La-Z-Boy Reviews

Pros

Everything about this company is just awesome. I've never worked at a more professional and well managed business. The people are great, the pay is more than I expected at this point in my career, and the work itself is fun and challenging enough to keep me interested. The intentions from management seems to be that they want to mold this company into one of the best out there and their efforts really show.

Cons

Sometimes communication between departments falls apart, but I think everyone honestly tries to help each other out. The technology used is antiquated and causes problems often enough to be a pain.

Advice to Senior Management

Upgrade some of our software and hardware? I dunno. I understand something like that is a big commitment and carries a huge price tag, along with there being no guarantee that the new system would not cause just as many problems.

Pros

Good product with decent training on the product. Most people working there were helpful.

Cons

Never followed through with the additional training they were going to give. Management definetly played favorites with certain sales people.

Advice to Senior Management

Poor people skills with employees. Store management made it very obvious who was liked and disliked. Upper management never followed through with their promise of more help.

Pros

Good money. Positive work environment. Great product. Customers are satisfied with their purchase as the furniture truly is made with quality.

Cons

Retail hours are killer. It's very difficult to maintain a decent monthly income consistently as the industry itself is seasonal. Constant tagging and re-tagging for sales.

Advice to Senior Management

More flexible hours and allow your reps to do more outside type sales.

Pros

You gain great customer service skills and you receive sales experience without the pressure of quotas.

Cons

No respect for employees and employees are under paid.

Advice to Senior Management

The better you treat your employees the better your sales will be. Motivation is needed to keep the employees interested, but the only people who seem to benefit in this company are the regional managers. Mystery Shops are degrading. Also, the pay given to sales managers is ridiculous. If you break down their salary, it's less than the sales associates.

Pros

The company provides a good product that is made mostly in the usa. Due to the fact that alot of the stores are franchises it makes for a more personal work environment.

Cons

The company is now shifting toward making product in china and mexico, so th quality level has dropped considerably in the last few years especially for the price! now room for advancement past store management. "old boys company"

Pros

Very laid back
Quite
Slow pace work area
Product knowledge is easy to grasp
When you need time off its not impossible to get

Cons

High Company Expectations
Very Little traffic in most Northeastern Stores
Expectations vs. Traffic = Unrealistic
100 Hours between 4+ Sales Associates
Management very disloyal
Management is very dishonest
Turn over rate very high
In the course of 9 Months 8 Employees were either fired, or quite due to (pay, high company expectations vs. pay rate)

Overall I wouldn't recommend working for a La-Z-Boy Company

Pros

The Corporate Designer for the Denver La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries is the best possible boss any designer could ask for- respectful, generous, caring, hard worker, can be stern yet is willing to help you grow as a professional.

Cons

Has been in business for a long time and employees can see and feel the resentment given by corporate. It is time for some new, young blood to run in this company and let La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries be apart of the 21st century instead of living in the past in 1970.

Pros

Store Management is approachable and the scheduling is flexible. My coworkers are incredibly friendly and most are decent workers. If you are interested in pursuing a sales career you can learn a lot here and they do usually promote from within. You can earn extra money in your paycheck by selling certain items.

Cons

Management wants to hire positive people but forget that a positive attitude often has a trickle down effect. If you don't provide a good example, how do expect others to follow? This

The pressure of the job is fairly high as compared with jobs that offer similar pay. Your sales are tracked, they want a certain Guardsmen(fabric warranty) percentage, and you can be fired if you fail a secret shop or forget to ask for the sale twice. The problem that I have with the last part is that they will fire part timers for that, but yet, Sales Managers can miss their sales goals 3X before they're fired. So, apparently asking for the sale is more important than making sales. On busier days, when you are forced to take on more than one customer it is easy to forget if you have "asked for the sale" or sometimes it is difficult to determine what the secret shopper will consider is "asking for the sale".

There is a very high turnover I have had 2 store managers in a year. The store itself has had 6-7 different store managers in 5 years. The retail ads are confusing and customers often get angry at the unclear advertising, for example, in the fliers it will say recliner $299 when it is only the rocker recliner while the wall hugger and glider cost more. I honestly can see their point when they say it just says recliner. Also, a recent sale was the Bonus Coupon sale and the prices were already marked with the discount, so, what was the point of having coupons? This was another time customers were confused and salespeople had try to try to quell the aggravation.

Some of the employees that I have dealt with in corporate have been out and out rude.

Advice to Senior Management

La-Z-Boy does sell a high quality product and I do believe that La-Z-Boy is basically a good company that has lost its way. I wish that there was more positive reinforcement, in fact, I would have liked to see something like the Lazingo created for the secret shop maybe stores could get bonuses for getting 100% and if they get so many in a row they get a hire bonus. I really don't see a lot of positive attitudes from upper management and very little (if any) praise even if sales goals are being met.

I also believe that if you increased the hourly pay for salespeople or offered some benefits after a period of time, then, you would get a more loyal salespeople. Even from when I started, the company has made some pretty big changes both good and bad. There are many benefits to having an hourly sales staff but if you want to choose from a better pool or want people to stay longer than a year or so...it would be beneficial to offer something more competitive.

Pros

It's not a cut-throat environment, but still a good old boys culture. Slowly changing with new people coming on board.

Cons

Executives continue to receive bonuses despite several severe lay-offs of employees. Cost-saving measures should apply to all levels of employees and bonuses should not be dispensed when the value of the stock and sales continue to decline.

Advice to Senior Management

The quality of upholstered products has declined over the years. La-Z-Boy used to have an excellent reputation for products that lasted years, but recent cost savings initiatives have compromised the quality. Developing innovative high-end products (such as electronic recliners) that cost too much won't increase sales in a competitive market.

Pros

Crickets......

 I work with a talented group of fellow employees who are seasoned professionals and whose aim is to do the best for both the customers and the company.

Cons

There is no thought about work/life balance for employees
Employee morale very low because they have no voice and are not supported by management - you either do your job or get out. Disorganized with a capital D. They are constantly changing their paperwork system which employees have to learn and perform correctly or they lose 1/2 their commission to the house.
Commission statements never supplied to employees to confirm they are being paid correctly and they don't pay your commissions if you quit or are fired for business you sold.

Advice to Senior Management

The revolving door at each of your stores speaks volumes.