Is DSW a good company to work for?

DSW has an overall rating of 3.4 out of 5, based on over 4,151 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months. 50% of employees would recommend working at DSW to a friend and 34% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about DSW have been left by employees working as Cashier , Retail Associate and Retail Sales Associate .

Does DSW pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, DSW employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.0 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at DSW. This rating has decreased by 1% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at DSW?

50% of DSW employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated DSW 3.2 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.2 for culture and values and 2.8 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at DSW?

Sales Associate (1522) , Retail Sales Associate (198) , Part Time Sales Associate (138) , Store Manager (128) , Sales Associate/Cashier (103) , Assistant Manager (98) , Sales Supervisor (78) , Associate (66) , Assistant Store Manager (55) , Cashier (52) , Store Associate (46) , Manager (31) , Supervisor (29) , Warehouse Associate (21) , Customer Service Representative (19)

What are the pros of working at DSW according to real employee reviews?

"Great during school semesters and flexible hours" ((in 221 reviews)); "the discount is great and all the people who work there are friendly and are always willing to give you a hand when needed." ((in 209 reviews)); "They were flexible with my schedule and the job consisted of easy tasks and all my fellow coworkers were great." ((in 206 reviews)); "flexible schedule and good for college" ((in 109 reviews)); "Good benefits and understanding when it comes to emergency time off" ((in 100 reviews))

What are the cons of working at DSW according to real employee reviews?

"IT management was poor and there weren't a lot of star performers in the department." ((in 249 reviews)); "Managers do not enjoy answering questions for new staff or training them at all" ((in 237 reviews)); "bullies that blame matters on employees high turnover rate.. low pay.. 1" ((in 206 reviews)); ".."That's how you learn" (no training)" ((in 54 reviews)); "Bad store manager at the time" ((in 45 reviews))

What are employees saying about DSW layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about DSW layoffs and their outlook for job security at DSW in 2026.

What are the top reviewed DSW locations?

Columbus , New York , Chicago , Houston , Atlanta , San Antonio , Miami , Washington , Dallas , Los Angeles , Fairfax , Baltimore , Cincinnati , Wayne , San Diego , San Francisco , Pittsburgh , Boston , Brooklyn , Austin , Cleveland , Tampa , Denver , Omaha , Fort Worth , Seattle , Philadelphia , Paramus , Skokie , Phoenix

DSW reviews

3.4

50% would recommend to a friend

(4,074 total reviews)

Doug Howe

53% approve of CEO

34% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.9

Diversity & inclusion

3.2

Culture & values

3.2

Work/Life balance

3.0

Compensation and benefits

2.9

Senior management

2.8

Career opportunities

DSW has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 4,074 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The DSW employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

4K reviews

2.0

May 9, 2011

The senior management makes DSW is a very frustrating place to work.

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

DSW offers lots of benefits from other retailers. There are no clothes to fold or credit cards to sell. Most customers want to shop on their own. The customer service model is simple to execute. Most associates seem to like working there.

Cons

DSW is experiencing growing pains. It is very frustrating that they can not give us set policies to follow. They are so worried about upsetting customers that they send mixed messages to associates. GET REWARDS, but don't pressure the customer. YOUR DAMAGES ARE TOO HIGH, but why didn't you take that customer's worm shoes back. GET YOUR FREIGHT OUT THE SAME DAY, but don't use any extra payroll.

3.0

May 6, 2011

A great company, poor upper leadership, unexperienced DM

Assistant store manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great Company Competetive Wage Fashion Forward Selling strategy is admirable Customer Focus Expectations are high but with collaboration, they are not hard to meet.

Cons

I worked for DSW for a few years and for the most part, found it very enjoyable. The company sets a standard when you are first hired, that there is a huge focus on work/life balance. I found this to be very untrue. The managers consistently gossip amongst one another and will go to no expense when putting others down and building themselves up. This I did not find true within the associates only the store management. They encourage you to reach out to your superior when a situation in your store in unresolved. When you do reach out to your superior, they tend to not listen or resolve anything due to lack of inexperience. If you have an emergency, forget it. They will not even work to accomodate any life issue that you are dealing with. If your manager has a personal issue with you or anyone else, that person is completely disregarded.

3.0

May 3, 2011

It's an ok place to work

Sales associate

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

There's a great discount, very friendly employees, meeting new people and interacting with customers to help them find what they want

Cons

Being forced to ask customers multiple times to sign up for rewards when they've already said no...company doesn't stand behind their employees...sometimes it seems no matter how good of a job you do it's never a good enough job

Viewing 4027 - 4029 of 4,074 Reviews

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DSW

DSW reviews

Ratings by category

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Reviews by job title

The senior management makes DSW is a very frustrating place to work.

A great company, poor upper leadership, unexperienced DM

It's an ok place to work

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