Can't wait to get out - Anonymous employee Nordstrom Employee Review

2.0
Oct 13, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- sample sales. you can score some great deals. - increased associate discounts at certain times of the year. - nice but clique-y colleagues. - nice merchandise. - associate discount applies to the discount price (if it's on sale). - great views of seattle @ 865. - feels like nordstrom's trying to offer better perks... a shuttle runs from 865 to 864, workout classes in 803.

Cons

where do i begin... - old technology. and i mean old. if you're a peon like me, don't expect a phone with caller ID. you also get a desktop, not a laptop. no access to owa or webmail. IT will tell you to just get emails sent to your phone. - sometimes feels like a stodgy old company that could use a breath of fresh air. - upper management has no idea what they're doing. inconsistent messages that change daily (if not hourly), which makes it a very frustrating work environment and inevitably leads to rework and inefficiency. - upper management needs to weigh in on everything even if they have little to no knowledge on the subject matter. really, does every ppt deck need to go through 3 directors before it's good to go? sets back projects and deliverables unnecessarily. - associate discounts for peons are 20%. managers (i believe) and above get 33%. - too much overhead. multiple teams doing the same work, and if things get busy, the solution is to hire more people (and external candidates to boot) vs. reassessing the teams and responsibilities. - too much red tape. it's ridiculous. you'd think nordstrom has some top secret government secret or the cure to cancer. - stingy with benefits, particulary pto. you get 13 pto days unless you negotiate. and my recruiter lied to me! when interviewing, she indicated that nordstrom has unlimited sick days. find out 4 months later that it's actually 5.9 hours. you don't even get 1 full sick day. - lacks innovation/change is slow to come. don't come in, thinking you'll change this and that. you'll get push back, and the changes you want to implement will happen very slowly, if at all. - some managers and above don't get the industry. they don't understand even basic industry lingo. - ineffective IT. they go through a reorg like every other month, and don't expect any changes to ever be communicated to you.

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Pros

Great team, relaxed, positive environment.

Cons

On your feet all day.

2.0
Jun 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Decent base pay, somewhat autonomous, great tip potential.

Cons

The company has changed for the worse since COVID. When I came back the mood of the entire store had shifted. Gone were the days of comradery, customer focus, and taking pride in a job well done. In its place there is a new culture of cutthroat sales, a severe decline in customer focus, and worst of all a new focus on profit over customer satisfaction. When I was told that the amount the store charged for a shoe shine was not enough to do the best job I could for a customer I knew things had gone downhill for the company. Not to mention I watch a manager prey on a mentally disabled person in order to secure a sale, when the person could not understand what was being offered. Sad that such a once great company is now just another greed ridden corporation.

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