Pros
If you're a manager, run, don't walk, from JCPenney! If you are looking for a part time night/weekend job, this could be an opportunity for you. You won't make much money in a non-commission department, but if you are a good salesperson, you can stand to make pretty good hourly wages in fine jewelry, window coverings, and other commissioned departments. I had some commission associates whose benefit rates (what their hourly pay averaged out to be over a year's time) were around $15.00/hour. Not bad for a part time job.
Cons
Where do I start? I began my career at JCPenney just out of college, as a management trainee. I worked for several stores in Massachusetts, and one in Indiana, for four years total. I did a good job, so I was promoted quickly. Note: at JCPenney, good job means: Going above and beyond by working many more hours than you're scheduled, especially when a corporate visit is imminent (can be often depending on what store you're in), completing hard physical labor without much downtime, and sacrificing your personal life in order to serve the company. Bottom line: you are expected to be there when they want you there, at any time of their choosing. When a visit is planned (usually with litle notice), you can and will be called at home to come in and get the store ready. Even in the middle of the night. Even on your day off. As an SSM, many of my supervisors called me at home to ask some of the most inane questions (not their fault - bad training at JCP). JCPenney has a tendency to transfer its managers a lot. You will advance more quickly, fall into favor with district management, and make more money if you comply with their relocation demands. If you don't comply with them, they will often "find a way" to get rid of you. When you're getting transferred hundreds of miles away from friends and family, you're unable to attend family events and make plans with friends. At first I just thought this was a "coincidence", but I now firmly believe that this is one of the "benefits" JCPenney realizes by transferring its managers around constantly. It's easy to expect you to be there six days a week for 10-12 hours a day when you have no plans outside of work. It's easy to expect you to work holidays when you have nowhere else to go. Also, and perhaps, another "coincidence", the longest I spent at any one store was 14 months. That's not long! So, just as soon as you settle into your new apartment/house/life and start to make some friends, is approximately when you'll be whisked away to the new job, and have to start from scratch again. I really don't think this is a "coincidence" at all. It would be far cheaper for district management to transfer managers to closer stores than to uproot them and transfer them to stores 100+ miles away. I think they see the silver lining in what they're doing... It's also harder to leave the company when you're in a new area and have no contacts established for networking, to find a new job. Examples of how my family life were affected include examples from the minor to the very major, including, but not limited to: missing my boyfriend's holiday work party (on a day I was scheduled off, my schedule was changed the day before), sitting at home alone on Christmas Day, missing my niece's first communion, missing a family reunion, and worst of all, not seeing my grandfather before he passed away. (He had been admitted to the hospital, death was imminent, and I had a day off and planned to drive the 2.5 hours to see him, but something came up at the store, I couldn't leave, and he died that day.) It should be noted that all of these events occurred on days/times that I was SUPPOSED to be off, but things changed at the last minute. Another example - not personal, but with another manager I worked with at a store in Massachusetts... his wife was giving birth, and he was called at the hospital, within hours of her C-section, being asked to report to work (by our district manager, I assume?) He wanted to be with her after her major abdominal surgery and the birth of his child, but yep, Penney's had the audacity to contact him. As far as I'm concerned, JCPenney has no regard for its employees' lives outside of work, especially at the management level. I have worked for six companies in my life, and none of them, even another retailer, were such horrible employers as JCPenney.
