Good steady work in a poorly run company. - Anonymous employee Michaels Employee Review

3.0
Apr 14, 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work is steady and not difficult. As you discover in any retail job, the customers are generally some of the worst human beings imaginable, but it can actually be fun to help them realize their project goals sometimes.

Cons

Pay is not very good, and raises are absolutely atrocious (a 'good' raise is $0.30-$0.60/hr). Management cannot focus on a single goal at a time, and consequently, every aspect of the store suffers. Easy work can attract lazy workers. Extremely few hours for PT employees. Company absolutely refuses to have as many employees on hand as needed (have you ever been there and not seen a single employee on the floor to help you find something? Michaels is aware of their terrible customer service and refuses to do anything about it. Embarrassing.) Everything sold at the store is incredibly cheap plastic junk from China that is marked up so high from cost that it should be illegal. Whereas it used to be an artsy store that smelled of paint and crafting, and was full of supplies and happy workers, now it just another big box store that smells like plastic and sells junk that people glue onto other junk - the art is gone. Morale is extremely low among employees. The corporation is focused more on things like collecting emails and addresses from customers to bomb them with ads than actually helping the customers in store.

Explore other reviews about Michaels

5.0
Jun 18, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Benefits and the people there.

Cons

It was far away from me.

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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