Best Buy FAQ

Pros

If you’re considering a career here, don’t.

Cons

LOCATION: The head office is located in the middle of nowhere, Burnaby. Isolated and remote. Especially on days when the weather is bad, you’re stuck in a giant building forced to look at rows and rows of cubicles and beige walls that eventually cabin fever kicks in. If you’re used to working downtown or more urban areas, it can be a huge change of scenery. OFFICE ENVIRONMENT: Noisy and chaotic. Especially, the E-commerce department feels like a stock market trading floor. You’re crammed next to people, and when one member of your team gets sick, it spreads and wipes out everyone. Office spaces are constantly being changed to make room. There’s not enough space for everyone. There’s collaborative workspaces around the office but no one uses them because if you’re not at your desk, you’re seen as not working. They were only built to make up for the lack of meeting rooms. BENEFITS: Eventually you’ll discover the perks they offers aren’t that great and you’ll never end up using them. The on-site gym isn’t free, you have to buy a membership to use it, and it’s filled mostly with out-of-date equipment. Except for a few menu items and the salad bar, the cafeteria food is awful. Expect to routinely eat half your lunch and throw out the rest. Avoid the chef entrees. At one point it was passable since the prices were subsidized but they’ve since risen the prices that it’s on par with eating out. Staff discounts aren’t on anything you’d really want like Apple products. Parking is hard to find unless you arrive early. They’ve created an overflow lot but it still gets full. Health benefits are so-so. It’s offered in different tiers you choose from, based on your income and family size. I didn’t get vision coverage and still had to pay 25% of my basic dental fees. No full paid sick days your first year. No holiday closure, you’re expected to work Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, even though there’s nothing really to do. And although the pension program looks appealing, it’s hard to buy into it when you’re uncertain of the well-being and future of the company. SALARY: Everyone’s biggest complaint, pay is low. Negotiate your salary until you’re happy before starting or don’t take the job because it’ll more or less be what you earn the entire duration of your employment. Raises are hard to get, even if you deserve it, since salaries are mandated and approved by HR. The only way to get a bump is to be promoted to an entirely new role that’s more senior but with that comes a mediocre raise, and your list of responsibilities are 2 pages long to the point that it’s not even worth it. You get a 2% increase yearly that the company disguises as a merit increase for good performance, but it’s in fact an inflationary increase, and everyone gets it. WORK/PROCESS: It’s a complete mess. Disorganized with no set process or workflow. Managers and Directors never communicate and have different agendas so you’re steered into the wrong direction, causing you to do the work 3 times over. Most of the day-to-day work feels entry level and monotonous. After 9 months or so, you’ll feel unchallenged and bored. At that point you’ve stopped learning and you’re just doing the same things over and over again. The internal mantra is rinse and repeat. Innovation or new ideas are turned down for what’s always worked because of data or guidelines. Projects start with a need then go straight into execution, skipping the entire planning, development, and strategy stage. Mostly due to poor planning and time, nothing’s thought out. Then when things don’t work, they redo it 3 months later. Could of just done it right first. It’s a reactionary environment. People rush over to your desk interrupting wanting this or that. Work is just churned out. You get large projects without briefs. Leaders and managers want things done in hours or days yet they sit for approval on some VPs desk for weeks or even months until they make up their mind. Tackling the people needed for approvals is another chore in itself. Getting anything done is a slow moving process. The end result of a lot of projects could have been finished and out the door in hours but take weeks to finish. CULTURE: Politics, favouritism, and bureaucratic red tape runs rampant here. They encourage collaboration but departments are in competition of one another. People are disingenuous. I’ve seen managers be nice in-person but behind closed doors you’re spoken about differently. And don’t be fooled by their Life at Best Buy Instagram posts, there’s no culture here. The office is mostly filled with granola type personalities, or people who clock in at 9 and clock out at 5 with no real passion for what they’re doing. It’s a culture of do what you’re told, no questions asked. You can’t fully trust people. There’s some who act like office spies, who send emails to your direct report if you’re 15 minutes late. To use the cliche, you’re made to feel like a cog in a machine. Team events feel more like mandatory fun, and as soon as they’re done, people go home. There’s no holiday party except for a potluck in the cafeteria where you’re expected to buy and bring your own food. And the summer party was doing volunteer work picking up trash at a homeless park. MEETINGS/EMAILS: You spend half your time mostly in useless meetings that go nowhere that the work never gets done. Stand up meetings, team meetings, department meetings, all-team meetings, community practise meetings - they’re endless. And your inbox gets spammed with 300 unnecessary emails a day, which you only really have to reply to a dozen of them. MANAGERS: Are just glorified coordinators that schedule meetings. A lot of them don’t actually manage people, teams, or the work. Probably the most incompetent group of people I’ve worked under. They’re notorious for handing off their work. Be prepared to do projects outside your pay level and experience. Some of them started out as Future Shop store employees that somehow made the move to the head office, and risen the ranks over the years by being at the right place at the right time. They have no formal background or training and have only ever learnt how to do things one way. Really outdated view of modern business practises. They also tend to paint a different picture to leadership that isn’t always accurate. TEAMS: Turnover is high. Entire teams are known to leave in a matter of months. People eventually move on to a better paid job. In the short time I was there, 70% of my original team left. Roles take months to fill, since they don’t offer competitive salaries. New hires are announced but days before they’re suppose to start, back out last minute when a better job offer comes up. Others pick up the workload in the interim. Then you have to spend a month training new hires. Teams in some departments are also shrinking, people leave and aren’t replaced, the extra work is just piled on existing employees.

Advice to Management

The company is in desperate need of a restructuring. Let people do what they were hired to do. Departments should be more integrated and less siloed. Don’t overcomplicate the process and work. For a tech company, set some modern day work practices like working from home options. Focus on results instead of whether or not you’re at your desk 8 hours a day.

Pros

the culture and sense of community is very strong with best buy. they offer good benefits and pension

Cons

salaries and hourly pay are extremely low across the board.

Advice to Management

dont even pay above and beyond, just pay as per the market. also some leaderships need to be re-evaluated.

Pros

Nice associates, good maternity leave, fast onboard process

Cons

No great follow up with customers

Pros

Great employee discount, decent pay, full time had good benefits.

Cons

retail hours, lack of growth in the company, management is cozy and will never leave.

Pros

benefits, flexibility, 401k, dental life insurance

Cons

the job, customers, leadership, culture, senior leadership

Advice to Management

The culture at most locations needs improvement.