Pros
Work with animals, good experiences for customer service, decent discount on in-store and website items, decent work culture between employees when everyone gets along.
Cons
No benefits for part time. Pay rate is very low; less than $9/hr for normal associates. Hours range from 15-25 at best, and they refuse to hire more people to cover shift gaps or overlap during the week to maximize profits, while also complaining about how things are never done well enough. Recent corporate changes to policies and procedures show that the company cares little about the welfare of their animals or employees and more about making the employees do as much as physically possible during very short shifts. Animals are generalized and specialized care is not taken for more sensitive animals with different needs (e.g. Chameleons, Conures) New (within the last four months) Pet Care policies are tedious at best and micro-managing worst(exact teaspoon measurements for hamster pellets? Really?), and corporate expects all pet care associates to have the binder with them at all times when they're doing any sort of task. No deviation is allowed from the lists in any way, shape, or form, and write-ups are threatened for accidentally forgetting or skipping a step. Store and district managers will surprise associates with questions quizzing them about what step they're on and what page/letter reference the motion falls under, expecting them to memorize more than 50 pages of policy. Policy must be consistently cross-checked while doing work because the rules they set in place do not, in my opinion, have a natural flow. They supposedly "tested" these policies in a few stores, but things tested in some stores and not others tend to be stores that are either "micro" PetSmarts or stores that do not get a ton of customer traffic. No overlapping employee shifts except on weekends when store maintenance isn't expected/allowed which prevents things from getting done (especially in the pet care department), On top of the recent policy changes, even MORE recently(within a month) they've changed their approach to customer service. As in, "do more for the ~prestige~ of getting stickers that show you're good at customer service, and if you get enough stickers you get the Extra Special stickers. And if you get three of those you become someone who trains others, except we won't increase your pay or change your status as an associate despite you being a trainer". Yes, really. Stickers. Like in grade school. Email capture pushing, conversion(people coming in vs people actually buying things), and puppy guide pushing are insanely ridiculous and managers threaten write-ups to people who don't get enough regardless of reason because they see it as not making an effort. Bully employees who are terrible to others will not be reprimanded until they do something that can result in lawsuits, e.g. stealing or sexual harassment. Bully MANAGERS stay within the company for years and years still continuing their actions before Corporate pulls the plug on them, and only with dozens of specific complaints. Managers with too many complaints at one store are simply moved to another.
