Please read if you are considering BBW management... - Co-Manager Bath & Body Works Employee Review

1.0
Jun 18, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great team environment, strong training program for leadership

Cons

Just about everything else. I have been a manager for 3 years, and in that time have had my work-life balance completely deteriorate. I worked hard for my promotion, and have gotten stuck as a co-manager. You cannot get promoted or looked at beyond that point without favoritism from a DM, and in the last 6 months they have fired over 30 of them in a new realignment. New sales metrics have created a way to weed out associates who have limited availability due to other jobs or commitments. The employees we do have are wonderful, but find themselves overworked and stressed about making "every segment go green". Because if they don't hit their metrics, they wont get hours. DM's do not provide much encouragement other than the occasional email that becomes an indictment of stores not converting enough customers, even when they make plan. When I first started at this company 5 years ago, it was all about having a family atmosphere and making you the best manager you could be. My district manager, store manager, and many more in surrounding stores were helpful, encouraging people who loved the brand and its values. And in the last year, they fired or performance managed almost my entire district's leadership out, and have taken a "no-nonsense" attitude to not making plan. We live on the Canadian border and have a ton of Canadian traffic that we relied on for years, but with BBW flooding the Canadian market, we do not have the same traffic but are held accountable to the same numbers. How high is high? You tell me. BBW paid its CEO $25 million dollars last year, while crying broke, forcing us to work ridiculous hours and restructuring our bonus plans so that store managers receive a major bonus, while the co-managers and sales leads who have done all the work supporting these new people in place receive a pittance in comparison. I reached out to both my store manager and DM about wanting to go back to school and furthering my development, and they countered with putting me on a Performance Improvement Plan because I was not "bought in".

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5.0
May 21, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Fun co-workers and friendly management

Cons

Floor sets are long and late but easy hours Random hours

4.0
Jul 9, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Working at the Home Office space in Columbus was a huge perk. Star Bucks and employee only healthcare services provided onsite. Rich culture that encourages being yourself and working hard through partnerships with other associates.

Cons

Learning & Development within Human Resources was a very ambiguous field to work in. Management left me chasing my tail and sent me down rabbit holes they later scolded me for pursuing. There was one instance where I had to update Onboarding materials, I was told to use a specific font and to reach out to Marketing to obtain the font. Marketing told me that font was retired and I could use a variety of other fonts. My Manager told me "no you're going to use that font," I had no access to that font and she would not do anything to help grant me access to that font, I needed Adobe Pro installed on my computer to obtain the retired font, and she did not approve the budget request for me to get it installed. I had to go through IT to obtain a work around that she did not help with at all. I'm not sure if it was a test or what in the world she was doing, but it was that kind of indirect, weird, almost non sequitur responses from her while trying to deal with a simple request of utilizing the correct font that continued while working with her. "What do you want to work on?" I would explain what I wanted to work on. "Well no, that wouldn't be good at all, that would be a complete waste of time." I had a stellar experience working with the Learning & Development team in the Distribution Centers for 2.5 years, but moving to the Home Office space was a complete 360, from comfort and encouragement, to ambiguity and cold shoulders from leadership.

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