Kmart reviews

3.6

56% would recommend to a friend

(6,688 total reviews)

Edward S. Lampert

58% approve of CEO

55% positive business outlook

Kmart has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 6,688 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Kmart employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Ventas al mayoreo y al menudeo industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

7K reviews
1.0
Nov 17, 2013

Short on honor

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

As a GM, you can write your own schedule within certain guidelines.

Cons

The culture in the Southern Region does not honor proven performance and lacks integrity. Store Managers are not treated with dignity and respect. Essentially, a Store Manager's role is largely just for the purpose of having someone to blame for the company's poor performance. That of course is an exaggerated point, but unfortunately it is too close to being true for anyone reading this to be comfortable with pursuing a career with this company. During my tenure with the company, I never spoke with a single Store Manager that felt good about their jobs and none of them felt valued and appreciated by the company.

1.0
Nov 7, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Decent pay compared to other retail companies in the area. Interview process was relatively relaxed, and the hiring process was fast.

Cons

Almost my entire experience with Kmart was negative. Most obviously, continuing from one of the "pros", the interview process was very simple. The reason for this was that the Kmart I worked at hired virtually every person who applied to the store. The interview was even scheduled during the application, before they even looked at this. They hired everyone because they expected to lose most of their employees within a few months, and because unemployment was high at the time they were able to get away with that. As a result, they really did not care about any of the employees individually. If an employee had an concerns they would almost directly say "If you don't like it, leave". Secondly, Sears cards. They told you that you had to sell a certain number of cards each day. They would say they were the highest-volume store in the region (Which was a lie), and would threaten to fire you if you couldn't convince a certain number of customers each week that they needed a credit card with ridiculously high interest rates. If a customer got declined due to credit checks, you got no recognition for trying. Some evenings I would only get a few customers, making it impossible to sell enough cards for them. Thirdly, the entire store was ridiculously understaffed. Starting my second day, I was scheduled alone with no other employees. I would often need to cover three or four departments at once, alone, even when just starting. Fourth, they judge employees on completely ridiculous standards. Your actual performance (aside from credit card sales) played little in their assessments. They had an automated system in place to fire employees based on "infractions". When I was working there, I was three minutes late one day. That counted as an infraction on your record. Clearly there is a need for punctuality, but they would set their clocks ahead, and would threaten to fire anyone who was more than "two minutes late", even if their clocks were wrong. Fifthly, they told my friend they were going to fire her for having to leave due to a family emergency. They said (as I witnessed), that if she left because of the emergency she shouldn't bother coming back. In slight defense of the company, HR afterwards said that shouldn't have happened. The person who initially fired her came up with an excuse that they were going to fire her anyways for a different reason, however. and HR did not seem to even investigate at all. This is when I left the company. Lastly, they would schedule you horribly for their own convenience. Often they would schedule 7 days a week, for four-five hour days. This way you were not full time, but they could have you there every day. They would let virtually no employees be full time, as they did not want to have to pay for benefits. Also, I was told that there were employees there that had been there for eight years and never got any raises outside of what was required for minimum wage, however I have no way to personally verify this. All in all, this is a company that I would never recommend to anyone. I have worked for many different retail chains, and Sears Holding Corporation is by far the worst I have ever worked at. Perhaps it was the specific managers at my store at the time, but something is clearly wrong when you hire almost anyone and still can't keep a staff.

2.0
Nov 5, 2013

12 years for what?

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Associate discount at Kmart & Sears, nice people, most customers appreciate that there are other shopping options other than Walmart. Nice for a part time job if you can get the flexibility you need out of the management team. If your a hard worker, you know what you are doing, show up to work without calling out once a month, you will get the hours. But because of Obama Care you might only able to get 29 hours because they don't want to offer you benefits if they can help it.

Cons

Outdated technology, low pay, no raises in 5 years, no 401K matching since 2009, bonus structures change yearly and monthly. It's pretty sad that you can go to McDonald's and make more even with their labor struggles for higher wages. Not enough payroll to keep up with tasks. Many associates are doing multiple jobs instead of one. Upper management is blind to what is really happening in stores because they are too focused on turning everything into a number and getting 85% usage out of their loyalty program. Remember when retail used to be about selling things and making displays?

Viewing 160 - 162 of 6,688 Reviews

Glassdoor has 7,010 Kmart reviews submitted anonymously by Kmart employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Kmart is right for you.