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Pacific Sunwear

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Pacific Sunwear reviews

3.7

61% would recommend to a friend

(2,706 total reviews)
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Brieane Olson

76% approve of CEO

50% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.1

Diversity & inclusion

3.8

Work/Life balance

3.5

Culture & values

3.5

Senior management

3.2

Career opportunities

3.1

Compensation and benefits

Pacific Sunwear has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 2,706 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Pacific Sunwear employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
2.0
Mar 8, 2015

An insight into the REAL Pacsun from a former seasoned multi-location Store Manager

Store manager
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

When starting at Pac in 2012, all seemed pretty decent. The discount was legit, 5 items at 50% off a month, 30% off most other goods. I also got to build relationships with many awesome people with similar interests. The vibe of the store was usually great, always had good music playing.

Cons

Very disorganized company on all levels. Communication is weak coming from the leaders in the field. Unrealistic timeframes to complete company assigned workload. Constant double work created by store operations because they can't do their job correctly, and apparently have NO accountability on their end. You will also have to work on 1 part coverage until about 1pm nearly every day of the year being a manager at Pac. Even at the highest volume stores due to the lack of payroll (which is based on weekly sales volume). Extremely high turn over rate for all associates and management, this includes district and regional managers. If you have a life outside of work and want to keep it that way, stay far away from Pacsun! There is absolutely no work/life balance for anyone that is on salary. Pay is not very comparable to other specialty retailers when considering what they expect from you. Also whenever we had a district/region visit approaching, it would turn into a dog & pony show! We would usually have to do an overnight to "snap" the store into shape. All this does is cover up the way the store really functions and deprives upper management from knowing what is really happening in locations. I was directed to do this on multiple occasions from upper management.

3.0
Sep 4, 2014

Great People, Hard work, Impactful Learnings

District manager
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You get to work with great people, who serve more as family as time with company grows. Learn a great deal in terms of business; specifically profit management, product sell through, and how to drive results. Furthermore, you get a great deal of opportunity to develop leadership competencies such as: developing others, executive presentation skills, business analysis, etc. Hardwork and Results are rewarded with recognition, promotions, bonuses and top talent retreats.

Cons

Expectation is extremely high - admittedly, unrealistically high. From business to operational expectation there is an extreme stress to deliver flawless results - however payroll and support does not effectively set teams up for success to execute as expected. Work/life balance is non-existent and the only Talent that survives with PACSUN are the people who are willing to put life last.

1.0
Feb 17, 2011

Worst. Job. Ever.

Juniors design
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-great benefits package (insurance, 401k) -salaries are well above the industry standard (asst designers start at 45K, sr designers can make as much as 120K) -pacsun is a widely recognized and established organization in the apparel/surf industry

Cons

-no room for growth -no creative freedom -no work/life balance -looooong hours -poor upper management -promotions are based on personal alliances rather than performance Pac Sun is desperately trying to reclaim/recreate it's glory days as the surf retail giant it once was. Unfortunately for it's employees that means countless hours of defining & redefining its customer base, and designing & redesigning styles (if you consider knocking off Urban Outfitters "designing"). The entire time I was there the direction was changed; causing us to redesign an entire season worth of styles constantly (that's 100-150 styles!). We literally designed one season 3 times! It was out of control... Along with the long hours and lack of direction, there was no positive reinforcement or any real motivation to stay all of it. After about 8 months of working 10-12 hour days regularly, I was told by my director that "there isn't a light at the end of the tunnel." I was there for 2 years with no promotion or pay raise in sight. Meanwhile, people with less talent and work ethic but better personal relationships with upper management seemed to be climbing the ladder steadily. It is painfully obvious that hard work is not valued at this company. A co-worker told me once "at Pacsun there are work horses and there are show ponies." i think that sums it up perfectly. I won't even get into the turnover rate, but needless to say, there are only 3 designers that are still working there since I left. My advice to anyone, especially designers, thinking about a career at pacsun is to consider not just the nice paycheck, but the hours, THE DESIGN DIRECTOR, and most importantly your work/life balance before accepting.

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Glassdoor has 2,770 Pacific Sunwear reviews submitted anonymously by Pacific Sunwear employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Pacific Sunwear is right for you.