Pros
Less than 40 hrs a week . No overtime. Almost always hiring. No drug or back ground screening. Very little training, Good work/life balance. Health benefits available to both full and part time associates. Difficult get fired. Flexible schedules for students, they work around your class schedule. Good job for students while still in school or someone that just needs a part time job to supplement their income. Mostly a good relationship between associates, since we're all in the same boat. Made great friends there and they are still friends, even after I/we left.
Cons
These 'cons' are for the store I was in for almost 3 yrs, I don't know about other stores. I'm guessing management is different in every store or maybe not? Less than 40 hrs week - full time is 37-38 hrs, only 3 full time positions (as supervisors) in store below salaried management. All else is 16-20 hrs part time, which is what you are told when hired, but your hours will always vary. Low Pay. Little or no raises. Had one 12 cents raise above minimum wage. Not just me, everyone else had 1 minimal raise in the same 3 yrs, don't know about the managers. No overtime - even if you're willing. It's not allowed. Never fully staffed - you'll do the job of 2-3 people. The fewer 'labor hrs' used, the bigger the manager's bonus. Too much stress/responsibility for the pay. Health care benefits, for full timers, are expensive and below par, since the company changed from Cigna to United Health Care over a year ago. They, (UHC), cost more and you get less for the $$$. A health care plan is available for part timers, but expensive at over $80 a month and has a $1000.00 per year max after your co-pays. Constantly changing schedules, 12 hrs one week, then 32 ,then 8, then 20 , hard to plan or budget. They can work you full time, 32hrs+ for 5 weeks, then cut you back below 32 hrs so they don't have to make you' full time'. If you work 32 hrs, or more, for 6 straight weeks, it's required you be moved to full time, as per company policy - so it won't happen. Lack of advancement opportunities. The chance of moving up seems minimal. No drug or background screening - Should be mandatory for management, at least. Obvious 'pros' for some people. Training is a joke. Managers will have someone else, including themselves, take tests for you or give you the answers, on training you never received, to show 'corporate' that you 'had' training and passed the required testing - could be a 'pros' for some people. Little to no recognition for a job well done. They cut your hours if you don't sell enough 'plans' and the goals are mostly unattainable. If you get anywhere near goal, like 75%, they increase it. There is no 'Team' aspect. Everyone has to compete. It used to be a team effort. It didn't matter who made the 'plan' sales, as long as they were made. We would 'give' sales to each other. We all pitched in to make the store rate as high as we could. Now, it's a 'dog eat dog' atmosphere. Because of threats of schedule cuts or job loss and reprimands, I've seen associates stab each other in the back, to make a sale. Makes for an uncomfortable work environment and some people can't handle that cut-throat attitude. There is no reward for excelling, only punishment if you don't. Company policy and procedures are followed only when convenient to managers. You could spend years doing the managers' jobs, in hopes of moving up, without the promotion or pay increase to go with the responsibility. Seen it happen, first hand, with my supervisor, until he got fed up and left. I only saw a couple people actually fired, in my 3 yrs, but they will 'starve' you, by reducing your hours to next to nothing. You have no choice but try to find another job, or quit and likely not be eligible for unemployment, since you weren't fired. It's a revolving door, most are only there long enough to find something better. Even a couple of the assistant managers left within weeks, to a couple months, of getting the position, for a job with better pay and benefits. The turnover is high, usually coming in from the outside, since there is little internal promotion. I would only recommend Staples to someone who is a high school/college student (that plans to find a better job after graduation) that only needs around 20 hrs a week and can handle the stress of being threatened with job loss or as a GM or higher- most at store level is not worth your time, except as a 'stepping stone' , (you'll have very little advancement opportunity from the position you were hired for) or if all you need is a part time job to supplement your full time job or as part of a second income for a couple or family.
