Aritzia Employee Reviews about "management"

Pros

- Very organized structure - Challenging environment that is goal oriented - Few but some of upper management is understanding and make good decisions for the team as well as the business - Most of the employees are friendly and kind

Cons

- Terrible hours based on seniority - Extremely difficult to move up - Cliquey mentality and trend focussed, originality is few and far between - Drama and competitiveness can make work unpleasant - Poor management and questionable leaders - Communication is often not direct, think broken telephone - Politics in the workplace - Maximizing profit takes precedence over customer experience - Culture is very exclusive and can be suffocating

Pros

- Pays great - Flexible Hours - Free lunches

Cons

- Poor Management (Act like they are better than you just because they are higher up) - Staff (Not very bright)

Pros

Discount. Period. Salary would be listed as a pro, but once you've factored in poor leadership, caddy twenty- something's who can't see beyond their Isabel Marant shoes, and poor company culture, there really isn't any amount of money that compensates.

Cons

1. Poor Leadership- leaders in the company are promoted too quickly and lack the very basic leadership skills to manage effectively. Basic skills would include; open door policy, discretion in confidential matters, and relate-ability. Leadership is not assessed on overall accomplishments, but rather, reviewed and promoted based on immediate successes of small current time frames. Lots of over promising and under delivering. 2. Labyrinth of Values- teams are rated on individual percentages which range from the physical person, to their actual job, to 'how' their job is completed. Company over values format and is less concerned with content from an individual. Great talent within the company, but the culture breeds fear in communicating needs. There is an absolute importance for structure, but this company is rigid in it's thinking and will fire back when communication is not formatted correctly. Leadership is already weak in skill set and lacks ability to effectively teach people, but with the encyclopedia of competencies that are required, great teachers are necessary. Intimidation and arrogance is not the way to teach. 3. Unrealistic work/life balance expectations- Holiday hours run extremely long, with each team member running 12 hour days. Employees expected to work 6-7 days a week winding down from the regular holiday period into Aritzia's next sale session with zero regard to family life. If you have a family or are an active member of your family, this should be something you consider closely. And if you're sick, forget about it. Plan to pump the cold and flu medicine and sack up, or get snubbed from management for lack of 'commitment' or 'discipline'... A few of the things that could be noted in evaluation. 4. Unprofessionalism and lack of privacy- Upper management will request to friend you in social networks and then follow up with you on posts 5. Poor benefits packages- worst health care offered, no 401k, vacation hours are average for full time employees across retail. The list really could go on and on....

Pros

Corporately, Aritzia offers great compensation, It is growing and can offer young people the opportunity to grow and mature with the company.

Cons

Not recommended for already established professionals. The corporate culture is still maturing as you will notice some lack of action and decisions (as most even the small ones are controlled by the CEO). Promotions are based on looks and likes and not on merit or experience. Sr. management lacks corporate maturity and unable (or not empowered) to make decisions.

Pros

- Very fun but also hard-working environment (dependent on your store) - Management team is devoted to everyone's development as part of the company (also dependent on your store) - There are proper training sessions and guidelines for everything, so it's not like you're scrambling trying to figure everything out on your own (when you're new) - Typically really chill, awesome coworkers (dependent on your store) - Raises come quick and frequently if you're good

Cons

- The politics behind how managers decide who gets phased out - Certain managers/SAs are fake - Hours aren't consistent throughout the year

Pros

The discount was fairly good (although no additional discount off of sale items), and to be honest, they offer much better discounts much more often now with the economy being as it is - you can get 50 - 70% off several times a year as a regular customer.

Cons

- In my opinion: Poor Management, very superficial - concerned with themselves, not staff development - Management is held to impossible sales standards and are forced to performance manage sales associates relentlessly - RATING staff constantly (and to them) on various metrics including 'smarts' and 'personality' - once heard another manager say an associate 'was not smart'. - In my experience, Sales associates were pitted against one another in hyper-competitive and shaming environment - no commission awarded, associates are pressured to make sales targets so that they can get hours, otherwise hours are reduced. - In my experience, the sales environment leads to poor customer service, customers feel bullied, judged and hounded to purchase things - staff is superficial and can be unkind (to one another and to customers) - I observed sales associates and management were made many promises re: advancement that were not kept, people are promoted, demoted and shuffled around seemingly without any reason or rationale - it seems that people are promoted chiefly based on superficial reasons. From personal experience, I can say that higher education is not very valued here, head office has significant number of high-school educated professionals making very significant business decisions. - Return Process is poorly managed - Management is encouraged not to accept returns, customers are coaxed into not being able to make a return, despite circumstances when a product is poorly made or defective (I have also experienced this as a customer). - Sales associates are only given their schedule a few days beforehand and very often are forced to work over-time/extra long hours with no overtime pay and no warning, i.e., if the store was busy that day, you could have to stay until 10:30pm or longer to close satisfactorily, and would have no choice but to stay - this is particularly true with merchandising staff - hours very unpredictable. - In my experience, window displays are complicated and are given with no advance training and little instruction, once had to stay until 4:00am with several high school aged staff in order to complete a window display. - As a manager, I experienced multiple women fighting and crying often - overall (in my opinion) a poor workplace culture.

Pros

People are usually cool Relationships with customers Culture celebrates creativity and uniqueness Values ( work on these more with staff)

Cons

Competitive nature Sometimes upper management can mislead/manipulate you to get you to move up or down in your roll Work life balance sucks

Pros

Get to work with talented, committed and passionate people. Inspiring and creative work environment. It is very inspiring to see the product that started from an idea to being sold in stores or online. Great opportunities to grow your career where you want to take it if you are smart, ambitious and not afraid to speak up. Some leaders and senior management are very inspirational and engaging. Entrepreneurial spirit.

Cons

Not necessarily a con but Aritzia has very high standards and expectations. For those that are ambitious and driven, this is the place for you! This is not a place where you wait for things to be handed to you - you need to work for it and you need to speak up. Work-life balance is a struggle. Some (not all) leaders and senior management require basic management and leadership training.