Harbor Freight Tools Employee Reviews about "company is growing"

Pros

The atmosphere is one that allows you to feel very comfortable at work. Coworkers are all friendly as far as I've experienced and the overall direction of the company is one that's becoming more customer oriented. Also, it's a workplace that is very good in terms of requesting time off/availability. So, if you love tools and rock music playing all day at work, this may be a place for you.

Cons

For starters, the hours are not very consistent at all unless you are a full-time employee (which would make sense obviously). It'll go from 25 hours to 8 the next. I understand it's a business and sales/day of week/time of year will probably dictate when people most likely will work more or less, but that's a big change in hours considering we all have bills and things to pay for. So, the hours aren't reliable and the pay is minimum. There are definitely better options out there.

Pros

The employee discount is great; The company is extremely family oriented. From your first day you feel like family (this applies to the outcasts as well, lol). The benefits are slightly better than ‘okay’ but other companies profiting in the same margins offer better benefit packages. Still, the benefits package is pretty decent; Most of the employees are great people with great ideas and great attitudes. The company has never stopped growing.

Cons

Everything written below is based solely on the corporate environment – not the store environment. With that said, this is a retail company – therefore, a retail attitude and mindset. This company profits in sickening amounts. I won’t disclose the profit margin but it’s one that totally merits the disgruntled attitude being expressed below. All of the things below can be changed. If there were someone in charge that actually cared about making that change. This explains the excessively low Morale. The company could very easily take 1% of one sixth of the company’s profit and change the above statement. For numbers: that’s 1/100th of 1/6th … divide the profit by 6, divide that result by 100 and the remaining number could be divided by 1000 to change things. But honestly, the financial abuse doesn’t extend to all 1k corporate employees – only about 250 to 400 are really on the lower end so you could even divide that number by 50% again and still achieve the same goal. Just like family life - if you're not a favorite in the family, you'll get nowhere within the family. When considering accepting that job-offer you've just been given, look at the industry standard pay offered for that title - I guarantee you it will be either on the low spectrum or just below it. Make no mistake about it – that’s how it will stay. Only the Directors and above get paid industry standard or better, everyone else is barely making enough to survive let alone stay equal with the industry average. Everything you do is micro-managed – standards are high and the rewards are subpar. There are no training programs and people act like you’re stupid if you don’t know how to do something the HFT way – even when no one has taken the time to show you ‘the HFT way’. Upper management preaches there will be advancement opportunities - but they never surface & when they do surface, unless they like you, you're not getting the opportunity. Total favoritism atmosphere. You hear people talk about the bonuses they get, but you never get one. No will will ever tell you "who" is qualified for a bonus, the managers pretend they don't exist. You take an engagement survey every year - every year the same issues are noted on the survey - every year the same "nothing" is done to rectify the issues.

Pros

Good job to have in till you find a company that pays a competitive wage.

Cons

If you voice your opinion, you are a problem.

Pros

Harbor Freight has a very high rate of upward mobility in the company and compensates very well based on national retail averages. The company is currently growing at an enormous rate opening even more opportunities around the country and in the corporate structure.

Cons

Occasionally there are some IT issues that can cause problems. The company is also privately owned so there is no public data on how much the company is profiting or how well the company is even doing.

Pros

I work at a new store, I got to work with the red shirts and set up the store. I live how fast this company is growing and the opportunities that were recently presented to me. I somehow locked in the head pricing coordinator position. My store manager recently told me big things are going to be happening in our district and he wants everyone that's part of the leadership team to be ready for the next level up.

Cons

The pay is really low. I understand this is a retail job, but unless you are part of the management team you're basically making minimum wage. I don't know about other states, but in CA. you can't live off wages that small. My other issue is our store has a bunch of great workers, how are they rewarded? They're told their hours are getting cut. That's just an insult to injury. You make $ .80 above than minimum wage and are lucky to get 20 hours a week. Why would anyone want to stay with a company that treats them like that. Our store meets or exceeds the daily budget everyday, but we can't afford to keep our good workers on the schedule. So we have a high profit store, but can't pay the employees decent wages or give them hours to work. The company says it has competitive wages... Competitive with whom?

Pros

Discount works on EVERYTHING in the store. Company is growing which makes for more opportunities to move up in a time where others are closing down. If you enjoying being told how to run your store 99.99% of the time, this is a great company for you

Cons

Where to begin....If you've ever worked for other retailers, this company will be a retail shock for you on what you aren't able to todo in your box. Everything is "By the book" or SOP guided down to how the office is laid out, you have very little room, if any, to go outside of that. If you are a real merchandiser, forget that knowledge as you will be told how to merch your entire store by the book. Have fun with secondary items, that same item is spread out 5+ times all over the store aside from just the home location, and you will hardly have enough to fill it all, oh and it will change monthly on you in plano change. Every decision outside of the guide has to be ran by others for approval on change. There is lots of wasted labor in the stores on tasks that have very little help with actually doing anything in the store despite what it is claimed to be doing. Technology is behind the times too, software and computers don't work properly, registers look like they have not been updated in 20 years Enjoy a work/life balance? Well despite what they lead you on with, that balance is very lost depending on who writes your schedule, there is no guide for managers to get a rotation for weekends off or required closing shifts so if you don't have a fare manager, they get the weekends and nights off and you will be stuck with back to back late/early shifts and working every weekend Work in the Logistics dept? forget about having a work life balance, you'll either work at 4am one day then come back the next day and close for sales, you consistently live on caffeine as your body will NEVER adjust to the early schedule that you got hired on for in the start. Turn over is very high in each store.

Pros

They are always looking for great talent and they’re willing to teach you everything to get you where you wanna be. They pay well for assistance drive manager. They have a good bone structure. It’s a private company so they make decisions Every year from Associates survey to help improve work life balance and recognition. Great health care and vacation benifits.

Cons

You need a wide open availability. Which is not a problem for me but something something people should be aware of.

Pros

Awesome company! Fair pay with the opportunity to earn more with commission on selling Extended Service Protections and Inside Tracking Club Memberships with every sale. Training is easy and managers are professional. TREMENDOUS opportunity for growth as the plan is to open many more stores. They promote from within and have a proven history of doing so. This company seems to be great at hiring individuals who like teamwork and are enthusiastic!

Cons

So far everything is great and I am happy I chose to work here as opposed to other retailers who offered me positions.

Pros

They are a growing company so the opportunity for growth is there but moving would be required to do it. Some of the promotions are great and fun for the customer and employees. There is a very nice rate to acquire PTO.

Cons

The schedule changes constantly and to the corporate whims. These tend to effect work/life balance very badly. It will happen sometimes during the current week schedule. There are to many logistic functions that have to happen over night many times the night before a holiday. There does not seem to be much promotion from within. It seems to be a lot of hiring outside the company to fill key positions. There are times when many sales promotions are running at the same time. It confuses the customer and employees.

Pros

Harbor Freight Tools is an incredibly successful company that really takes care of it's people. I am a new DM for the company and the amount of support I was given through my training and mentorships have been amazing. I have had the opportunity to be exposed to pieces of the business that would have been impossible where I worked prior (Amazon). Highlights: Focus on training and development Honest direct discussion about opportunities available for those who perform well Everyone is humble who works here You are given the autonomy to run your business and develop your team

Cons

The company is growing so fast that the biggest challenge is in continuing to invest and develop employees to grow with the company. Great problem to have.