Uncaring Employer with Micromanagement Tendencies
Pros
Good Employee and Friends/Family Discounts. Most employees are friendly, but it really depends on the department. Honestly that's it, and I'm just writing this to reach the 20-word minimum.
Cons
Terrible options for healthcare and 401k, this family-owned company does not contribute 1 dime to their employees, but they all drive luxury vehicles. They don't even have proper break rooms for employees to each lunch. Yes, many people eat at their desk, but employees should have options especially when you have employee warehouse workers who don't have desks! If you go outside on any given day, you will see at least 5 other people sitting in their cars eating lunch because there's simply no where else to go, not even outdoor seating. Also the restrooms are cleaned to the bare-minimum, meaning they're disgusting. They took a very laid-back approach to COVID during the peak of the pandemic, by giving employees a difficult time about working from home when many departments had the capability. The HR department is an absolute joke - forget about getting any sort of questions answered, and if you do it will be delayed and with an attitude. Time off is 2 weeks accrued from your start date. No sick time, you have to use your PTO. They close the office on Christmas Eve, but don't pay their hourly employees so you're forced to go unpaid or use what little PTO you do have. This decision was made by management less than 1 week before Christmas Eve, so not everyone had the opportunity to plan accordingly. Of course many of the employees who have been there for years struggle to use up their PTO by the end of the year because they are so overworked that even with the meager amount they're given, they can't use it. Micromanagement is the NORM which is aggravated even more by the fact that this company is so disorganized. The disorganization is coupled with finger-pointing and blaming which promotes this environment of "having to cover your butt." When someone else messes up or decides to criticize you, even if they're not in your department or don't even really know what they're talking about... you better have proof that it wasn't "your fault." Management takes these "complaints" very seriously when they come from the right people "the favorites" aka the sales team... sorry they like to call themselves "aRcHiteCTURal RePS"... they're sales people who need to get over themselves. Marketing is usually "spied on" by the sales team, and then you're forced to defend yourself. As far as recognition or reassurance goes, you will never be told when you did a good job. They will only tell you when you are doing something wrong. It's a culture of "no news is good news." I'm not someone who needs a pat on the back all the time, but when you're a new employee you want some reassurance that you're doing things the right way. I'm also not a "job-switcher" by nature... this is the shortest time I've ever been with any company throughout my entire career - I even held my high-school retail job longer than this! I was at Genrose for only 4 months before I made the decision to start looking for different opportunities. I like to think I have a pretty thick skin when it comes to this stuff, as I've worked at another family-owned company before that had a lot of these problems. The difference was that my previous company had policies to make me believe that while they were disorganized, they still actually cared about my well-being. You will get none of that at Galleria/Genrose.