Fun, If You Don't Mind Stress and Dead Animals (Great Ground-Level People, Though) - Anonymous employee PetSmart Employee Review

2.0
May 6, 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good pay compared to many similar and pop culture retailers, flexibility, animal-loving staff, fun daily tasks for those who love to care for animals, early potential to move up for those with the drive and knowledge base. EXTREMELY helpful associate assistance programs. They helped me rebuild after I lost everything in Hurricane Laura. Huge thanks to the PAAF people.

Cons

•Not many hours available. •Corporate policies are a sham; corporate office (NOT store managers) will force you to sell animals to unsafe conditions against policy. •Training and animal education SEVERELY lacking. You are ON YOUR OWN. •Not enough pay to deal with the way freight and warehouse treat the animals/DOAs and illnesses. No shade to warehouse and freight, as I'm sure their job is awful. ⚠️⚠️⚠️Recently the stores have been more and more understaffed. Never was a problem until COVID showed them they could fleece the workers. Expect to be OVERWORKED and scheduled for unwanted overtime. You may be asked (read as: required) to take care of things that are far beyond your pay grade and job description, things which you are not certified to do.

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5.0
May 4, 2026
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Pros

Fun, welcoming, easy, flexible, growth

Cons

Weekends, slow, customers, busy, fast pace

1.0
Jun 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The company pushes for more and more from the bottom level employees without better pay. I worked there before the restructuring and; not much can make me cry, but working here sure did, even back then. I can’t imagine how anxiety inducing it must be to work there now. Animal welfare is a complete non-concern. The only thing that’s pushed is sell, sell, sell. It’s borderline dystopian. Bad management seems to be a common issue, not only from my experience, but many others’ as well. I worked until I was an exhausted sweaty mess to make sure everything in pet care or, when I groomed, the salon, was cleaned to perfection as expected of me (and I reiterate: “me,” because these standards were not expected of my co-workers, just me) and overall felt very unseen. The only times I did feel “seen,” was when mistakes were made. Work was treated like boot camp. A co-worker that was subtley targeting/bullying me, and even started rumors accusing me of racist remarks(!!!), was promoted and anything I reported was downplayed because they were friends with the assistant manager. Working here was an overall traumatizing experience.

Cons

Employees are expected to be work-robots

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PetSmart Response
2w
We’re disappointed to hear that your experience didn’t reflect what we aim to create for our associates, and we appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. We invite you to contact the CareSmart line at 1-800-738-4693 so we can learn more and see how we can support you. Thank you.
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