When I started at Kohl's they were a great retailer to work for, but after 5+ years there I feel like I am working for a losing company (like the one I left) even though they are in great financial shape. I used to enjoy coming to work, now I spend my time looking for a new job. I am used to change and have always adjusted well to it, but the changes at Kohl's recently require more payroll to perform and as we all know in retail they only cut. The stores are never recovered and customer complaints are escalating, yet corporate does not take notice. The customer service score is "all important" and many stores cheat in some form or another. The fitting rooms are extremely underfunded and take all of the floor associates time where there is no time to recover. I am embarrassed that my customers have to shop in a mess, but I can't fix it without the manpower. The expectations are high, but the funding for them is low and gets lower every year. I know this is the way of most retail environments, but how much can a retailer cut before the customers just stop coming? There are a lot of capable managers and associates out there and micromanaging is used more than it needs to be, and only causes associate dissatisfaction. We have an associate survey every year and the scores are good, but that is only because of pressure from management to keep it that way since it is part of the review for raises. If I took it and was honest, the score would be a 50 instead of the 100 I give it. I have been around long enough to know that retail is retail, so there really is no great retail job. My advice to anyone young looking for a career is to stay out of retail or get out while you are young! Retail is a thankless job and no matter what company you work for they only care about the stockholders in the end. The actual store level is the easiest place to cut and they all do it claiming their procedures get more efficient therefore they can cut cut cut and then when you think they can't possibly cut anymore, they will!
