Pros
If you're looking for a retail position, and are not particularly needy, Sears Holdings stores (Sears, Kmart) aren't particularly bad places to work. Retail assumes its own frustrations, and SHC has their share, but overall the experience is mostly positive. That comes from working with and within a group of similar individuals sharing similar goals. In a consultative sales position, if you are scheduled for the right number of hours and mix of shifts, you really can - assuming sufficient customers - shape your own pay. I worked initially in Home Appliances and before the credit crunch and housing market bubble burst, made good money for my area. You need to get ahead of the curve in product knowledge, enjoy working with people, be a good listener and also work long hours, but the opportunity is there to make above average wages, depending on your market.
Cons
Unfortunately, the downsides vastly outweigh the best reasons to work at Sears Holdings. Poor management, many with little or no knowledge of retail or promoted beyond their experience and competencies combine to drive performance down. Corporate policies of holding management accountable for driving performance metrics such as sales of protection agreements, installations, accessories and other add-on's often makes a manager lash out at employees for not performing up to standard, even though they individually can't be held accountable in the general sense. However, nothing prohibits a manager from penalizing an employee by reducing their number of scheduled hours or giving them the worst possible mix of shifts, thus ensuring they never achieve the goals set for them, get frustrated, make less money and quit. Little regard is given to actual product sales as greater emphasis is on the add-on items, as they have greater profit and the store - and management - is rated on that performance. Little attention is paid to complaints from those employees trying to do a good job - that they don't have the tools, the training, or that another employee is violating company policies. In one instance, a long-time employee consistently violated company policy, not to mention federal and state regulations in a variety of areas, but because they sold more protection agreements than any other employee, little attention was paid to complaints of "muscling in" or running roughshod over other employees to get to customers first - even though such actions are technically against company policy. Finally, SHC policy of considering 30 hours a week to be fulltime doesn't exactly contribute to someone transitioning from a part-time job and making more money. The amounts deducted from pay for benefits and the shifts scheduled often result in the employee making less per hour than when they were simply part-time. Corporate policies regarding benefits are often not followed with regard to sick leave payments and in other areas. Employees are expected to drive their own vehicles to distant locations for "training meetings" with less than the standard Federal mileage reimbursement, and limited hourly pay. As with any major corporation, SHC benefits from a variety of government reimbursement and tax benefit programs, training grants, etc. which actually reward high employee turnover, so the incentive to do well and remain a "member of the team" just isn't there. There's always someone else knocking on the HR door!
