Old Navy Reviews

Pros

You recieve a paid 15 min. break which is okay
they are very flexible with you switching schedules with others

Cons

some cons would probably be the atmosphere of selling old navy cards.
It is something that seems very forced and unnatural

Advice to Senior Management

I think that the management should allow the discount to be utilized for the whole family instead of just the person working for the old navy.

Pros

A lot of different aspects of the store to learn (Merchandising, Pricing, Signs/Sales, Customer Service, etc.)

Cons

Lack of Communication from manager to employee and from manager to manager
Lack of leadership
Unprofessional environment
Bias from management
Lack of emphasis on certain parts of store
Overall too much drama

Advice to Senior Management

Hire who is best for job
Don't let bias in evaluations or hires
Build cohesion among managers and ALL associates

Pros

-Nice coworkers
-Good discount (25% off of non-clearance, 10% off of clearance)
-Get access to some sales before customers
-Community service opportunities
-You're supposed to get a lot of breaks (15 minutes if you work at least 4 hours, a fifteen and a thirty-minute meal break if you work at least 5.25 hours, and two fifteens and an hour meal break if you work at least 8 hours)
-Generally easy if you're on the sales floor.
-Works around school schedule and you can choose your availability
-Work schedule is emailed to you

Cons

-Working in the fitting room
-Working on the register
-Pushing Old Navy credit cards (ONC's)
-Some managers will try to target gullible people (young and/or impoverished) to sign up for credit cards
-Open on Thanksgiving
-All of the hours and praise go to the people who get ONC's
-Management will switch your shift without even telling you. I went from closing and working midday to working shipment (5 am - 11am) with NO FOREWARNING WHATSOEVER.
-Managers will frequently "forget" about your break(s).

Advice to Senior Management

It seems like the most important thing is the ONC's. I understand that credit cards make the company money and promote "customer loyalty", but after a certain point, it gets unethical.

Pros

employees were nice and frendly. pay was nice. customers were fairly pleaseant. always had sales or promotions. employee discount 20% off at old navy and 50% off at banana repulic and gap.

Cons

not enough guidance, after training they just throw you out there. didn't even teach us how to use the phone. hours were not horrible. they change everything around the store frequently.

Advice to Senior Management

stop changing the clothes around the store so often. Just when we learn where everything is, they change the store around again and what is the point?

Pros

Good discounts
Reasonable salaries
Great marketing in the media

Cons

Unrealistic expectations of staff.
Too many chiefs putting in their two cents.
Too many managers with little to no experience in the field.
Favoritism is rampant.
Open 364 days a year and holidays expect to have no home life.

Advice to Senior Management

Training needs to be more complete. You can't expect perfection with the amount of labor hours you offer to stores.

Pros

--Decent discount
--Pays above minimum wage
--Usually are granted days you request off
--Relatively friendly environment
--Casual dress code (though there are certain things you cannot wear)

Cons

--Constantly being pressured to make customers sign on to an Old Navy card even when they don't want it, and are punished with less hours if you don't get enough cards for management's liking
--Not enough hours period
--Management constantly changes, and at times new management knows less than the employees do
--Not enough positive feedback and reinforcement from management
--Some employees and management can be catty/gossips/etc.
--There is favortism amongst certain employees and management
--Training is not done very well--you end up watching a few videos and then they push you out onto the sales floor, hoping you'll do well without too much of their help. Even when you're learning to be a cashier they don't spend too much time training you.
--Especially during the holidays, too many seasonal people are hired and it cuts back on regular workers' hours a lot
--They uphold a certain image at the store which means facial piercings are a no-no and tattoos must be kept at a minimum (I had to take out my monroe, though I don't think it was anymore offensive than a nose ring and that is the only piercing accepted where I work)

Advice to Senior Management

Overall, I wish good customer service was considered more important than just forcing people to sign on to our Old Navy cards. And more important is it would be nice to get some positive feedback once in awhile instead of getting nothing at all from management. Customers are important to focus on, but it's also nice to remember your employees as well. And training new employees, especially ones with no past experience in retail, should be better handled and put more time into. Finally, I wish management would stop hiring more people than is really necessary--some of us need more than 5 hours a week.

Pros

-Flexible hours
-Respectable managers.
-Managers try to work with schedule conflicts.
-Discounts at ON for 25%, 30% for Gap/ Banana outlets, and 50% for Gap and Banana.
-quality of clothes has gone up.
-work by yourself.
-good sale promotions.
-great people to work with.

Cons

-Bad training for new recruits.
-Pay
-Messy shoppers, which means staying later to 'recover' store.
-kids throwing balls and leaving toys everywhere around store.
-bad Loss prevention. Loss prevention associates hang around when there are no shoplifters and leave when the thieves are stealing.
-need to improve theft prevention.
-booster thieves always target ON.
-Managers pressure employees to open Old Navy credit cards but there is no rewards/commissions.
-too busy during holidays.
-managers go through short training courses which mean they're learning as they become managers.
-Associates are pressured to do more things then they can realistically do such as recovering store and putting out put-backs.
-not enough associates to work each department which means that some employees are working two jobs at once such as customer servicing and recovering the store and being cashier while working/recovering women and kids areas, etc...

Advice to Senior Management

-need to improve theft prevention.
-need to improve theft prevention.
-Associates are pressured to do more things then they can realistically do such as recovering store and putting out put-backs.

Pros

I met some awesome people there. Lots of crazy customers to laugh at, some very good managers. Most of the time there was something to do.

Cons

Managers were really a hit or miss. They either worked hard or were useless. They pushed credit cards on the employees way too much and had a lot of unreal expectations.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop pushing the credit cards. You can't force someone to sign up for a credit card. Also, don't be so lazy just because you can be.

Pros

Fun and friendly co-workers, great employee discounts (25% off Old Navy, 50% off GAP and Banana Republic for all regular priced merchandise), great environment and learned a lot. Management was also great; very friendly, respectful and gave lots of feedback. Also gave recognition and rewards to employees when they performed well.

Cons

Can be very busy and understaffed. Some customers are rude and grumpy. Sometimes not given enough time to complete tasks so need to stay longer than scheduled. During nom-peak seasons, often over-staffed because of too many seasonal staff that were kept so crappy hours/shifts were given.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the positive attitude and respect you give to your employees and they will continue to work hard because they will enjoy what they're doing. Also continue to give positive feedback and constructive criticism so we know you are actually paying attention to what we're doing.

Pros

I have had alot of opportunity to grow within the company and learn alot about retail.

Cons

Work life balance is not always good. And pay for internal promotions is very disatisfying.