sales associate

Nygard International

I have only been working retail for a few years while in school, but working for Nygard was definitely the worst job experience I've ever had. Although working with the customers was great, the store level management was absolutely horrible. I was constantly talked down to, I never got proper training, and was always harassed about things that I had no idea about/was never told about. Management really stressed sales targets and UPTs, which I totally understand, but it was really stressful when you're only a part time employee and often only given shifts when it's slow. When I was given shifts on busy afternoons, however, I was to share my sales with the other associates while they did other things. Frankly, I'd be running around trying to service every customer with no help, but yet I'd have to share all my sales with everyone there?? By the end of my time at Nygard, I was only given 3-8 hours a week but my manager kept bugging me to buy the clothes. I was often told by the store manager that I had been there long enough and I should be head to toe Nygard every shift. How would one expect me to buy the clothes when I can't even pay my bills? Plus, the company only gives the store a certain amount of hours, so you are to clock in and clock out EXACTLY on time (aka if you start early or stay late you do not get paid for that extra time.)

I ended up quitting Nygard without giving them any notice. When I first started, I was told that a few former employees had done the same, and I can't say I'm surprised. I would not recommend working for Nygard to anyone.

One day a lady brought her cloth back without receipt. She complained the bad quality of the cloth. I checked the cloth and found out it was shrunk. I asked her which way she washed. She told me that she put it into wash machine and dryer. I show her the tag saying need to be wash with cold water and hung it dry. Also I explain to her without receipt for return or exchange is against the company’s policy. 
when I told this case to my co-worker, she share her experience with me, she said one day someone stolen clothes from the store and came back for return in order to get some cash back, of course, it was without receipt. she was caught by the mall security person and return the clothes to the store, my co-worker did not do the cash return with her, it prevent the company lost.
in this case, I have learned the importance of company's policy, and sharing experiences with co-worker help me understand the policy deeply.
the hardest part of the job was sharing sales with co-worker because our income include the sales commission. 
the most enjoyable part of the job is we earn the clothing credits

This store goes through staff like kids eating candy. Frequent management turnover and more frequent part time turnover due to utter lack of empathy from Managers for employee health, family issues or scheduled appointments.  Schedule changes daily with no communication to affected staff.  This store expects total commitment from part time staff for minimum wage and no benefits. Managers never seem to have an issue stealing sales or scheduling their own time off.  In six months I was the only employee that had never taken a sick day, always came in for last minute staff fill in, worked whenever asked and over the summer was basically one of two employees working due to manager quitting.  The store hasn't had an Assistant Manager since Aug.  Regional Manager comes in often yet never takes time to ask employees if any improvements are needed.  Due to a family emergency I needed to take 24 Dec off and Manager was more concerned that it would impact her own hours that day, and basically told the best employee she had to "decide what I wanted to do about working in New Year" which is Tanjay code for "and don't bother coming back". Don't waste your time working here.  This store will likely end up closing down if head office doesn't start recognizing the problems.

Management including district manager, very rude & unprofessional.. lack of respect from some of the co workers .. you can’t help certain “customers” because everyone claims them which is ridiculous because you have high targets but how are you expected too meet them some days , one coworker who wasn’t even a manager tried bossing me around a lot and always made me clean up after her .. in fact I cleaned up after everyone but if I was to leave 1 or 2 pairs of clothing on the counter I’d be in trouble , they complain if I only had light makeup on .. it’s definitely an older lady store maybe that’s why management was so cranky but when I was employed everyone there was old enough too my grandmother n had grown up married kids of there own save yourself the trouble don’t bother because there’s a lot of favouritism & drama behind close doors even if you try not too get involved with it they’ll find a way


There’s no Pros :Tbh unless your mid 30’s 40’s the close probably won’t be in style for you, definitely wasn’t  for me I hated spending my pay on ugly clothes ,I just ended up giving too my mom who’s 50 n she loved them . 50% off that’s it ..

