Pros
- Decent starting pay and benefits. This makes for a relatively stable income, especially fantastic for retail. Unlike other retail jobs, they almost exclusively hire for full-time positions. - Looks fantastic on my resume. Even though it is retail, employers from other industries get excited when they see the name. - Employee discount is very appealing for some. - Great customer service values. Unlike other customer service or retail positions, Tiffany & Co is okay with you giving away the farm. I have seen services that cost thousands comped just in the interest of not causing a scene. This freedom makes it a lot easier to do your job. - Corporate management does care. However, they are shielded by the store management team, who has HR wrapped around their fingers.
Cons
- Pay increases at a glacial rate. They will give you a 1% raise every year, regardless of your performance level. I have had worse, less glamorous customer service jobs that give you a 2-3% raise every 6 months. - No training. They consider their outdated and mind-numbingly boring computer seminars to be enough information. You have to figure most of it out on your own. Your co-workers will be too busy to help. If you are in sales, forget about it - they don't want you taking their sales. - Terrible, toxic culture. There is no common link between management and employees. They micromanage and do not care about you as a human being. I don't think I ever had one conversation with my manager about anything that was not work-related, despite trying multiple times to connect with her. There is blatant favoritism with managers favoring their own hires. After a bad word was put into HR, management literally just bought everyone a gift to try to boost morale. The sales floor is very competitive and gossipy - you see grown adults battling it out like high school kids. Although I wasn't in sales, and was not involved in a lot of the trouble that went on, it just didn't make for a productive work environment. - No room for growth. The people in my department had been there for over ten years, my manager had been in my position for more than that. Especially for sales people who perform well, the salary in management is not appealing as they can easily make that in commission. - Little work/life balance. The majority of the people in the industry are single and middle-aged. It is very rare to see someone who stays in this field who has a family. That is because you do not have time for anything else. You are also very stressed.