OfficeMax Reviews in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Area

Pros

Corporate has a handle of ongoings in company wide business. Management was good in the store. Certain employees were very helpful. Training was adequate Very helpful with time off requests and adjusting schedule when an emergency came up.

Cons

Began work during busy season, back to school. The hours were very late, store closed at 10 and stocked shelves until 12:30. The Impress area was understaffed at times, and became hectic or had no time to take a scheduled break. Closing duties included cleaning bathrooms and break room.

Advice to Senior Management

The opportunity to advance in a retail setting only includes moving up to management. I feel it is not my area to be in management. I would like to see some other area to advance in, perhaps having professional shopper, computer shopper, impress designer, or furniture specialist.

Pros

Good place to start getting work experience.

Cons

Very low pay. Poor management. Hard to ever get time off. Good luck getting a raise it is impossible no matter how much money you make for the business.

Advice to Senior Management

Respect your employees more and maybe they will be more willing to respect you back. If you are going to abuse your power within the company it is going to make someone very angry.

Pros

- Employees are kind and fun to work with
- Pay and hours are decent
- Spiff earned from Max/E.K.'s are nice
- Some kind customers

Cons

Lack of training. Usually expected to know everything about the store and how things are done within 2 weeks. Bosses get angry when you don't know how to do something. Managers are VERY short-tempered and expect too much from newer employees. Micromanaging is a HUGE issue. Managers (some) are snotty, rude, and act like employees are stupid.

Advice to Senior Management

Managers need to relax and make OfficeMax less stressful. Just because your title says "Manager", doesn't give you the right to talk back and act snotty. Work on being nicer to employees.

Pros

Officemax normally has a flexible working schedule, and fits in well with school, and you are normally given the days off requested.

Cons

Micromanagement is taken to an extreme, and you are expected to do a lot more then in possible in a standard 8 hour shift.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't stress the little things so much. If your employees work hard and do their best, the extra stress is not making for a pleasant work enviornment.

Pros

Worked with a lot of my friends, but I worked there for about 4 years and I moved up within the store which was nice. The management was the only problem that I could honestly think of.

Cons

Management had no idea what they were doing, and the ones that did, they didnt pay them enough and they left

Pros

If you are competent and have a skill set that allows you to prospect, manage and develop accounts and are skilled in using MS Office -and I mean highly skilled as well as creative in delivering a solution based sale you will be successful, however training is limited and you either sink or swim in this company. developing employees is not a priority at OfficeMax. One needs to be self motivated to succeed there

Cons

Poor leadership and average communication from the top as well as very little communication accross the nation so it feels like you work in a silo

Advice to Senior Management

Provide comprehensive training and communicate to the field nationwide about large accounts in order to better develop your sales team as well as keep a best practices communication regarding the nationwide and global accounts

Pros

A good place to work if you don't have a formal education and want to learn the INs and OUTs of business management roles.
The corporate office tries really hard to set a very satisfying work experience, however it falls apart at the store level because each store is pinned against each other.

Cons

The store managers can be nightmares. Many of them have been there for years and don't have an option for a job that pays them as well. Not a lot of logical processes but rather they try to encourage faster talking and moving, because to them, that means efficiency. Meh, not the worst place but just barely makes it a 4 out of 10.

Advice to Senior Management

Find store managers that are the whole package, not a bunch of fast talking and manipulative individuals.,

Pros

Management does encourage you verbally. Really, the only reason I stayed at this job so very ling was because I was busy with other things and I liked my co-workers.

Cons

Will not give you more than 32 hours because that would make you full time and then they'd have to pay for benefits. However they don't tell you this going into the job even if you specifically ask about how many hours you'll receive. The line is "you'll get plenty".
Micromanaged to death.
Cannot physically do the job correctly with the time allotted.
Management doesn't care about their employees (trust me you can tell).
Tend to hire idiot store managers who talk smooth but who consistently do nothing.
Turn-over incredibly high.
Pay freeze lifted right after lower employee reviews but before upper management reviews so they get a raise and we get to wait another year. Yes, we noticed.

Advice to Senior Management

Most of your problems in Minneapolis stem from one place. Your misguided view of Management. A manager's job isn't to command. It's to care and to help me do my best work. And how you do that is by listening to your employees, giving the good ones raises, asking what they want to do and helping them get there. Why should I work my butt off if all I get is a PIF card? Yes, they're a good system but they don't alter my non-existent pay raise, and my level of frustration with the fact I'm blocked from doing what I am best at.

Pros

• All the employees are respectful and nice. They often joke around, which makes working more fun.
• Commission on certain products.
• Flexible managers.
• Being able to work with friendly customers.

Cons

• Often close = no night life.
• Having to deal with unfriendly customers.
• A lot to learn in little time.
• When busy, things tend to get very crazy and hectic.
• Standing the whole time (not a con necessarily, just something that takes a while to get used to).

Advice to Senior Management

I would suggest giving employees a bigger discount. Also, don't give employees so much to do in such a little time. It is hard to get everything requested done some days because of constant stream of customers. If we finish with one task, have us talk to you and assign us another.

Pros

My location has many people that do take pride in doing good work and taking care of customers.

Cons

Management so consumed with short term thinking that causes a constant change in direction and many failed programs.

Advice to Senior Management

Get back to the basics...respect your employees and focus on giving customers the very best service possible.