Upper management doesn’t care about their sales associates.
Without proper notice we were changed over to Paid on Delivery. We were told this would not affect our pay (non of us believed that) but after two months of this it has greatly affected all of us. Many of my beloved coworkers have left city furniture, feeling as tho the company that once treated them like family, now only sees them as a number.
It is a shame that GMs that once advocated for city furniture and saw it as a life time career, are now looking seriously at leaving the company. One of my favorite GM has worked for city for over 25 years and used to tell me how amazing it is to work here. I recently had a conversation with that GM and I am saddened to report that they have done a complete 180* and will be leaving city shortly. Robert Groucher was the GM of Ashley Sawgrass and was the reason I joined city furniture. I was not looking for a job when I met him but as he explained the work environment, the company policies and just the all around care this company had for its employees, I realize I wanted to work for that company. I quit my job and came back to his store the same day and asked for an application.
Fast forward 2 years and I was shocked to here that he had left city furniture along with some other managers. I have personally invited multiple people to work for city in the almost two years I’ve worked here and now I don’t even want to refer customers here.
I have friends who work in different city/Ashley stores and I can say for certain that company morale has fallen dramatically since September. Both in their stores and in mine, a lot of free time is dedicated to searching Indeed and LinkedIn for new career opportunities. We feel and have come to the conclusion that city furniture does not care about their sales associates. From being the only department that still had to come to work a day before a possible hurricane (leaving no time to prepare if it had hit Orlando) to the ridiculous goals set by corporate in order to not have to pay bonuses to GMs. Turnover is getting out of had. We have a joke in my store that if we get a farewell cake for everyone leaving, we’ll have to open a bakery.
Customer “CARE” doesn’t “CARE” and our delivery system is ridiculous. How do I look a customer in the face and tell them “Sorry ma’m, I know your furniture arrived damaged but I can’t have it replaced for 2-3 weeks even tho we have 30 of them in stock” (NOT A HYPOTHETICAL! This actually happened)
Operations are a joke! We can’t get excited anymore about big sales because odds are something will go wrong. The drivers might break the furniture, leave it at the warehouse, not take a furniture up stairs even tho they paid for premium delivery or tell the customer they aren’t going because 1 item is back ordered. Customer care might miscommunicate something to a customer causing them to get upset and cancel, or just not care and tell the customer “oh well, just cancel then”. All these things that have happened to me or a coworker.
It is very frustrating to have to run behind all your sales patching up unforced errors that are out of my control in order to make sales stick. On top of that most of this patch up work is done on our off days, on the phone with customer trying to save sales.
SIDE NOTE - as I am writing this, a coworker is ironically sitting beside me, on indeed searching for a new job.
In conclusion, City used to be a great place to work. I loved coming in everyday and leading the ultimate update. I truly believed in City’s vision, purpose, and mission. I wanted to be apart of that. But now the curtains have been pulled back and the companies true colors are showing. Gone are the days when I would stand on tables cheering my team forward. I now sit in the back of a meeting I used to run and recite our morning chants along with everyone else in a half way caring tone (strongly seasoned with sarcasm) that is echoed by the other associates.
Ps. - I have read this allowed to over 30 of my coworkers and they have all agreed with what I am writing but think it doesn’t matter what I write because it’s not like you guys care or will do anything to fix these problems.
And with that I say goodbye to the company I used to love and hello to soulless machine it has become.
