No work/life balance - General Manager Ulta Beauty Employee Review

2.0
Sep 21, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great pay. Great experience running a complicated business. The company is growing so fast that there a many opportunities to grow and relocate.

Cons

Don't plan on having a personal life. Things change daily and you can't keep up with all of the demands. Corporate partners and DM's have unrealistic expectations of what you can do in your 45 hours a week. Plan on working 12 hours days and six days a week in order to get it all done. Operations are ancient and a lot of time is wasted. Not enough payroll, although that is the norm in retail.

Explore other reviews about Ulta Beauty

5.0
Apr 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Ulta has an amazing team and has great management.

Cons

They are short with hours.

2.0
May 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

good benefits for full time employees from what I hear. hourly pay if commission goal isn't met which is nice for those building clientele

Cons

this could just be the case for my store, especially because it's a very high volume store, but as a stylist I don't feel valued at all. I expected this to some degree coming to a huge corporate salon, but the biggest issue is that they try to pretend they care about you. but at the end of the day, if you're not meeting the sales they want/growing quickly enough, they don't care about you as a stylist. if you don't already have an established clientele, business is highly unreliable as there is no late cancellation/no show policy. many services are underpriced in my opinion, making it hard to meet their sales goals as an entry level part-time stylist unless fully booked every day. all they care about is getting as many clients in and out and quickly and possible and they hire more stylists than there are chairs, making every day inconsistent and chaotic. the relative stability of hourly pay is commission threshold isn't met seems enticing for stylists still building a clientele, but the hourly pay is wildly inconsistent between stylists, even those of the same tier. as a stylist of over 3 years who moved and is starting over with no clientele, I make over $2 less per hour than a fellow stylist who just got her license a few months ago and started taking clients for the first time last week. you're better off working at a place like Great Clips or Hair Cuttery because at least they're honest about what they are.

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