The Gap Reviews

Pros

Great work enviroment. Quality of work life balance.

Cons

Only downside is when retail it can make Holidays very stressful.

Pros

If you work hard, keep your head down, pay your dues, and kiss butt a little bit it will earn you a lot of respect and management will be much more willing to schedule you according to when you want to work. I have a second job and have stayed here because of this reason. Once you pass the 90 day mark, you become difficult to get rid of.

Cons

The pay is not so great, no benefits, and sometimes the schedule is absolutely ridiculous--if you work at a flagship store.

Advice to Senior Management

Try to condense employee hours so that 2AM closes aren't a common occurrence...just schedule more people at one time.

Pros

Your ideas are heard. People appreciate what you contribute.

Cons

Apparel business is tough. It is hard to compete when resources keep depleting

Pros

I loved my fellow sales associates & assistant managers & general manager. I worked with good people. The job was tedious at times, and not much room for growth. The employee discount was great!

Cons

Inflexible working hours - they would have 'black out' dates where you can't call off. Some weeks you would get 15 hours and other weeks you wouldn't be scheduled, so stability is tough.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't be so political. Base raises & promotions based on performance and work ethic, not personally.

Pros

Great people, fun environment at times!

Cons

Horrible crappy business. Some merchants are idiots who think they are holier than thou. Ttoo bad the product is not good and business is terrible!

Pros

They offer a good employee discount and you don't have to wear exclusively gap brand items to work, and the music played wasn't too bad.

Cons

- training was vague, not helpful and left a lot to be desired
- making mistakes was inevitable due to lack of guidance but employees are discouraged from asking questions or learning from their experiences. For example, I didn't know they wanted us to fold in a certain way, and when I asked my manager to explain the proper way ( after being reprimanded for "incorrect folding methods") I was brushed off.
- other sales associates hate their work creating a negative environment.
- general rudeness and lack of respect from higher-ups.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire better management support with actual people-skills, offer more comprehensive training, realize what makes a good employee and effective sales person.

Pros

Discount, flexible schedule for students, opportunities posted publicly if interested in future advancement, the experience really depends on your manager and your ability to keep them smiling

Cons

Horrible pay, inconsistent hours, completely bogus performance review process, unclear expectations set for everyone, especially managers, lack of respect from managers at times

Advice to Senior Management

Hopefully you've figured yourself out since I left in 2007 (although I highly doubt it as I still have friends who work for the company and they keep me in filled in) because the way you treat your people is deplorable.

Pros

This is my first retail job but from what I've heard, I feel I definitely have it good. In my particular store all of the managers are very friendly and respectful with only a couple who may get on your nerves from time to time. Most are very understanding when it comes to time off and more than happy to work with your schedule. The employees are really friendly and everyone is really energetic, even the customers who come in are pleasant for the most part. The pay is better than most clothing stores, the discount is incredibly generous and you get discounts at Banana and Old navy too as well as corporate discounts for other things.

Cons

The standard retail complaints apply. You have to sell the brand credit card which is difficult and has a ridiculously high interest rate. How much pressure will be put on you depends on management. I don't know about the smaller locations but I work at the flagship store on 54th and 5th which stays open until 10. So if you're closing you can expect to be there until 11 or 11:30 on a good day. It isn't uncommon for people to leave after midnight or 1 or 2 in the morning on massive sale days or days with little coverage.

Advice to Senior Management

For the most part keep it up. You guys manage to make retail a positive experience, at least in my store.

Pros

Distribution Center Finance is great for young people who are just starting out as financial analysts in a corporate setting. I am learning a lot given that I work with a combination of subjects within Finance and Computer Science/IT: expense close/forecast, capital close/forecast, financial modeling, SOX controls, database management...

Cons

The work is not very difficult, but it can take up a lot of your time in a day. It is very common to stick around for 9-11 hours; 12+ for budget season. Also, management can be difficult at times letting politics get in the way of work which you will find at most companies.

Advice to Senior Management

Working long hours doesn't mean that quality work is being done or any work is getting done. Politics are useful only when you want work to be done in a inefficient manner.

Pros

-Love the Company
-Great discount
-Good Benefits
-Great co-workers
-Company places large emphasis on being individual and taking initiative
-Other companies love Gap employees, it looks good on resume

Cons

-Leadership is ridiculously stressful, upper management pushes stress down on to stores. Blames stores for not making money/goals, without giving stores adequate resources to make those goals.
-Huge emphasis on selling credit
-Stores are now responsible for their own advertising
-No payroll for coverage, so leadership has a million things to do while running the store with only one person
-Seems to take a lot for a person in management to get fired, which honestly doesn't give the rest of us a reason to work hard.
-The product we have is not what customers want
-I dont know if it is a company issue or just my district, but there is a lot of back stabbing in order to move up.
-Company changes promotions 4-5 times before and during every promotion, but doesnt fund for the workload

Advice to Senior Management

Stop blaming the store level for all the companies problems, we are doing the best we can. Provide the stores with the resources we need i.e. Payroll, product, promotions.