Pros
Depending on your location, management is generally very friendly, informative and welcoming. The benefits package extended to new associates, even part-time, is considerable and goes a long way towards establishing an atmosphere of concern for associate well-being. Management conducts yearly performance reviews and awards raises accordingly; rare for a company in this current economic climate. Cross-training at the store level is readily available so that associates may branch out and find opportunities in departments they would not normally venture into. As an EasyTech associate of any level, you are awarded a portion of your team's incentive sales total as a bonus each pay period. At the store level, ethics is preached in its purest form and, for the most part, practiced extensively by management.
Cons
Management is entirely supportive and encouraging until the slightest reprimand is handed down from corporate, at which point the pressure and disappointment is immediately passed onto the associates. This is not entirely the fault of store management, and in my experience at Staples, my managers did the best they could to share with me the burden that was placed upon them by corporate so that I could better understand their motivation. What they shared with me, however, painted the picture of a grim corporate landscape of intimidation and fear where every minute misstep taken by management was met with threats of firing, pay reductions or transfers. It seems to me that the friendly mentoring atmosphere I experienced as an associate extends only to the walls of the store and no further. When the illusive agents of Staples' corporate did appear in the store, they encouraged us to ask questions and talk with them about our experiences working there. However, every question I asked, no matter how mundane, was met with insult or an expression of dissatisfaction. It was as if there were an accompanying textbook we received when we were hired that I had never read and my honest inquiries served only to demonstrate that I had not done my required coursework before attending class. Thoroughly demeaning. The yearly performance reviews conducted by management, while they started as a constructive exercise in peer evaluation and commendation, are a frivolous joke at this point. As a fairly new store, great pressure had been placed on us to prove our worth within the district. In a single year, my team doubled the sales of the next store in the district and for this I was awarded a massive pay increase of $0.14 to lightly pad the space between my paltry $8.00/hr pay checks and my looming bills. The performance reviews are not actually "conducted" by managers so much as they are "tabulated." There are 5 or so sections in which associates are graded on a 1-5 scale taking into account both their positive attributes in that area and the ways in which they could improve. Except, managers are required to give associates at least two ways in which they can improve their performance in any given area but there is no minimum requirement for commendations. My raise was diminished because corporate required my manager to do so. There are no merit raises. Period. Training is mandatory, extensive and poorly constructed. All training is conducted via the company's terribly produced intra-web site and consisted of grammatically erroneous T/F quizzes, flagrantly biased vendor-sponsored product training videos and god awful attempts at interactive flash games. It is a common occurrence that I will complete a given period's required training, consisting of approximately 25, half-hour long courses only to be given notice that said training was now irrelevant and I had an entirely new slew of mindless tests to complete. I felt like a test subject in a psychology experiment examining futility and its crushing effects on the human spirit. The "EasyWay" bonuses as they are referred to, are an infinitesimally small percentage of your departments total incentive sales. Since Staples, like many other technology retail chains, sells their computers at a significant loss, a huge amount of pressure is placed on the selling of warranties and additional items associated with that computer. If you are in any way, shape or form uncomfortable with up-selling or warranty sales, do not even consider applying for a position at Staples. While I disagree with their business model in general, their warranties (fulfilled through a company called Assurant) were actually quite a value when compared with our competitors, so I was not entirely uncomfortable with the prospect of asking a customer to pay around half the price of their computer again just to make sure they would not end up out in the cold when their cheaply manufactured retail computer died on them. To give you an idea of what to expect in the way of bonuses, another tech team in our district recently raised concerns that the bonus system was unfair because they had sold nearly $20,000 in add-ons during a particularly good week and received only $14 each as their due compensation. I realize this little tirade might seem a little daunting, but if you read nothing else, consider this: As a technology associate -- regardless of your personal expertise, industry accolades and certifications, prior experience or particular aptitude for sales -- you will be paid minimum wage (in CA $8.00). The WalMart across the street starts new employees at $8.65 with the possibility of bonuses and merit raises.