Started out great then became ridiculous - Management Michaels Employee Review

2.0
Jun 5, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Wide variety of quality merchandise Good people working for me. Good compensation

Cons

Too many policies and programs Not enough payroll to get the job done properly Not enough payroll to take care of the customer. I do not intend this post to be negative or positive. I am merely issuing a warning to this company that once stood head and shoulders above their competition.When a company takes away the store`s ability to take care of the customer properly those customers will go somewhere else. Anyone can satisfy a customer one time. But a retail store should not want satisfied customers , they should want LOYAL customers.The same goes for their employees. If the company makes it so difficult to do their job they will go work somewhere else , usually for the competition. And when you run off all your good employees to the competition what will you be left with? And when this happens the competition that you once so proudly dominated will come back and kick your butt! This is not only a prediction but also a cold hard fact. Look at some of the other companies that went down this same path...Kmart , bankrupt...Eckerd Drugs , bankrupt and taken over by CVS , Woolworth and Woolco , out of business , just to name a few. These were all giants in their industry but screwed it all up by missing one simple concept of retail. And that is have enough help to fill the shelves and assist the customer , and I don`t mean just ringing them up at the register. I mean really taking good care of them.They also missed another key step in not taking care of their loyal employees. If you have a good employee pay them what they are worth and you will build a team that will stay with you and then you can kick your competitor`s butt instead.

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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