Pros
The Gallery does a good job about creating a cohesive team environment. They believe in feedback and always putting the customer first. Daily recaps allow the team to celebrate each other’s contributions and set a strong foundation for the day. These meetings give the team an opportunity to talk about what is going on with clients and offer each other support and assistance where needed.
Cons
Most of the leadership team, including the co-presidents doesn’t live within the values of the company. When they cut hourly employee weekly hours in half earlier this year, they suggested that employees use their accrued vacation time to make up for the loss of hours (not sure this was appropriate from a legal perspective). They hoped some employees would be forced to quit because of the lack of hours and this would allow them to not provide the employee unemployment benefits which they would be obligated to provide if they laid off some employees. The company did nothing during this difficult time to support their employees and it has had a long lasting negative effect on team moral. There has been a freeze on pay increase for the last two years. The company provides no career-path planning and asks you to do management level work without the title or pay. The San Francisco Gallery Leader leads through passive aggressive behaviors, guilt-ridden tactics, and talks about other employees behind their backs with other team members. RH has not done a good job of cultivating a trusting environment with their employees. Leaders use the RH Values in order to keep employees in line rather than as a tool to develop their employees and make them feel valued. Do not be fooled by the way this Gallery looks. While the place looks pristine, it is maintained by the employees and they are expected to act as a janitorial staff as well as maintain the garden area. Any nice clothes that you wear to work, will get dusty and filthy, if not ruined. The Design Consultant/Designer that just created a 140 K presentation could later that same day be cleaning the bathrooms. The company should have a cleaning company who maintains the cleanliness of the Galleries so the employees can focus on the jobs they were hired to do. One of their “values” is love us or leave us, but it’s more like take it or leave it.
