sales associate

retail sales associate

gestionnaire

retail assistant manager

assistant manager

Urban Outfitters

extremely toxic work environment. i've seen otherwise nice people turn into bitter negative people once they became employees here. typical day at urban outfitters montreal involves receiving unnecessary and condescending attitudes from the managers, being pressured to repeatedly annoy customers and pretending to be busy. everyone always complains about how bad the job is which makes the environment generally very negative.

male managers make the environment all the more toxic as they are in their late 20s/early 30s and pick fights/throw shade at 18-22 year old girls. they give you written warnings WITHOUT telling you so you can randomly find yourself with 3 written warnings and on the brink of getting fired and be completely unaware of it. 

you also have to go through a bag check for every single time you leave the store. including on your lunch break. already punched out for your 30minute break? too bad, you'll have to lose 15 minutes of that break waiting for a manager as they take their sweet time to bag check you.

the environment amongst the employees isn't as bad as it is with the managers, but the employees are very cliquey and will have absolutely no problem with making you feel like you dont exist as they don't even respond when you say hi. there is also a lot of drama concerning the employees, which is the only "good" part about this job considering it's very entertaining to see literal adults act like high school freshmen. if you think you'll be able to stay on the outskirts of the drama at this job, you're in for something because people have a blast making up rumors about you.

would not recommend working here if you are an lgbt man or a conventionally attractive woman because those factors will cause the male managers' insecurities to kick in and bully you. the women on the management team are much more enjoyable but do not intervene when it comes to their male counterparts' actions which is why they are complicit in the toxic work culture at urban outfitters.

finally, break room is absolutely filthy, signing up to work here entails you becoming a whole maid and sweeping the floor and washing bathrooms (yes, the toilet too) everyday.

The vibe and the people were great and we did some awesome events and they always had stuff going on for employees to submit to, but then we got a new store manager who immediately culled the people who didn't fit his standard and had worked there for literal years and rehired multiple new employees.  I worked really hard for this store because I liked it and it was a steady job with what seemed like opportunities, but still got fired ('let go') with no warning or chances to improve.  Others did as well, so hopefully this doesn't come across as a salty employee trying to get back.  

The job itself was fun, with a bit of pressure to sell and get people to sign up for the rewards program, but nothing unreasonable.  The people you work with really feel like your friends and it's fun to go to work.  The associate's job is mostly cleaning and keeping an eye out for shoplifters, but back stock is really great if you can handle it.  It can be a bit stressful with all the shipments coming in at once and nowhere to put it all.  I mostly did restock and organizing the front end, which is fast paced and kind of boring sometimes, but not complicated.

If you're looking at this specific location be very careful of management.  There's a lot more drama going on than it seems and a lot of factors against you if you're outside their inner circle.  I want to say that it's a great job if you do your work and keep your head down, but that didn't even work for a lot of the people who got let go including me.  The Christmas season barely met any goals at all too, and by the time I left things were still going poorly, so I don't know what will have changed or been done since.  

I really miss what it was like before and I hope things change for the people that are still there.

A typical day at work would be maintaining the sales floor constantly, sweeping dust bunnies and greeting every customer. If in fitting rooms you would be in charge of counting items, placing customers in their fitting rooms, writing their names and checking fitting rooms for security tags and price tags. I didn't learn anything new at this job. The management is very shady and talked about employees behind their backs to the store manager (I overheard them speaking in the morning) and to other employees. The shift leads are very nonchalant and behave as though they are an elite clique and the sales associates are beneath them. The workplace culture made me very uncomfortable as I was being treated like a new hire with no retail experience. The hardest part of the job was being subjected to snarky comments by management and not being able to speak up due to an open-door policy and expected to do the impossible through contests that were easier for other associates (trying to get customer shout outs via a survey on the receipt and the cashier kept winning - the cashier has the opportunity to casually mention the survey). The only enjoyable part of the job was the employee discount.  I was fired 40 minutes into my shift and the manager insulted me, shamed me  and lied to me about why I was being terminated by stating "my priorities were not in line with the priorities of the company". I was also terminated in front of an shift lead hired a week ago. I felt like an example was being made of me. It was completely unfair.

Toxic management and favouritism at all levels, from top management to key holders. No professionalism in any way whatsoever. If you are not popular with management be prepared to be singled out, demeaned, and micromanaged. Very little training or support, a very "learn on the job" place where management will very rudely single you out if you aren't up to date on store metrics. Be aware of your rights as an employee, as breaks are often ignored, or overlooked, unless you are assertive about it. Very LOW opportunity for career advancement, again favouritism. Very high staff turnover.

