Pros
- Competitive hourly rate compared to the rest of the retail industry - Discount off clothes (can be a con too, since it encourages you to put your pay back into the company) - Some decent managers/coworkers - Flexibility with scheduling (though this is getting more strict, as I understand it)
Cons
- You are your SPH, for the most part. The schedule is made based on your current standing SPH for the last few weeks. Thought you'd pick up a couple weekday morning shifts that nobody else could take to do your coworkers and managers a favour? It doesn't matter that you are showing dedication, if you fail to sell during those hours without much traffic it will still factor in to your SPH, and thus, your schedule for the next week. Lower SPH means less shifts, which means less selling, which means a lower SPH. See how this is a downward spiral into no hours? - Serious lack of communication. During my employment at Aritzia (several years) my store manager changed 4 times. The lack of communication between these managers and their supervisors caused some serious confusion and conflict regarding my numbers and their expectations of me. All of the blame was placed on me, and I was even made to feel threatened that I would lose my job in my attempts to reconcile the discrepancies between the information I was told by various people. - Internally competitive atmosphere. The system sets you up in a less-than-friendly competition with your coworkers. In this essentially all-female workplace, tensions are sure to be high (and they are!) Sometimes it's just bad luck that you happen to be maintaining your section or on lunch when a lady picks up 10 new full-priced items and you don't get to help her... You must have the eyes of a hawk to stand a chance when working with an SS or SSA. - Micromanagement. No matter what you think is the most important task to be doing at any given moment, you best make sure it's okay with your manager first. For the most part, I found that management does not trust that the sales associates have the capacity to prioritize. - Your managers will definitely have a say in your appearance and let you know if it isn't "on brand"... obviously you are representing the brand if you're working here in a customer-facing position so this is expected to some degree. Where this becomes completely unfair (and borderline unlawful) is when some sales girls are allowed to alter their appearances in certain ways (dying their hair, having visible tattoos and/or piercings) and others are not. Unforunately, I had several issues with this during my time at Aritzia.