Interior Designers: Horrible Hours! 60-Hours Per Week!
Pros
La-Z-Boy is a good place for interior designers who are new in the field to gain experience and pad their portfolios. The company offers a base salary for designers ($28,000- $30,000) that is better than competing furniture stores that employ designers.
Cons
If you have a family or a social life, La-Z-Boy is not going to be a good company to work for. La-Z-Boy stores are open every day of the week, from 9am until 9pm, and you have to work 60-hours per week as a company-wide mandate. At each store, there are only 4 full-time employees: the store manager, two sales managers, and one designer. Each full-time employee, at every store, is required to work 60-hours per week, but are only paid for 40-hours. This has been going on since December 2012. We were told the hours would go back to normal in May 2013, but they never did. A lot of full-time employees have either quit or suffered marital/familial problems as a result. Everyone is paid for what other people do, and no one "is" what they "are". If you have slackers on your team, you will not be able to succeed. Also, no one is just their position. For designers, even more important than designing beautiful rooms is to SELL. You are basically expected to be a a salesman with good taste. It is hard to make a good living unless you are at a high-volume store, such as Northern Virginia, Pittsburgh, So Cal, or Chicago. In my interview, my Market Sales Manager told me that with the volume at my store, I should gross $3,000/month in bonuses (AKA commission) in addition to my salary. I have never once made that much. I average $700/month. Based on what my MSM told me, I was expecting to make over $60,000/year. Unfortunately, the way it breaks down, I basically make less than $12/hour. Additional things to consider: -As a designer, you will put a LOT of milege on your personal car. I bought my car in October and have put over 20,000 miles on it just in work-related travel. -You have to front the cost of things like supplies, gas, food for clients, etc., and wait to be reimbursed. -You will NEVER get to see your family. Be prepared to work 9am-9pm. A lot. -You're never thanked or congratulated for anything. Only harped on when you don't do as well as others.
