Four years lost - Stylist Ulta Beauty Employee Review

1.0
Dec 7, 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are some free education classes You learn a lot about building your clientele The store provides an oppurtunity to get clients on slower days

Cons

I worked at ulta for four years and was the longest standing employee in the building. Many times I was put into a position to do things that were not a part of my job, but being the type of employee that I am I did them. Years of doing managment work and not getting paid for it or receiving any recognition really took its toll. I wanted this to be my career, but in my opinion ulta does not want people to make a career. I was bringing them atleast 2000 dollars a week,more than I can say for anyone I worked with over the four years I was there. I was sometims the only stylist and also became responsible countless tmes for the rest of the staff in the salon. I took this in stride and about 6 months before I left I was asked if I would want to be in the position of manager, I did not except because at this point I had seen 6 people in and out with that role. I finally left because as soon as the new ceo and head of salon took over, I saw the company as asinking ship. Maybe they will still make a great profit but they will not have happy employees.they have an ancient cloc in/out system that they were firing multiple people for missed punches with a faulty clock. They do not trust their employees or clearly communicate rules which they expect you to follow. There is a huge lack of communication for 2 years my salon was checking out clients incorectly and no one ever said anything, they didn't notice ad then all of a sudden we risked losing our jobs over it, something we had been tarined to do. This is a good place to work if you are in highschool and live with your parents..but not if you have bills to pay. I began to become sick to my stomach every day at work thinking I would loose my job over following my directs managments idea of the ulta policy. It was the most awful feeling after going above and beyond for the company for so many years. To give you an idea of the turnover..I worked with around 50 stylists, 5 general managers, and six salon managers, 4 stock room managers, 6 assist. Mangers, and 3 merch managers, and probaly around 150 store employees.

Explore other reviews about Ulta Beauty

5.0
May 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

everything about the job was great. the people and work and i was fine with the hours 5am-11am sometimes

Cons

i hardly got days to work

2.0
May 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

good benefits for full time employees from what I hear. hourly pay if commission goal isn't met which is nice for those building clientele

Cons

this could just be the case for my store, especially because it's a very high volume store, but as a stylist I don't feel valued at all. I expected this to some degree coming to a huge corporate salon, but the biggest issue is that they try to pretend they care about you. but at the end of the day, if you're not meeting the sales they want/growing quickly enough, they don't care about you as a stylist. if you don't already have an established clientele, business is highly unreliable as there is no late cancellation/no show policy. many services are underpriced in my opinion, making it hard to meet their sales goals as an entry level part-time stylist unless fully booked every day. all they care about is getting as many clients in and out and quickly and possible and they hire more stylists than there are chairs, making every day inconsistent and chaotic. the relative stability of hourly pay is commission threshold isn't met seems enticing for stylists still building a clientele, but the hourly pay is wildly inconsistent between stylists, even those of the same tier. as a stylist of over 3 years who moved and is starting over with no clientele, I make over $2 less per hour than a fellow stylist who just got her license a few months ago and started taking clients for the first time last week. you're better off working at a place like Great Clips or Hair Cuttery because at least they're honest about what they are.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All