District Manager and Corporate are bullies - Manager Michaels Employee Review

1.0
Nov 29, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I stayed with this company for longer than I should have. My store manager was an honest, hard working, genuine person who carried the weight of the world on their shoulders and I respected that. I've met some really great people working here.

Cons

District Manager is a sorry excuse of a manager. Never said anything positive, was demeaning, rude, offensive, and refused to listen to anything. Unreasonable expectations by him and Corporate. NEVER enough hours so customers are upset that no one is there to help them and corporate reprimands us for not completing the 60 mile long list of ever changing bull crap when the only person on the floor is one manager. The pay is insulting, which is why they can't keep a decent or full staff. Corporate preaches about being a team yet everywhere we turn they're trying to pit us against each other and being completely unsupportive. We were constantly lied to by corporate, specifically with deadlines. They would tell us we'd have something coming to us in days, like a system update or even supplies, and it'd be months sometimes. Budgets are extremely tight to the point where we have to decide between ridiculous things like paper towels or zip ties? Which do we do without this month because corporate won't help us here?? The district manager doesn't even do the bare minimum of what he should be doing and in my years of service have never once heard him ask us if we need anything from him. It was like we were on an island under attack and he would drop by once every 3 months to drop a nuc on us and then make a stupid joke about it to try to make it ok that he can't even be a decent human being to my team and walk out the door.

Explore other reviews about Michaels

5.0
Jun 7, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great place to work. I liked interacting with the customers on their projects,

Cons

You're on you feet all day.

2.0
Jun 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Some great co-workers, employee discount, on site office benefits including a gym and cafe for breakfast/lunch, full suite of employee benefits at reasonable prices

Cons

Ridiculous amount of stress. Retail in general is often stressful but the amount of stress at Michaels is unnecessary and over the top. Constant last-minute changes by leadership to creative, promotions, products, and any other kind of changes. Things will be finalized and signed off on and delivered, and somebody will make a change at the last minute and things are constantly having to be redone. People are worn down and worn out. It’s the highest turnover rate of any place I’ve worked in retail at the corporate office. I’ve seen people take jobs and be gone within weeks. Leadership in some departments are extremely micromanaging and controlling even with employees that are tenured and have multiple years of experience. The stress level for both tenured and new employees is very high. Projects get discussed over and over and over again, decisions are made and then revisited again after decisions were made making delivery late and causing people to work unnecessarily in order to fix things that could’ve been done correctly the first time. The company tries really hard to make the workplace fun and offer activities, motivation, and incentives. Unfortunately they don’t offset what the environment is like working inside with some of the teams and expectations to actually deliver the work. Would not recommend.

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