I was there briefly and it was a very poorly managed store. Manager would stand behind the till and chat with employees. I would be running around trying to help a bazillion customers, then when I'm at the till ringing in the sales I would be told that I have to share my sales with other team members. Because that's how they do it, despite, as she said, they aren't supposed to do that. They wasted a lot of good sales opportunities by ignoring customers only until the customer asked to be let into a changing room or was ready to pay. I previously worked in a way more structured environment with sales targets and so on. Here, they just free-styled the day. No targets or goals, no daily gearing up or staff, no setting of directions, nothing. What upset me the most was being told that I had to give even the manager some of my sales when she was at lunch! How dishonest is that! Then as soon as she came back, she and another woman took all the sales while I got nothing. So I had to "share" my sales with them while they exceeding my sales amount and left me way behind in terms of sales for that day.
p.s- We were making commission.

The management is not concerned to the lower rank. Just like me I was laid off everytime the season changed. The worst part is my last
laid off. This happened last December 2011. I was laid off but my Supervisor told me that I will be recalled to work. But the truth was
I am permanently laid off because I am 63 years old. Nobody informed me that I was permanently laid-off. That's why I didn't
look for a job right away because I am hoping to be recalled. I am unemployed for three months now. I just realized that I was permanently laid-off because they gave my vacation pay.So, the management is so poor. I worked at the service center for more than
ten years as a Picker. There is no benefit for us when we reach our senior age. We are working at minimum wage eventhough we worked there for more than ten years. I hope that this review will enlightened the management. If the rank and file employees will not work hard there is no big profit for the employers. It is also important that they give concern to the employees in a lower position.

The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.  At. All.  Very poor communication and zero organization.  The entire place thrives on crisis management, and, if on the occasion something actually went well, it would certainly very soon fall apart.  You could be fired or promoted at anytime depending on the mood of the room.  So-called “meetings” would go on for hours and hours with no end resolve, and if a final decision was ever made; it would surely change direction the very next day.   Chaos, pressure, gossip, hostility, employee turnover (usually employees taking legitimate stress leave) run rampant.   If anything was ever questioned, the solid company motto is; “we’ve been doing it this way for over 50 years”.   I witnessed a ton of skilled, quality people come and go.  I suppose though, if you have very thick skin, can turn a blind eye to a LOT, don’t mind being criticized for minimal pay while having your time wasted, you may have a chance of survival.

Working here is like working in George Orwell's 1984.  Everyone is watching you.  Everything is controlled....email, time, technology, communications....everything. Independent thought was frowned upon and the Sr. Management insists you only are told the minimum needed to do your job.

Nygard himself controls EVERYTHING.  Management, especially senior management, is a joke.  They will tell you you're absolutely right with an idea and then fold like a cheap suit and throw you under the bus when Nygard doesn't like it.  Nobody will commit to anything because they KNOW that CEO can veto things based on a whim, a mood, rumor or just another rant.

The business model is based solely on exploitation and abuse of workers and there is so much turnover here.  They offered "free" Fridays off in July, then debited our sick time for it.  Some departments have had their paychecks debited for lunch and learns approved by the company.

In my opinion, this place is the worst company in Canada and probably North America.

I worked for nygard for about a year as a part time sales associate. Throughout that year, the store went through 4 managers and 5 assistant managers. The store was run for a few months with no manager. By the time I had been there for 4 months, I was the only one who was still there since I started. We were expected to work 5 sometimes even 6 hour shifts by ourselves with no break. We would get in trouble if we didn't make goals yet there was little to no traffic in the store. It wasn't unheard of to work a 5 hour evening shift and not have one customer in the store. When I asked for full time hours, I was given 12 hours a week then told there were no hours and then a week later, they were complaining they didn't have enough staff and would hire a new person. I'm surprised I lasted that long. Management throughout the whole company was such a joke. Only heard from them when it was something negative.

The management and senior management levels of the company do not respect their employees.  Many employees have been there for several years and have not received a wage increase.  The bonus system is also very poor.  Benefits are not bad unless you are a senior level employee, then benefits are much better.  Bonus systems are mostly based on company performance and your personal performance levels are done by management.  They never give you higher than 80% of your personal performance.  The company never "does well" on the bonus so you are lucky if you receive 30% of this allotment.

On the other hand, the people are great to work with.  There are quite a few friendly and helpful people there.

One is expected to work a lot of weekends and overtime for nothing.  It is just expected.  You can not take time in lieu of overtime put in.

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