Build-A-Bear reviews

3.8

59% would recommend to a friend

(1,769 total reviews)

Sharon John

60% approve of CEO

51% positive business outlook

Build-A-Bear has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 1,769 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Build-A-Bear employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
5.0
Feb 4, 2017

Great job for students

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Lovely environment to work in, felt very welcomed when I first joined the team and was always supported throughout my training. Genuinely feels like a big family. It's great to see the children so happy and make their experiences so special. Love how we get rewarded for doing things well ,always an incentive to do better and work harder. If you're wanting to move up the career ladder to a higher position, management are more than welcome to offer training and extra support to get you where you want to be. Benefits such as honey pay (extra hours pay for a 8 or more hour shift) and staff discount is also a bonus.

Cons

A lot to learn about the process and background information and making sure you remember every step for each child's experience. Can't always get a lot of hours unless at peak times like Christmas and school holidays.

5.0
Jan 27, 2017

Bear Builder

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Its a super positive environment to work in. Everyone is extremely friendly and management is flexible with scheduling.

Cons

There aren't many downsides with working at Build-A-Bear, the only that I could think of you don't get scheduled for a lot of hours because they don't need a ton of people working at once.

4.0
Jan 9, 2017

Build A Bear is a nice enough place to work for a student

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The people are really really friendly and genuinely care about the children's experience while in store. Colleagues are welcoming and very happy to train new staff and make sure they feel comfortable before setting them loose on the floor. Working with children all the time was tiring but very rewarding, and there were always colleagues around to support you if necessary. The staff were very understanding if you were having an off day - a friend died while I worked there are they were incredibly understanding and supportive, sending me home when I was having trouble being cheery on the shop floor. Honey pay (extra hour's pay for every 8 hours worked) was a nice extra, as was the staff discount! It felt very like a family, working there.

Cons

There is a lot to remember when it comes to processes in store and promotions and background information about the toys to bring them to life. The idea was that I would support myself as I studied with this job, but it sometimes felt like they expected the job to be the most important thing in my life. The on call system was difficult to deal with as I couldn't go into uni on days when I was on call, so I'd have days that felt wasted just sitting and waiting to see if the phone rang. Again, I understand why it's necessary.

Viewing 1714 - 1716 of 1,769 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,850 Build-A-Bear reviews submitted anonymously by Build-A-Bear employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Build-A-Bear is right for you.