Same 'Ole Story, Different Company - Sales Associate The Container Store Employee Review

Benefits are not very good - other companies do better by part-timers Management plays favorites Company's "1 Equals 3" philosophy doesn't appear to apply to management Expectation for lots of availability from part-timers for minimum hours each week The general feel: Pretty much reiterating what a lot of others are saying about TCS, but here goes.... I have been with this store since it opened and was very excited initially, thinking this company might actually "get it" when it comes to treatment of its employees. When our store opened and there was so much excitement and our sales were crazy-good, things were fine. Now, it's a chore to go into the store. Several people have quit and many others would like to if they could find something else to go to in this economy. It's sad and unfortunate, because we have a lot of educated, experienced people here...but, most of us feel diminished and unmotivated by all the corporate sing-song about selling, selling, selling to the customer; the favoritism management shows to the employees who tow the line with the whole "do the company schtick and leave your own personality at the door" attitude; having a management staff that for the most part couldn't do each job in the store, but will tell us how to do it; management who spends so much time off the floor but then claims to know who gives the best customer service; constant harping on role-playing as if that's going to help us better sell to people; plenty of negative reinforcement for those who are not management pets - seems the same people always get props for what they do mainly because they go out of their way to be "yes men" to the managers. If you call attention to yourself and how great you connected with a customer and you use "TCS speak" all the time, yep, you'll get a nice pat on the back as a model employee! People who work the overnight re-set shifts, truck unloading shifts, order processing shifts and visual merchandising and maintenance shifts do not get extra pay when on those shifts, despite the fact that all of these areas of work are much more demanding physically and put the employee at greater personal safety risk than, say, standing at the register ringing people up. What?? Really, TCS? This is simply nuts! A couple of our full-time employees, especially the guy who oversees our truck unloading and the woman (not the manager, but the full-time person) are very knowledgable, hard-working, don't ask us to do what they wouldn't do themselves and are respected and well liked by almost the entire store. Why are they NOT managers? General manager is kinda' out of touch with what is really happening in the store and just seems to do the "keep smiling and cheerleading" thing. It doesn't work and the team doesn't feel "led" at all. Nice person, but not an inspiring leader. People are not always working in the areas that would make them shine most, which doesn't make sense for store or customers. Employees are expected to give 4-5 weeks of notice for schedule requests, but management only gets the schedule done two weeks at a time and not the three weeks we were promised on hiring.Why can't employees who want it and can commit to it have a "FIXED" schedule to make it easier for everybody? Most of us have other jobs, especially since many of our hours have been cut a lot. Schedule changes are frowned upon, even if you find somebody willing to trade with you and cover your shift. How many people with any life whatsoever outside the store have a clue what is going to happen for them 4-5 weeks at a time? Bottom line: most people will probably leave eventually unless things change a lot. Some people are only here because they need a job or 2nd job right now. Maybe TCS was a different place before the founders brought investors into the mix. Now, it appears to be all about profits and not really about the employees or the customers, despite the glossy language and hiring process. Most employees gripe about feeling belittled, made to feel like this is their first-ever job (when nothing could be farther from the truth), and how much they are disappointed.