Ethan Allen Reviews

Pros

Good Benefits and respectable company

Cons

The furniture Sales have declined immensely

Advice to Management

Get better management

Pros

The more you sell the more you make

Cons

Every year the terms for commission-based compensation get worse—higher thresholds or lower percentages for sales levels

Pros

Wonderful management, beautiful product, nice colleagues.

Cons

Salary is not what I desire

Pros

Hard working designers that try their best .

Cons

Horrible hours and no work/life balance. Company is having financial issues and they are cutting many jobs. Not a good place to work. Management favoritism toward certain people is a big issue. Bad seeds never leave. Management is negative. Quality of products has become an issue as well.

Advice to Management

Respect your designers. Time to get rid of CEO if company wants to survive.

Pros

Environment, product lines, well established company.

Cons

Not enough support for Interior Design staff

Advice to Management

Better computer system, and training. Charge house calls a design fee.

Pros

Nice people to work with.

Cons

Very boring. Not enough work assigned and when it is, it is menial and takes no time to complete

Pros

I rarely ever worked late, usually left on time which is a big plus. Though, not everyone I see gets to do that. Some work 12 hour days. Health benefits were good. Some co-workers are great people, others are very, very toxic. It depends on the department you are in.

Cons

This will be long. So I will start with the minor issues and work up to the big major red flags. Vacation time is lacking. I was there a decent amount of time and it's pretty much stagnant when you reach a certain number of years. HR is completely focused on dress codes. We had casual Friday for about 2 months, but they took it away because one person broke the rules. Instead of sending that person home to... change, they punished the entire company. Raises are non existent, I had a 1% raise in 3 years. With the cost of living increase I was actually going backwards in salary there. The technology is completely OUTDATED! It is insane how a company this large is so bad when it comes to IT and technology. Outdated computers, outdated systems, constant issues, and just a overall lack of knowledge. Half the company doesn't even have laptops to be able to work from home. So if there's a blizzard (which happens a lot in New England) be prepared to use your vacation time so you don't die trying to drive in. Most of the desktops are old and haven't been updated in years. They cycle through IT employees constantly. Most leave because of it being so outdated or being so overworked. Speaking of eliminations, there is no job security. I have seen multiple departments get outright eliminated in recent years with no replacements. It's almost on a whim, then management complains when they can't find anyone to do the work of those employees. I have seen people who have worked there for 20 years get their careers cut short for no reason. These aren't all people close to retirement, some are mid career employees with mortgages, car payments and kids. You are taking a big risk accepting a job at EA. Yet they keep the most toxic employees on. Some are so problematic that you get eye rolls from multiple people when their name surfaces. It's almost comical until you have to deal with these people on a project. Many of them are extremely rude. I've never been talked down to in my life like I have been here. The attitude and entitlement is astonishing. Some people just don't work. I've seen some department employees take 2 hour lunches daily, while some can never leave their desk because they have to pick up the other's slack. Like I said, it's not all departments. Some are decent folks, but some are extremely toxic. Now onto some major problems, the way the company runs in general. The CEO is extremely toxic. He makes decisions on a whim and surrounds himself with people who are basically "yes-men". Everything is done last minute. There is no planning, no scheduling and no concept of actual hours it takes to do massive projects. He changes his mind constantly and you have to interpret what he says to figure out what your project goals are. No one challenges him. They don't last very long if they do. I have seen co-workers complete multi-million dollars projects in hours because of this insane management style. But they blame the employees when the business doesn't go up due to these insane ideas. It is constant stress. So when the project goes sour, he takes it out on the upper tier of management and then they take it out on their employees. It's so toxic. They micromanage you to DEATH because of it. They watch you constantly because they are being watched constantly. I've seen people cry, I've seen people just walk out. Honestly, I have no idea how people deal with it. The bottom line is this: you are not working for Ethan Allen to make the business grow so you can be successful. You are working to please an old man enough, so you can go home on time and not have to deal with him till the next crazy idea. The business has absolutely suffered because of him. It's one step forward and two steps back kind of thing. Here's my advice, if you value yourself and feel you have a shred of dignity DO NOT WORK HERE! You will absolutely regret it. My career suffered because of working here and I have had the same conversation with many of my coworkers. I was 100% having a hard time finding a new position because I was more outdated then the people I was competing for jobs with. I learned nothing working there because it is so completely backwards and everyone in the corporate world is now 10 steps ahead of me. I wrote this to try and warm at least SOMEONE! I don't want you to make the same mistake I did.

Advice to Management

Management won't do anything. Everyone is at the mercy of one individual. It's the CEO. He controls everything there. The board of directors won't (or can't) oust him and he won't sell the company. It will be run into the ground till he retires or passes away. Your best bet to is to look for a new position immediately.

Pros

None....can’t think of one. Good luck finding one.

Cons

Things have gotten worse and they were headed that way.

Advice to Management

Get rid of CEO