Bath & Body Works reviews

Very little career advancement unless you are favored. Certain management can make your life difficult. Your supervisor can micromanage you to the point of wanting to walk out. Store Managers don't get to run their own stores, every action had to be approved to the point of absurdity. Upper management, DMs specifically, uneducated and not tested in the field. They throw a lot of tasks on your plate then say that customer service is number one priority. When you handle customer service first they question why tasks aren't complete. Hypocritical. Huge lack of leadership in this organization.

Well, where do I begin? Promoted from associate to temporary sales leader after just a few months, which was nice. After a massive upheaval (which really should have been a hint to the DM and GM) where tons of sales leaders and co-managers just up and left, I was passed around to multiple stores in the district. I worked 40+ hours a week for nine dollars an hour. Management was clique-y at every store. They all spent lots of time in the back on the phone or eating lunch for an hour in a half, while only clocking out for their 30 minutes. Meanwhile, I was CSL-ing for sometimes six hours in a row with no break, even with another manager there. Tons of positions available, which I applied for, and I was strung along (oh you're a shoe-in! You're doing soooo well) But the truth is, they wanted me to keep doing everyone else's work (all the people/positions I was filling in for at different stores) for basically a glorified associate's pay. Relationship between SM's and DM was not professional at all. They were friends more than anything else, and any feedback you gave the DM about SM resulted in retaliation from the SM because they're all buddy buddy. Denied time off, while co-managers and SM got multiple weekends off per month, and obviously changed the schedule whenever they felt like it to fit their needs. This change of schedule was often not communicated to SLT. I worked every single weekend for over four months straight, and the only time I ever got more than two days off in a row was when the store was short on hours and I gave up my hours so the associates could have a four hour shift each. One SM I worked for worked literally less than half of a certain month, while I had four days off that whole month. Store mail was often not read or communicated, and you were on your own to call in associates to do changes in the middle of the afternoon because the opening manager couldn't be bothered to read store mail. As a matter of fact, communication in general was dismal. Promotions were never internal, they always went to an outside source, nevermind that there were a ton of people who would have liked to move up, but were never given the chance. Not a good way to retain people if you won't even give them a chance in the position to prove themselves before you look elsewhere. Was told by a DM 'You'll get a better position when you deserve one', so working 40+ hours, opening/closing, doing all necessary paperwork and floor moves, driving business goals, doesn't make you 'deserving'. Truth is, they just didn't want to pay me more. And that's not just management, associates are taken advantage of as well. Seasoned associates are rode hard during their shifts, expected to work harder than new associates because they know the ropes, and training and development by management is virtually nonexistent.