Williams-Sonoma Reviews

Pros

Generous discount, great teamwork, excellent product line, stores are esthetically pleasing and upscale in appearance, the company takes pride in their products and their people.

Cons

Low pay for such an upscale company; hours became very sparse when the economy began to fail. Break room was very small (too small for more than one person) and served as storage too.

Pros

Very employee focused
Great feedback from management

Cons

Better training plan needed for all levels

Pros

discount, employees, hours,working in back of store or stock room you get your job done and your out of their.

Cons

management looks down on sales treats them as a personal servant !

Advice to Senior Management

grow up

Pros

If you are a foodie who loves to cook, this has the potential to be a place you'll love to work. If you love kitchen culinaria and enjoy interacting with people, this has the potential to be a good place to work, depending on management.

Cons

Very cliquey, management (at my store) was incompetent and relied on other managers to pick up the slack, which they did. Rules were selectively enforced and certain associates were allowed to pick their schedules, while others were given what was left. As it is so often in life, Individual store management will determine your happiness level. Competent, fair management that rewards hard work and enthusiasm always makes a workplace even more enjoyable, but we all know how rare that is to find anywhere in the work-world. Williams-Sonoma is no different.

Advice to Senior Management

Workers are paid an hourly wage, but are strongly encouraged (read pressured) to sell, sell, sell! Unfortunately, you have no real motivation to do so as you are not given commission, and your sales only serve to fatten the bonus of the store manager. I would encourage upper management to consider changing the pay structure. In addition, corporate needs to be more proactive in hiring competent store managers, and be wiling to replace those who don't measure up.

Pros

Discounts and sample sales if you work for Corporate.

Cons

Way too many last-minute changes. It seems like they were all about reacting vs. being proactive. Too many cooks in the kitchen, all elbowing each other to have their opinions heard. This led to unclear marketing strategies/direction. Communication on restructuring within department was awful -- actually there was none. After three years on one brand, I tried to switch to two different brands within the company only to be treated like some random Craigslist applicant. So I said, "Goodbye".

Pros

great product, stand behind their products and take care of their customers, if you want their is plenty of room for advancement

Cons

probably one of the worst paying retailers, tough to see management working so many hours and not being appreciated, not enough positive feedback

Advice to Senior Management

pay your employees the going rate in their city, don't put unrealistic expectations on your stores, treat your employees with respect

Pros

Working at Pottery Barn has many things to offer. My favorite are the written training as well as the videos.

Cons

Sometimes I feel like the company does not always stay consistant in the way the business is ran. I completely understand because the retail industry is always changing.

Advice to Senior Management

It would be great that all managers are trained the same way and same content so that everyone is on the same page. This does not alway happen as it should.

Pros

Great products, great reputation, well informed staff.

Cons

Company has new management, new course uncertain. Payroll for staff decimated. Great if you are a shareholder.

Advice to Senior Management

Think about what Chuck would do . . .

Pros

They have a Great discount, exceptional employee education, you get to sample food, promotional incentives with things like cookware, knives, appliances

Cons

I really can not think of any one thing that was negative. Maybe pay could be better, but it is retail and I don't expect a lot.

Advice to Senior Management

Not a whole lot of advice, except there are some managers whom are bad, but just fly under the radar.

Pros

Great name brand recognition. The products are of very good quality.

Cons

The pay rate is very low, and there is no commission on your sales.