Talbots reviews

3.3

47% would recommend to a friend

(1,628 total reviews)
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Lizanne Kindler

61% approve of CEO

48% positive business outlook

Talbots has an employee rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars, based on 1,628 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Talbots employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
1.0
Jan 24, 2023

Could be a great company to work for...but it isn't.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Some of our associates have been working for the company 10+ years and they are really bought in. This has created a fantastic report with our longstanding clientele.

Cons

This is a heritage brand with a good name behind it. It's a shame that the company has decided to go the way of multi site store managers in some markets (mine included). This tells me corporate is either very out of touch or greedy, possibly both. Million dollar stores are already spread thin with staffing. For example, Q1 and Q2 of 2022 was all about hire hire hire. Then going into our busiest seasons we were told to cut payroll right before our trunk show and going into holiday? Corporate talks about work life balance but the only way you pull off a successful trunk show and holiday while cutting payroll is if management is doing IT ALL. You'll be doing it all a lot of the time. Way too many blackout dates for a retail company. When hiring top talent for management, the company needs to think about being competitive. Having holiday blackout is to be expected but having classic awards events PLUS a trunk show in the spring PLUS a trunk show in the fall in addition to your yearly inventory? Too much. If you're not paying your assistants at least $50,000+ you're going to continue to have turnover. Other retailers are paying more for less work. And those trunk shows are a LOT of work. Associates are not paid commission, and they should be. They are expected to book appointments all the time, send thank you notes, and send product shares. I have a great staff but even they get tired of it. There is a point system for them to buy things on a website but you must earn A LOT of points to buy anything worthwhile. Ask a lot of questions about payroll, associate discount, blackout days for vacation, how many trunk shows you're expected to do+how many appointments for each show. Ask about your paid holidays (there are only 3 right now which is VERY behind competitors). Ask about how many people are supposed to be on shift along with store volume. The details really matter. I'm exhausted.

1.0
Feb 3, 2020

Know your SELF-WORTH

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Some great people do work here -decent vacation time -decent holidays off

Cons

-STRESSFUL NEGATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT -No raises or bonuses unless your higher up -If you want to make more or move within the company, you have to leave and come back (this is what HR tells you) -Lack of Training -Hard to move within the company -Will give you negative self-esteem -Will make you question the values of life -Exhaustion -Overwork -Will make you want to change your career path -You will feel as though you will never be good enough or will succeed here

2.0
Nov 6, 2018

Too Stressful

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

60% employee discount if you care about shopping there. The clothes are so expensive though it doesn't make much of a difference.

Cons

- The customers are rude, spoiled, babies! They're SUPER demanding and the expectation is that you bend over backward to coddle them and meet their ridiculous requests. -Breaks are a figment of your imagination. Managers never mention them and you're expected to just carry on. -There's only a $1 pay bump between a sales associate and client specialist but the job comes with way more responsibilities. - Their expectations take customer service to a butt kissing level. The customers are babies so much while the employees waste away with no relief.

Viewing 40 - 42 of 1,628 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,685 Talbots reviews submitted anonymously by Talbots employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Talbots is right for you.