Old Navy reviews

Profits over people. Do not be fooled by people-first initiatives and benefits package. Despite solid sales growth, they choose to demote and eliminate leadership positions across the nation. Severely understaffed in many locations for both managers and associates, but refuse to negotiate their mediocre pay rates, because "while other brands may pay better, Old Navy's culture is better" Beyond micromanaging - Endless communications and last minute deadlines. Photos and surveys due constantly to verify you've completed a task. Constantly adding hours and hours of conference calls and micromanaging touch bases throughout the week, and not understanding why you can't effectively run your store. As a GM, you do not decide the pay increases for the individuals on your team. You still write their performance reviews, and someone who doesn't even read it will decide your teams annual raises. Under performers often receive higher increases than top performers. Upper leadership will take advantage of your desire to grow and develop by offering you endless stretch assignments and "expert" roles. The majority of these lead to nowhere, and only offer to take workload off of their plates while piling it onto yours. Customers are abusive. Generous PTO, but good luck actually using it. This job will destroy your mental health and get you nowhere.

Training: don’t count on much. All very archaic: modules and reading booklets. Very store manager 101. The merchandising videos? Don’t even pay attention to those wow. Training as a sales associate would have been more useful. Work/life balance. There is none period. Of course unless you consider responding to incessant GroupMe messages from 6am until well passed closing time as your idea of an enjoyable day off then by all means. These messages are every single day in multiple chats...trying to keep track of that nonsense in addition to trying to be a business owner and run your box leaves me questioning “what exactly does anyone do around here EXCEPT plan and talk about the plan?” Conf calls are way to frequent and mostly come out of nowhere to talk about the exact same thing sent over GroupMe 90 messages ago. I’m convinced there is a conf call minute quota DMs have to hit. It’s a micro-managed-cult-like-atmosphere: no free thinking. Do what your told, check the 50 boxes on GroupMe, post pictures, be a robot, check more boxes...and here drink this. EVERYTHING is micro managed from the “volunteer” work to how you celebrate your team or decorate your break room (you HAVE to btw). It truly takes the joy out of doing things from the heart when it is force fed. When did it become such a bad thing to reward employees for jobs exceptionally done and not just because they decided to show up for their shift for once? I have never experienced an organization that makes it as acceptable to not come to a scheduled shift as this one. We are NOT creating future leaders here or teaching them valuable real life skills, we are merely contributing to the “everyone gets a prize” mentality that is plaguing the workforce today. I missed when the paycheck stopped being the prize for good work ethic. Payroll: it’s not enough and it will never be enough no matter where you work. It’s one of if not the biggest expense organizations have & I for one absolutely believe in doing more with less. This payroll system is easily manageable IF the company could turn down the volume of the nonsensical to-do lists for one second. THIS is what will suck the life out of you: doing & planning things that are absolutely not conducive to the desired outcome. POS system: think the originals are still in place. Want to fix the line problems and double transactions without incurring more payroll cost, this is step 1. District Managers: not sure what they are being paid to do here but it certainly isn’t to visit stores or lead by example or do any kind of follow up. And what is micro-managing without follow up? Pencil whipping the result is what. Inspect what you expect and for the sake of your leadership teams DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO. I have a sales associate who has worked for the brand 3 years mornings/afternoon...the first time she saw the DM she asked “who is that?” I asked shocked “you’ve never met your DM” to which she responded “what’s a DM?” Upper management: just. Not. Nice. Maybe they are when you know they are coming and can fake a visit like your store operates out of a catalog. They are ONLY interested in talking to the GM and only interested in what is wrong in the store. I do appreciate the fact they give you the feedback directly and not filter it thru the DM channel (because let’s be honest here what’s a DM) however what I don’t appreciate is their lack of attention or desire to learn about the associates or other leaders in the box that are on the front lines of the organization & true representation of the brand. There aren’t enough snacks, lapel pins, and 15 minute breaks to make up for what a little face time can do for the confidence of a 17-year-Old. Don’t call yourself a people first company if you won’t bother to get to know any of the people.