Insider/Management HONEST TRUTH - Store Manager Bath & Body Works Employee Review

2.0
6 Nov 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Products and discount. You can shop like an employee with your discount or shop like a customer with coupons.

Cons

- No work life balance. It's very rare that you will be out on your scheduled time, unless you are a PT Sales Associate then you will be sent home early or asked to stay longer. - 30 minute lunch breaks which most of the time cannot be taken until 5 hours later because you are working during a peak (increase in traffic). - micromanagement. The company says to "be a shop keeper" however they send lists, calendars, and about 5-10 email communications of things that need to be done or practiced, or shared. You spend all your time as a manager just trying to get through their list of demands and expectations, and if you are a lower volume store, (below 1.5 million - wtf?) you are not provided time to plan and do any type of work that needs to be done because you are expected to be on the floor at all times and usually by yourself. You are not a store manager you are an Administrator. - Schedule. They use the lamest system ever and it takes atleast 2 hours to complete the schedule for the week. You are not given time to work on the schedule so again if you are in a lower volume store be prepared to stay late to complete any "non productive" tasks or to work on your day off. Also the schedule is made around the sales associate availability so you are constantly having to "renegotiate" availability when the company offers them the ability to update their availability at any time. - Work an average of 50hrs a week, salary! So no overtime pay for managers. - Sales Associates - if you are not a "top producer" don't expect hours. They want the top producing associates to have the most hours and they like to overstaff, so expect your call in shifts as everyone else is complaining about. I've had to schedule associates only call in shifts and I feel terrible as a manager for doing that. - Pay. Pay for associates start at minimum wage and again, if you are not the top producing associate, you will not have enough hours. YOU WILL NEED A 2ND JOB! I've seen associates that have been with the company for over 10 years and promoted to "Leadership" roles that only make $30K a year. That 's insane! - Floor changes. Constantly changing and updating the sales floor and marketing. They waste so much money on marketing, so much of it just sits in a back room and never gets used and ends up being thrown away. So disappointing that the company would be so wasteful. Also the floor changes are constant, every 2-3 weeks and usually mid day during the weekends. So expect to stay late. YES i've seen staff stay as late as 4am. - Theft. Insanely high theft. Groups coming in distracting you, because again you are the only person on the floor because your volume doesn't constitute more hours, and they are blatantly stealing (not 1 or 2 pieces) but SHELVES of products into their bags. You cannot say anything to them, and why would you - you are by yourself and don't know if they will harm you. The training just states, service them and be in their space. Offer a shopping bag to hold their products. These people are professionals! The company does not provide any security or anything to help prevent theft. And again, you are left to open the store by yourself - anything can happen to you. It is very unsafe. You are not allowed to call the police unless you have spoken to your LP contact and they have provided you instruction to call. - Unsafe work environment. Hundreds of boxes everywhere, crowded hallways, boxes toppling over. They make you watch and sign a safety acknowledgement, but it is what it is. With all the shipment, floor changes and lack of adequate space it is constantly a safety hazard. DMs will visit and say "OH MY" but that's about it.

Explore other reviews about Bath & Body Works

5.0
21 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Fun co-workers and friendly management

Cons

Floor sets are long and late but easy hours Random hours

1.0
7 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good discounts on merchandise, easy work.

Cons

I would have loved to purchase some of their products conisdering the 40% off discount for employees, but they failed to pay me enough to sustain myself let alone buy from their store! I was getting paid about $150 every two weeks! They never notified me about how little I'd be working or about what my schedule would be like, my shifts were completely random. If you want a set schedule each week. this job isn't for you, you're lucky to get 1 shift a week that only lasts about 3-4 hours. Once again, my supervisors failed to mention this, thinking it was more important that I know how to sell products than whether or not I get paid enough to survive. I don't know why there was so much emphasis on selling merchandise to customers anyway, these products practically sell themselves. I had a lot of questions starting out since I was a NEW EMPLOYEE and all and had never worked a job like this in my life, but for some reason my supervisors failed to see this and instead made me feel ashamed and embarassed for asking the simplest of questions. They'd actually get mad and a little sassy at me for asking a question, like where a specific item was or how to do a return. I have to remind you, I had just started and my shifts were so sporadic it was difficult to retain all the info, so I HAD to ask questions.

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