The Container Store Reviews

Pros

Management worked with my class schedule (flexible hours). Was a fun work environment for the most part.

Cons

Mandatory early morning or late night shifts during promotional changes.

Pros

Good discount 401k match for part time

Cons

They don't value or try to retain experienced employees. The amount of work and lack of labor and time are a consistent and constant issue. Employee training had turned into a trial by fire style when departments are overloaded with work they grab anyone to jump in resulting in errors and more work for other departments to correct combined with unhappy customers. Pay raises are dismal, especially if you've been around awhile. It's better to quite and get rehired at a higher rate (which has happened.)

Pros

Flexible Schedule Leaders care about the employees more than the managers. You can depend more on the Leaders than Management. 40% Discount on items 50% off Elfa Helpful employees

Cons

Some managers don't want to help employees When you ask for training, managers make excuses The store manager talks down to you They only care about their sales and numbers

Pros

Generous Employee discount Communication Patterned schedule for Leaders/Managers

Cons

Low labor hours for low/mid volume locations for amount of work/s scheduling expectations. Low pay rate for this position compared to GM position when workload/responsibilities/expectations are much higher than GM. Company expectations not realistic for all volume stores, which frustrates part time staff, hourly leaders to be able to get expected work done plus help customers. . Company does not value efforts and work done by Visual and Operations members of the business. Bonus amount is very low. Yearly raises are minimal. Health plans were awful for the price paid. Constantly contacted during time off about work issues and questions, when General Manager and Full Time leaders were working and could handle issues. New CEO and senior Management team has gotten away from what made the company a great place to work for, company getting away from its core values. The principles are just words now, not what’s lived by the company as they were in the past

Pros

Employee discount is great. They used to be great at hiring wonderful people. Some of my peers are fantastic.

Cons

No longer what it once was. After they dropped off the Fortune Best Companies to work for list, it's been a steady decline in employee retention. I understand putting customers first but they need to realize unhappy, overworked employees can't be good for morale or business either.

Pros

They start you off at $15

Cons

They force you to do truck which is $17 because they are too cheap to afire a actual truck team, coworkers are very rude and they always gaslight you into thinking you’re the bad guy when you stand up for yourself, management and team leads are awful. Also no hours! Prioritize full time over part time clearly, don’t care for your education and won’t give you time for your studies even if you mention in an interview that you plan to go into school, manager gets jealous if you have another job besides theirs.

Pros

Like everywhere, your immediate boss makes or breaks the job. My current boss allows me autonomy to do my job and lead my team. We seem to be on the same wave length for the immediate department goals. I have more energy for the job than I have in a long while. I think the current product mix is good and excited about the new products we will be launching in the near future. Think our new CMO brings some great ideas to the mix. Package that with our marketing team and I think we have a winning combination to offer customers.

Cons

Aim high coming in because it is the last large income boost for a long while. Top performers receive only one or two percentage points higher during review time than lower rated performers. Raises are held at a minimum. During one of the best years in the company, percentage increase was less than 4%. Work/Life balance is difficult to maintain. Departments do not have enough staffing to do the work needed, not just in the short term but year after year. Understanding of the work needed to be complete and the support for that work is lackluster.

Pros

-Great, authentic and hardworking people. -Strong benefits compared to other companies. -Opportunity to make an impact and have your ideas heard. -Fast paced, results driven culture- if you like that kind of environment. -Friendly atmosphere where you can tell that people enjoy what they do and who they work with. -Strong focus on employee engagement (ERGs, Events, Celebrations)

Cons

-The company has an opportunity to improve consistency in schedule flexibility offerings, some roles/ teams allow it and others are still very traditional. -Lots of meetings.

Pros

Great coworkers and patterned schedules where you know what you'll work. Always have one weekend day off.

Cons

Your experience can vary wildly across the board depending on store location, traffic, volume, and region. Pay is the biggest discrepancy that the company STILL refuses to truthfully address. It is beyond discouraging seeing your position posted at a higher salary plus an additional sign on bonus, when you yourself haven't seen a raise in over a year and haven't bonused because of the economic downturn. Meanwhile, the company is changing at lightning speed and expects you to somehow run your store as normal, exceed sales goals, have stellar NPS scores and provide perfect customer service, work through technology advance glitches, drive Custom Closets/Preston, execute multiple visual projects at once, complete huge weekly shipments with minimal staff, and payroll has been cut 25 - 30%. Employees are BURNT OUT. They aren't excited to work to the bone for minimal financial compensation. It is so difficult to keep your team motivated when you feel beat down, undervalued, underpaid, and can barely support day to day operations. We are constantly hiring because what our company expects does not reflect the pay they offer. Being in salaried management is a complete theft of your wages. You are always expected to "work through lunch", on top of working 10+ hour days, working at home because you have a laptop, answering texts and emails at odd hours of the day and on your days off. For what? A salary that doesn't come close to reaching the median income level. The company has an aggressive growth plan with potential of more management opportunities in years to come, but if this is how we feel currently, why would we want to consider staying? To be worked even harder for maybe 5-10k more? The LinkedIn culture is also so fake and toxic. You are expected to wave your pom poms, promote open positions, consistently post about what a joy it is to work here, and if you don't, you WILL be reprimanded for it. Corporate is beyond condescending to store level employees when 95% have never stepped foot in a store and have absolutely no comprehension of what we go through.

Pros

Employee discount is good. Some, NOT ALL, employees are great.

Cons

Management here needs improvement. Employees are doing the best they can on truck days and it's still not good enough. The 2 people doing the scheduling really need to look at whose is doing the work and who is doing the least (or just ONE THING)Hours are so scarce - there is no such thing as making a live-able wage. High turnover. Now they are cramming a new tool down our throats to use, but not everyone can use them. Customer service is poor because they don't have the money to schedule more employees. There is absolutely no recognition for those hard working employees. However, if you are a management favorite, you get lots of hours and pats on the back. No communication between management, and management and employees. Low morale. Why stay - it's a paycheck.