DAVIDsTEA Employee Reviews about "work life balance"

Pros

-Good Pay -Great People -50% discount

Cons

-Work life balance -Some upper management

Pros

Let me just say that there were plenty of things that made this job great. The customers were awesome, the coworkers were, too, and the staff discount and free tea while working were also perks. I made a lot of friends and legitimately liked going to work for the most part.

Cons

One of the only cons (and the reason I ultimately left) was management. Our manager treated certain staff terribly, and when I went to the district manager about it, she surprised me at the store to talk about it, meaning I had no notes and no idea she was coming. I was told that the issues were my fault, and she wouldn't even discuss concerns other staff had brought to me because they weren't there.I was the fourth person to quit at that store because of the manager in the past two months. Other than that, they do expect the job to be most of your life, and when you try to bring in a work-life balance things go downhill.

Pros

Supportive Environment, ability to hire, train and develop great team members. Good pay and benefits, bonus, etc. Rewarding experience with customers. Great branding and of course TEA :D

Cons

Unrealistic expectations, poor chances to move up or develop beyond your current position. Negatives addressed far more than the positives. Work life balance is pretty decent, however don't expect to get all your work done in the 37 hours a week your scheduled. The culture and values are really just face value (on paper) but not practiced or upheld by the upper management teams.

Pros

-50% off discount -Amazing coworkers and customers -Bonus Program for Store Managers -3 weeks vacation (Store Managers)

Cons

-Recently undertook a "40 hours per workweek is the goal, not the expectation" outlook and actively require more overtime of management -Elimination of flexible admin time means managers need to either lie about when they're taking time to accomplish tasks or consistently miss deadlines -Focussed on "removing sales barriers" while adding more admin and operational tasks every week, without time added to accomplish -Part/Time and Assistant Manager pay is well below market trend, and team members are told that job perks (tea on shift, work/life balance, loving your job) should compensate for this -Micro-managing is the norm; expect to receive multiple emails and calls through the day asking about your sales and what you're doing to impact them -Promotions at Keyholder and Assistant Manager level are based on Popularity/ favourites and not skill level -Company will make multiple focus changes through the week, then complain that p/t team members aren't fully aligned and up to date on all information -Company mission and values focus on innovation and investing in people, but aren't backed up with action

Pros

-The teams you built -Employee discount -Colourful environment -If you want a development, you'll get extra tasks/contracts -Flexible dresscode

Cons

-No work/life balance, too much hours (you have 3h of ''paper work'' per week, but you would actually need 1h a day to say the least) -Poor benefits for full time employee -Communication between stores and head office -Corrupt HR, lack of transparency -Salaries and bonuses -Poor hiring/promotion process

Pros

The company itself is fun and friendly. You are encouraged to engage with the community. You get an amazing discount on product, fun marketing campaigns, unlimited free tea while you work!

Cons

New senior management has ruined the company culture. Horrible work-life balance, old school corporate mentality, and no job security (you will be fired if your store is not performing).

Pros

- 50% off discount - Regulars/Customer base - Free drinks on shift

Cons

Now that the very few pros of working at DT are out of the way, let’s talk about the MANY cons and why I can only recommend staying AWAY from this company. You will like it at first and very quickly realize that you’ve made a horrible mistake. DAVIDsTEA is a failing company. They do not understand their customer base in the slightest. They try very different things every time to try and keep it ‘fresh’ (soup tea? Really?!) but they fail 70% of the time. They expanded far too quickly and the company is dying as a result. Stores almost never make their goals or their comp (how much they made last year). The company has a lot of potential that they’re throwing away due to focus on the wrong things. A big mistake is their focus on ‘sampling’. If you got hired, especially as a Tea Guide, be ready to hear that word a LOT. It basically means standing outside the front of your store, whether on the street or inside your mall, for HOURS (2-6+) at a time with little breaks asking every single person if they want a sample. If they accept, you have to give them a huge spiel on the teas their trying and basically force them into the store. The sales tactic of davidstea is very forced, using something called a ‘flowchart’ to try and assess what a customer needs, but it comes off very harassing and forced. If you don’t do these steps, upper management will get after you. Speaking of management, DT has a terrible team. District Managers are extremely intimidating and stressful, where as Store Managers ‘coach’ everything you do, even if you did well. They will always find something you couldn’t of done better. You will NEVER get a ‘good job!’ from anyone in upper management. DT also expects their company to be your life. Say goodbye to any work/life balance you had because you will be expected to know all current promotions before you come into store via a new letter sent out every week. They say you don’t have to read it on your time off but become very annoyed if you choose not to. Expect a lot of shift changes and cuts. As a result of lower budgeting due to the company failing, hours are constantly being cut. In my personal experience, I’ve seen multiple tea guides only get one 3 hour shift a week for multiple weeks in a row. Even if they had a 4-6 hour shift, it wasn’t uncommon for them to get sent home early to ‘save labor’. As a result, don’t even think of trying to get full time. The last big issue with DT is how much upper management will pick favourites. Whoever these favourites are will get more hours and better shifts (10-4 instead of 6-9, for example). If you aren’t the favourite, expect to be constantly compared to other people and asked to ‘Be like them’. This happens in multiple stores within the company. The will constantly wave the few cents extra you make (for tea guides it’s usually 10-30 cents over minimum wage, for key holders it’s usually 50-80 cents) as if you make dollars more an hour and that’s why you’re “paid more to work hard”. You could easily make the same amount of money at another job while giving less effort. I could keep going on. This list is virtually endless. I can’t stress how much I advise not working for this company. With the way it’s going I don’t see the company being open within the next five years. DO NOT WORK FOR DAVIDSTEA.

Pros

I work with some of my great friends and there's a hefty discount

Cons

I have worked at davids for 4 years and worked at 4 different stores. Its the same everywhere. Employees are punished for being friends with coworkers. Ive been told im too chummy with coworkers and apparently that distracts from helping customers (our store consistently makes our goals and i consistently receive good marks on appraisals) Seems as though uppers are jealous of coworkers being friends. Pretty odd for a company that preaches inclusivity. Whilst working with friends you are held to a higher standard to make more money or you will be accused or getting distracted by your friends No raises because the company hanse money left yet managers receive monthly bonuses when their store makes their monthly goal Men with less experience are promoted above women and paid more for the same job whilst their colleagues hove more management experience and experience at DAVIDsTEA. And even the men don't make near close to living wage. Again, pretty odd for a company that preaches inclusivity The company advertises competitive wages yet ive worked there for 4 years and don't even make 1$ more than when i started, despite receiving glowing feedback. Upper management has no idea what they are doing. They do not listen to customer feedback and errors and changes takes years to take effect Managers make schedules in their own favour, give themselves all the day shifts and let the key holders take all the evening and closing shifts. Opening is easy and takes 15 minutes. Closing is complicated and takes 45+minutes depending. Upper management blames everything on store managers and store managers take everything out on key holders and tea guides. No one holds managers responsible for their actions. Extreme favouritism in hours. No work life balance when you get scheduled to close every night.

Pros

• Company culture • Opportunities to try all sorts of different teas • Online training courses are educational

Cons

• Manager turnover rate is high • Lack of work/life balance • Unable to find adequate coverage when unwell to work • Concerns about work environment are not addressed after bringing it up with management

Pros

-50% off everything -People there are nice.

Cons

-No work life balance at all for managers.