Harbor Freight Tools Employee Reviews about "management"

Pros

Good place to learn about tools and has decent upward mobility for people willing to work for it.

Cons

Customers feel very entitled a lot of the time and corporate management didn't seem very competent.

Pros

Pay is decent going well above federal minimum

Cons

Store management and district/regional leadership don't care about their employees as the other reviews here suggested... I chose this job because of the sparkling reviews on here and have found in New England it couldn't be farther from the truth.

Pros

I loved my customers and was devoted to providing the upmost service to each individual that came in the store

Cons

Once I became a supervisor upper management took advantage of my flexibility and willingness to work. I spent more time at work than with my family. And upper management turned on me more because they knew that providing an excellent customer experience was my main objective. I knew that store forwards and backwards. And I need more than the store manager at thr time. A lot of customers came in looking for me because they knew I was not going to fed them any bull. In the end I was fired for allegedly abusing my supervisory role

Pros

Harbor Freight is a rapidly growing retailer where new stores are added every 4 days approximately. The stores offer a wide array of tools for do-it-youselfers, weekend warriors, and now through the launch of their better quality tools, even contractors. Base pay was lower than I expected, but the promise of large quarterly bonuses was accurate and made up for the lower pay. My salary was 'whole' when I came to HFT. Upper management is incredibly talented and seeing the presentations at annual meeting in Las Vegas will confirm that. So in a nutshell, lots of growth, solid pay potential, lots of talent in the organization from upper management all the way down to the store manager level.

Cons

The cons at HFT are the same cons at all retailers. Work/life balance is practically non-existent. A 45-hour "typical" workweek regularly approaches 50-52 hours and stores have tasks that might go from as early as 4 AM in a week to midnight in that same week. All tasks (pricing, POGs, recalibrations, truck processing, etc.) are to be done in dark hours, but the labor doesn't allow that so it there is a constant jockeying tasks and available hours. Stores run on limited labor and even though I managed a mid-level store, I would often have myself plus 2 associates in the building. With all of the growth, there appears to be limited internal promotion opportunities. As in other retailers, metrics rule the day and certain ones take precedent like ESP and other sales metrics- even though they don't align with the company's priorities. At the end of the day, it is a good job for the money, but it wears on you. I have worked for other retailers, and this one seemed to take away more and more family time as it went on.

Pros

Customers absolutely love us, the loyalty factor is incredible. Management is focused and genuinely concerned with their employees and want to see growth and promotion from within.

Cons

The growth is so explosive the infrastructure is struggling to keep up at times. Systems are often slow. Top brass often come across like they have all the answers and we're concerned that our voices aren't always heard.

Pros

I have 10 year's experience in management and Retail and Sales and Customer service Come first

Cons

I always love a challenge for all things and love working with Customers and Up Sales and Teamwork and I am very dedicated to my store and my job

Pros

Accrue PTO time faster then you can use it. Management will max out on collection of PTO and never be able to use it all.

Cons

Horrible POS systems, insane expectations with only 24 hour notice and even shorter window for completion. You have to cut your payroll hours for the rest of the district because no one else knows how to schedule there store properly in return have less people to execute tasks. It is not uncommon to be told on Friday afternoon to cut 25+ hours from your weekend schedule even though your own sales are up and payroll is dead on.

Pros

Easy work with a mostly relaxed atmosphere. Coworkers are pleasant. You get commission with every warranty plan you sell which is nice. Most customers are pleasant.

Cons

Way too much focus on getting name cards from customers. Management often insinuates lying to customers to sell the Inside Track Club memberships and the warranty plans. When I follow the rules and a customer gets unhappy a manager will gladly break the rules for that customer, but when I do the same to avoid getting yelled at by a customer I'm the one in trouble.