Pros
Great client experience early on in your career. It will show you that you most likely never want to be in a client facing role ever again, but give you the experience to navigate client situations with ease. The 50% off employee discount that is really only 25% off from what the public gets is nice if you can afford anything. The Galleries are pretty.
Cons
If you have talent, do not waste it here. On the outside RH appears to be a company that has it together, cares about their people, their mission, and their values. However, this is the biggest shambles of a company you could ever work for. RH claims to be a luxury design company leading the way in design…RH is a mediocre retail furniture store with an absurd price tag. The cult-like atmosphere often described in reviews is accurate. Daily hour long values meetings push the “values” RH has but never upholds. The CEO is idolized at a level that is not understandable. From the moment you apply you will be lied to and blindsided on what your actual role is. If you do not drink the kool-aid, good luck. I had to drink alcohol daily upon getting home from shifts to cope with the nonsense and could only afford cheap wines with the salary paid to me. RH is a toxic and exhausting work environment. It is toxic for a multitude of reasons that are entertained in all levels of the company that will never change. You will see countless job postings for RH positions but don’t get confused why, RH is always hiring because people are always quitting. The turnover rate is unfortunate. It is a retail company with retail hours. Expect to work late, especially in galleries that have a hospitality aspect. There is no work-life balance. Employees receive 1 weekend off per month, if you’re lucky. The pay and benefits are comical. There is no 401k matching, no commission, insulting low hourly pay, and full time employees don’t get 40 hours a week. The reality is 35-37 hours a week which long term is a huge financial difference when you already are being paid so little. With 2 random days off per week employees often work 6+ day stretches at a time. As an employee your entire success rides on excelling ridiculous daily, weekly, and monthly sales goals. It’s a simple formula - you sell a lot, you will be a leaders favorite. If you don’t sell a lot, you’re doing all the dirty work and getting picked on. If you have sales skills to sell clients uneven stapled veneers on cheap wood and discolored fabric for $5,000 and make them believe it is a luxury item then you will do well…until 4 months later when the item gets delivered and is not up to quality creating an issue you have to then solve. RH has no warranty on any items due to “high quality”, hmm. Additionally, galleries show <15% of items in the showroom, it’s real hard to convince innocent clients to purchase a $8,000 item they have never seen and neither have you. Not to mention, the learning curve is long due to all the product RH sells plus the 50-150+ ways each product is customizable. You constantly will sound uneducated on product to clients thus inviting very rude comments from clients for not knowing all answers from the top of your head to their questions. The position itself is a joke. You are not given the tools to succeed from a training, technological, and support level. You are a sales consultant, customer service rep, greeter, curator, product knowledge person, cleaner, and phone answerer all in one (without knowing that when you took the job). There are no legit offices or desks…you sit at a dining room table in an uncomfortable dining chair in the middle of the showroom. You will develop permeant back problems from the awful ergonomics. Multiple times a day you must participate in the team email chain congratulating people for doing the job they were hired and paid to do…then same thing on a field level…and as a bonus you participate in the google group chat ongoing all day long. Insecure much? The micromanaging will drive you insane having to ask permission to use the restroom, drink water, take lunch break, and even to send an email because you regularly will be told no. You must be fully present and engaged on the showroom floor, which takes tough skin to smile through the unpleasant clientele all day long. The amount of client complaints you will hear daily over the phone, email, and in person about the low grade of quality shown in all aspects of RH that you individually cannot do anything about, will wear you out. The leadership team acts like high school mean girls. Leaders are rude, disrespectful, and nosy in anyones business regardless of if you give them a reason to talk or not. Leaders regularly call employees the wrong name, months into said employees being an employee there. Leaders constantly bad mouth about other leaders and the employees below them. Leaders are more interested in gossip than completing their daily tasks and throw a fit when they must step up and "lead". Leaders discredit and laugh about other legit, successful real design firms in the industry. It is a true shame this is the work culture promoted. If you express any sense of discontentment or show any attitude at work leaders will make you feel crazy and that you are not entitled to your own feelings and opinions. I, personally, and my teammates have cried multiple times at work due to the leaders.
