are very passionate about their work and what they do.

Cons

Bad pay, income declines year over year as inflation outpaces salary increases, little room for growth, company is run like a small business rather than a national corporation,

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate more often and with transparency to the entire organization. Be more strategic and less involved in every project and little executional detail.

Pros

access to more books than you could ever possibly read

Cons

corporate culture, buzz word heavy/execution light

Advice to Senior Management

provide for more opportunities for feedback and listen to store employees--they have great ideas

Pros

If you love books, it will connect you with others who do. The discount and borrow-a-book program are worthwhile pros.

Cons

Do not let the company's shiny exterior give you the false impression that they exist for any purpose other than to generate profit. You are a drone in the machine at Indigo, nothing more, nothing less. Enjoy your scripted conversations with customers and know your role, because you will not find any individual accommodations for who you are.

Advice to Senior Management

Management does not particularly want my advice. Nor will they want the advice of anybody else reading this. So don't bother.

Pros

Great perks and benefits. The work environment is fantastic - being around books all day is great. The people who work at indigo are generally friendly and fun to be around.

Cons

The pay is not great. The company is not competitive in this regard. However the extra perks and discounts that one gets, usually makes up for the lack of adequate compensation.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire managers that know what they are doing. Alot of the times the CER's know more than the managers. This creates tension.