Lifetouch reviews

3.0

46% would recommend to a friend

(2,229 total reviews)
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Ken Murphy

45% approve of CEO

25% positive business outlook

Lifetouch has an employee rating of 3.0 out of 5 stars, based on 2,229 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Lifetouch employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media & Communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
2.0
Mar 6, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You will get a considerable amount of overtime during the season - mostly due to driving long distances before/after putting in a days work, and also due to almost never having the opportunity to take your meal break in the time frame required by the government. I enjoyed getting the best photos I could from the students and staff - and found it rewarding to get a "non-smiler" to smile.

Cons

Hours are horrible - worse if you have family, or anything you want to do during the season besides work, and catching some sleep whenever you can. Toward the end of the season you are very exhausted, both because of the lack of sleep, and the long hours. It is also a physically demanding job, surprisingly enough. Your manager and office staff will treat you like a comodity. It is part of the company culture. They tell you that they are employee owned, and look out for you, but rather you are just an anybody they can pull off the street in ten minutes. They care less about you, or keeping their employees. Indeed, there is high turn around. Many of the students will give you a very difficult time. You will be out of work for one month in the summer, and nearly 3 months over the holiday season. The pay, though it adds up due to the long hours that you put in, is not nearly reflective of the responsibility you hold. The school, and the company is completely dependent on you picking up your equipment at 4am, driving hours to get to an out oof the way school, liasing with the school personell who hopefully arrives at the scheduled time to let you in, set up your equipment in time, with everything functioning (and nothing left behind, including spare parts), having great customer service, completing the job on time (ONLY 30 SECONDS ARE ALLOWED PER PHOTOGRAPH), and tearing down on time for the room to be used for another school activity. This is more than a minimum wage job. This is managerial level responsibility. Oh and responsibility for the money, etc. If you wake up late, arrive anywhere late, have equipment issues, leave something behind, etc THE WHOLE JOB IS OUT THE WINDOW. It's not like another person can be called in to cover for you. There is no leeway on the time frame. The school and/or district account can easily be lost over a few minutes. CHICO: the two company vans are unsafe to drive. And you have no choice if you are assigned one of those two vans. On occassion, you may be able to drive your own vehicle AT YOU OWN EXPENSE if you won the lottery that day, but not always. The vans they rent from Avis, during the season are great.

2.0
Mar 5, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Learning the ins and outs of the photography is a blast and all of my coworkers are awesome.

Cons

Sales: There is a lot that you're required to memorize for the sales portion. The sales model is extremely pushy for high price products. There is no incentive for sales aside of occasional $1-$2 bonuses for specific products despite having high sales goals. Scheduling: If this is a secondary job or a job for a high schooler it would be perfect, but if you need an income to pay for bills this is not for you. In the beginning I was led to believe there were plenty of hours to go around and my schedule would regulate after the peak season. It regulated to 5 hour shifts 2 days a week. They also have an on call scheduling in which you do not get payer unless you are called in, but you must be ready to drop everything and come into work even for an hour. This wouldn't be an issue if it weren't that everyone is on call most days out of the week.

1.0
Mar 5, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

ESOP is a really good deal for long term employees

Cons

No 401(k), Headquarters hubris, 50's head in sand mentality about the market, the way they treat sales territories, the way they treat acquisitions, the way they dumb down every job, the salary structure, the lack of creativity for photographers, the hourly pay for photographers, the pervasive shark management mentality

Viewing 1855 - 1857 of 2,229 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,393 Lifetouch reviews submitted anonymously by Lifetouch employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Lifetouch is right for you.