Sephora reviews

•Incredibly difficult to advance even if you are a great makeup artist and sales person. People that had been working there a long time were overlooked for promotions in lieu of newer employees or external hires. We were never notified of advancement opportunities within the company so many employees would end up leaving and work for a competitor. •Wages are very low for the amount of work that is expected from you. Pay raises were a joke; The 2 raises I did get did not add up to more than a meagerly ¢.20 an hour total. •Only favorites had regularly scheduled time at the beauty studio (this was after the certification) If a client I was working with requested an express service, I was supposed to hand them over to the makeup artist at the beauty studio. Sorry, but that did not fly with most of my clients. When I build a relationship with a client, it is because I know what I am doing and they trust me. They expect me to guide them until they are ready and not hand them off to someone else. That is completely demeaning towards me as a makeup artist; I know what I am doing. •Be prepared to work all day at the register if they are short of cashiers or if management just decides to schedule you there for whatever reason. The same people were always called for cash wrap whilst newer employees were not even trained on how to use it. •Incompetent management which kept changing constantly and overall extremely high employee turnover. I worked there for less than a year and a half and had 6 different leads; by the time I had quit only 2 of my 20 original coworkers were still there. •A ridiculous amount of micromanagement down to having to "ask" to use the toilet or briefly move out of your zone to help a client with something. Too many leads, one would tell me to do something and another would tell me something completely different. •Favoritism by store director; she would overlook certain bad behavior from her favorite employees and write up others for minor infractions. Many times I had received excellent reviews or comments from clients who filled out the survey and was never notified or recognized on the board. I was not the only one who this happened to. Meanwhile favorites always had their survey comments read on morning touch base and put up on the board. Of course, those on the board would win extra gratis. • Ah gratis, many times gratis that was put in my gratis box with my name on it but was never given to me. Again, this happened to other employees as well. The week I resigned, I had a box full of gratis that was "not ready" yet and I never received it either. • A copious amount of never ending cleaning; there were some days that all I did was clean and I am sure a cleaning service job would have compensated me better. If you want this job you have to be ok with cleaning toilets. •Scheduling was often not ready on time and we had to wait until Friday to find out the following week's schedule. Even if management was aware that there were certain times or days which I could not work, I was still scheduled and had to suss it out and find a coworker to switch days/hours with me; this was extremely stressful and frustrating. Very inconsistent and irregular schedule which made it difficult to lead a normal life; one week you could very well work 30 hours and the following week 15. Hours were often cut and people were sent home if it was slow or goal was not met. •Having to clock out and then wait for management to check us out (inspect coat and bags) on our own time before leaving the store for lunch or for the night. Closing meant having to wait for management to come upstairs, check everyone out, turn off lights, set security and throw out the trash all while off the clock. That's right, on our own unpaid time. This often took 10-20 minutes. When I brought this up to management I was met with disdain and a "we all have to help out" reply. Very strict on clocking in time; you cannot clock in a minute late because it will count as a tardy. There is no flexibility whatsoever, unless of course, you are clocking out. • I could go on ranting about other horrible bad boss behavior but rather not as it pertains to this particular location. There are other Sephora stores where upper management is phenomenal.

I've worked retail for many years, and I've also worked for other companies in the beauty industry. I have to say, Sephora is the most poorly-managed business I have ever worked for. I realize that every store is different, but here are some of my observations and personal experiences: -When I first started, the training Sephora had was really helpful. Employees would get one-on-one time with brand representatives and could learn about new products and application techniques. Now, all we get are two videos on Sephora.com once a week, if there's even time to watch them. I haven't been trained at all in close to two months, when before I was getting trained a few times a week. -There is absolutely no follow-through on new policies and procedures. Our store will start a new way of doing something, and then the next week it will be completely disregarded and never spoken of again. There is little communication between management and employees, especially part-time employees, so it's hard to understand what's going on, and it's easy to feel "lost". -Hours are a crapshoot. I was hired as a part-time employee, and there have been months where I've consistently worked 50+ hours a week. I have never been offered a full-time position or health benefits. -Sanitization and cleanliness standards are not enforced. -Gratis (free product) is received on what appears to be solely favoritism. -8 and 9 hour shifts get one one-hour break. If you work 5 hours or less, you will not get a break. -At my store, you used to have to know a member of management or an employee to be hired. Now, the only real requirements are an open schedule and an 'attractive' face. New employees are thrown into doing makeup with no experience or training, and the rest of the store gets reprimanded when that employee gets a bad review from a client. Meanwhile, employees that have been with the store for a while and are waiting to get promoted have to stay at cashier level. -Opportunity for growth is a very long and not very promising process. My store will not "promote from within" unless you are willing to transfer to another store, unfortunately the closest stores are over an hour away. -If you work as a makeup artist or skincare consultant, the pay is much lower compared to other retailers. -Feedback on performance is nonexistent. If you are no longer useful or productive enough to the company, you will not be fired. Rather, you will simply not be scheduled and will receive 0 hours. The employees that this happens to just end up finding a new job and quitting. -Sephora revolves around the 'client survey', an online form that customers fill out giving feedback on their visit to the store. As far as I've been told, the survey is judged by corporate the same way for every store in the company, regardless of how busy that particular store is on a given day, or how many employees are scheduled. This is a very unfair way to judge a store's performance. And finally, in my opinion the biggest "con"- Sephora is micro-managed beyond belief. Everyone is watched like a hawk. You are not allowed to talk to each other while on the floor if there are clients in the store. At one time we had a policy in my store that if we saw a fellow employee talking or not "tasking" (cleaning, etc.) during downtime, we had to tell management so they could be written up. You have to ask permission to use the restroom or wash your hands, and there have been times where I was not 'allowed' to go. The general atmosphere is very tense and uncomfortable. I hope this review will be helpful to those wondering what it's like to work at Sephora. It is definitely not what I expected. When I first started, I wanted makeup artistry to be my career, and I thought that I was taking a step in the right direction to grow within the industry. Working for Sephora has been enough to make me change my career path completely. I am no longer interested in the beauty industry at all.