Bath & Body Works reviews

Training was a joke-- I felt really unprepared getting thrown out on the floor. I was hired as a permanent employee, then after the holidays they stopped giving me hours saying it was because they were cutting hours but I would get more soon-- they essentially laid me off without ever telling me.

Because it is so easy to find great deals when you work here, if you're not careful you can spend a lot of money here (especially because management tends to pressure the associates to purchase pretty heavily and consistently if they need extra sales to make their goals). The company tries to focus on creating a very specific environment for their customers, which partly entails talking to the customers repeatedly and demoing products to them - to the point where you feel as though you are badgering the customer. Needless to say, this tends to frustrate many customers, who can become rude and standoffish. The pay is low to average, and there are very few full-time positions available; it is very hard to move up in this company. Benefits are not available until you are full-time (co-manager or higher). There are generally more call-in shifts scheduled than set shifts, which means you often will not know if you work that day until an hour before your shift. If the store you work at is not making its sales goal, it will often cut your shift with little to no notice. Conversely, if for some reason they need additional associates to work, they will call you and expect you to come in with hours notice - if you are unable to, they tend to hold it against you (in performance reviews, or more directly by cutting your hours in the future). The shifts also tend to only be 3-hours apiece, and on average each associate can expect to work between 3 and 9 hours per week. Also, although you will work so few hours, they expect you to have nearly-open availability. Management always strives to reach higher, which means constant and repetitious coaching. No matter how good of an associate you are, how many years you've worked there, or how good your numbers are, management will always tell you that you can do better. It easily becomes a demoralizing environment.