Tommy Bahama Reviews

Pros

Very good work atmosphere. Management is supportive overall and interested in employees. Requires more than a door greeter to sell which is a nice personal skill challenge. Very nice clothing discount and free clothing throughout the year.

Cons

Little room for management opportunity. Those that are in management stay for a very long time. To advance, you have to move usually.

Advice to Senior Management

Offer no cap on monthly bonuses. 15% is not enough if the store team generates enough revenue to warrant a higher bonus. Better raise compensation.

Pros

Benefits and clothing allowance. And you do have some hard working staff that are kind and productive

Cons

Many supervisors and managers have been with the company for many years and will throw anyone under the bus if they feel that their job is being comprised. They literally do not do anything they are supposed to or what their position requires. Extremely lazy and egotistical supervisors and managers. Complaints on supervisors or managers are considered to be insubordinate. You definitely should not complain to HR they will only think of you as a whistle blower. So you should think twice about complaining to or about the management team.

Advice to Senior Management

Open your eyes and let counter productive supervisors and managers go. I'm sure if you enter a job fair instead of putting your ads on craigslist you'll be able to hire and train a proper management team.

Pros

Quality clothes - customers love the clothes.
Beautiful working environment.
Easy going, nice management. Altho you are given a sales amount they want you to sell, there was no pressure from management to attain it.
Nice customers
Nice co-workers

Cons

Alot of tedious work - there is a constant stream of new clothes that arrive almost every week, so there is a tremendous amount of steaming and folding. And, of course, you have to keep the clothes on the racks and shelves neat and in order, so more folding and checking that the sizes are in the correct order.
After the store closes, you're the cleaning crew, sales associates have to vacuum the rug, clean the mirrors etc.

Advice to Senior Management

Management and my co-workers were so focus on steaming and folding the new clothes that they didn't properly help customers. Management and my co-workers need to remember that the customer is most important, not the clothes.

Pros

Tommy Bahama is a casual, laid back atmosphere. It's a fun place to work. Most stores are properly staffed so even if you are in a high traffic store, there is more than enough people to handle the guests in the store. Management respects everyone on the team, and communication is easy. They are more than accomidating on scheduling around your personal life. They don't mind if you are a few minutes late, so long as you call if you are going to be more than 5 minutes. The guests we serve are our friends. The same people come back each month and you build great relationships with them. Pay is on the high end of retail, and it's an hourly pay without a commission structure. That way, there isn't a fight over stealing sales. You work as a team. You do have a daily sales goal, but you aren't repremanded if you don't reach it. Salespeople get a bonus if the store's monthly goal is met and exceeded. It's up to 15% of the pay you recieved during the month in which the goal was met. Training is provided and sometimes it's a little boring, but they are trying to get everyone on the same basic level of competency. Managers get to go to the Seattle home office once a year, and some regions send managers to a day long retreat with other managers where they recap the past year and get you excited about new things. Upper management cares. The Vice President of Retail visits the stores at least twice a year and you can talk to him as if what you say matters. Over the past couple years, they haven't been opening as many stores, so advancement was a bit slower than normal. However, they are slated to open 10+ stores and at least one restaurant a year for the next several years, so if you are willing to relocate, you can get to a managment level within a year or two even if you start as a salesperson. You will be happy if you can do the same things every single day and can overlook some minor annoyances.

Cons

Some days are very slow where hours can go by and you don't see anybody. The stores are maticulously kept up. Be prepared to steam, fold, and dust a lot. If a guest tears up a stack of perfectly folded shirts, you have to refold everyone as soon as you can. Some associates I work with don't care, while others take it personally. lol If you can't handle 7 1/2 hours standing, this job isn't for you. Yearly pay raises are capped and nearly everyone get the same percent raise, regardless of their performance. There isn't much room to grow after you get to the Store Manager level. You can advance on to bigger locations if you are willing to relocate, but you have to be content with just being a store manager as this is the end of the advancements at Tommy Bahama.

Advice to Senior Management

Take advantage of technology. Every store should have a webcam and high speed internet so we can have video conferencing. This would save so much money on expenses related to travel and lodging. As far as the internet is concerned, I'd rather you restrict access to the web vs. giving us full access, but only giving us dial up speeds. So much of our daily computer work relies on us sitting there staring at the screen waiting for reports to download. It isn't cost effective. Also- our POS is way outdated, but you already know that.

Pros

Fun, nicely appointed office. Adequate benefits. Ample vacation time. Discounted clothing. Leader in the industry with respect to fashion and apparel.

Cons

The senior leadership team is a closed fraternity which seeks input from a very small handful of people. They churn and burn those who constructively challenge the establishment. The turnover in the company is ridiculously high, particularly in the Retail group. Look at those with VP in their title and you will see not competence or leadership, rather a lot of brown noses.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your people. Take the Lanier approach not the Wood approach to managing issues and resolving conflict. Live by the PARADISE mantra.

Pros

The discount is great, but it needs to be great considering all employees are forced to wear their clothing (except anyone in a corporate position, for some odd reason, they are exept from this rule.

Good benefits (for now).

Cons

The Company timing for trending their clothing products is way off. We seem to always be JUST stocking up on items that are considered "old news" to the general public. Lately when "new" products arrive, the general consensus is a "Why bother?" attitude because we all recognize that once again the company has missed the boat on producing a trendy product and getting it to their stores on time for the trend.
Also, since basically EVERYTHING is being produced in China now, the quality control is breaking down rapidly. Fabrics are thinner, cheaper, and poorly sewn together now. Given the choice, I would never purchase Tommy Bahama clothing if I did not work there and weren't forced to wear it every day. Tommy Bahama used to be considered high quality...no more!

Advice to Senior Management

Tommy Bahama is quickly heading into the obscure retail realm where Liz Claiborne, Tommy Hilfiger, and Perry Ellis exist now. All were great labels until their names were sold off and the quality suffered from greed. Soon Tommy Bahama will be available at J.C. Penny. My advise is to get back to producing a high quality product that the employees can take pride in again.

Pros

Great work/life balance, the company is great at supporting vacation time and family time. The discount is better than most, and who wouldn't want to work for a company that makes resort wear?

Cons

There is too much upper management, too many VP's. It's quite top heavy, and some management is slow to give praise where it is due. There are also some terrific managers, but it's a mix.

Advice to Senior Management

If you ask people to work twice as hard (less people doing more work), that is fine, but reward them financially and with praise when it's due.

Pros

Great product to sell
Good pay rate and benefits
Great employee discount

Cons

Store manager with bad communication skills
Store manager (new) who was intimidated by cliques of established employees
Micromanaging with lack of respect shown to employees
Store manager stealing sales
Origami merchandising
Sexual innuendoes

Advice to Senior Management

Please notice the discrepancy between the PARADISE values and the exact opposite - which is actually going on

Pros

Pay is that of a typical high end retail company. You are given the opportunity to move up quickly in the company if you are willing to relocate. This is possible as many of the employees at the locations are not "bread winners" and are typically retired. So if you give 2 snaps you are likely to move up into managment quickly.

Cons

Relocation typically required to be a store manager. Small company and once someone gets a store manager position, they typically keep it for life. Only ones that go are the ones that are fired.

Advice to Senior Management

The reviews are bogus. I understand you guys want commitment, but when you tell someone who is retired and just working for the heck of it until they ddie, dont tell them to increase sales.

Pros

Most of the employees are very nice.

Cons

It would be great to see more training opportunies.

Advice to Senior Management

Share company strategy with employees