Schedule wise, it is a flexible place to work for students, but aside from holiday seasons, there are always insufficient hours and shift shortages. Compensation is what you would expect as a minimum wage job. However, one positive is the GREAT staff discount rate. One other positive were the friendly coworkers, for the most part, if they weren't in management's pocket.

Overall, not every manager is toxic, and most of the coworkers are friendly, but unless you are in the inner circle this is not a place you want to work. As a student or young person, if your mental health can handle the bullying or if you're willing to be degraded for pennies, you'll end up getting a bit of extra cash in your pocket and a trendy new wardrobe.

I was a former employee and honestly the environment was great until a new manager stepped in. The store manager constantly dictates whatever you do on the floor to an extent where “micro-managing” gets out of hand. Given a scenario where I was embarrassingly called out for not tucking in a tag inside a pair of denim in a tone of voice where a mother who was shopping later set me aside and apologized for having to deal with a manager like that is absurdly embarrassing. Service leading is a time for managing not be on your phone and giggle then after cat call employees on something that we aren’t doing “right” yet another  reason for you to find towards doing your “job” yikes. Flexibility towards schedules and shifts being covered were quite an issue,  the store manager would ideally ask you to book it off a month in advance but whenever my colleagues and I did it was never fully approved whatsoever but rather we were threatened  to get write ups if we were  scheduled on that day and no one was to cover it if the two shift covers were up for us which is truly unfair on our ends. All in all the other managers are great and nice including employees as everyone gets along pretty well.

Overall, it would be a much better place to work if they had better organizational skills and more constant opportunity for feedback.

. From the moment you start, there's really not much you've been told on and there's honestly not much to do; you either greet, go in fitting rooms, shoes, the men's section or sale.

. I've only really learnt how to fold clothes; full-fold, board-folding and quarter folding. That's the only memorable moment for me.

. The one thing that's been a constant bother for me since the start of 2011 though is the bad scheduling; from the holidays onward, very few people are given consistent hours and that influx greatly influenced my private life.

. My co-workers are fun and easy to work with and relatable and fun; some managers are a bit antsy but overall comfortable and perky at times.

. Also, when on the floor, while you will work, you will be probably often times with various managers, but you're only reviewed only once a year and you're never sure by whom. Otherwise, you're rarely given an update on how you've progressed.

I wanted to rate this a 2.5 but i couldn't. The people you work with are fun and bubbly but the management is terrible. My first shift was on boxing day and i had no prior training or run down of how to do things. I was lost and didnt know what to do on ny first shift. Although the great employees that worked there took me under their wing and showed me the ways and made my first day better. A typical day is very boring and is a drag. Noone steps foot into the store. And i found myself messing up perfect piles of clothes just to keep myself occupied. Management would cut my hours at times because they didnt have "enough hours" which made sense because of the huge staff that Urban has. The staff is so large that you would be lucky if you got 1 single 8 hour shift. But that wouldnt be a issue if your a part time worker. Instead they would cut your 5hr shift into a 4hr shift. Overall i wouldnt recommend for a permanent position. And instead would recommend a seasonal or part time position.

Urban is great because they really truly do hire like-minded, genuine people. I haven't hated a single sales associate and I have worked at a couple different Urban Outfitters locations.
However, they are very rare to promote from within the company. They are more likely to hire an outside individual who has less experience/knowledge than you do. It's frustrating, and the manager turnover is FAR too high for such a big company. In fact, turnover in general is high. If you stay for a year, you'll be working with completely different people within 4 months. Plus, working with different managers (who know less than you do) really affects the work environment and your ability to actually get things done. You'll probably spend more time training your managers. 
The work environment though is generally very fun and carefree. Not stressful at all!

The work culture can be really fun and quite engaging. Days are either really fast paced and busy that can feel pretty hectic, especially if understaffed. Or they instead feel slow paced and seem to drag on other days. 

The expectation is high for management with little to no real reward besides being paid more than some retailers but that being said, there is a lot of manual labour expected with long hours and no real time to have a life for yourself outside of your very lengthy work hours and demand to be in the business practically every weekend per month. 

Management could use improvement with setting a more positive and uplifting work environment and valuing staff more. The product, discount, certain staff, and the customers make the experience rather enjoyable however there is certainly work to be done within this company. Hopefully they will consider some restructure and be able to see some growth in the right directions for the future.  

the management is the worst i’ve ever seen in my entire life, we switched SBL three time in the last year i was there, you can ask for a day off 3 months in advance and they’ll find a way to schedule you anyways and then say it’s your problem if you can’t come in and to find a replacement. During the holidays they hire alot of new people but don’t put them as seasonals so when January hits and there’s no more hours to give they go by who’s their favourite in the team. They don’t care if you’ve been there 3 years or if you have rent to pay they’ll schedule you for a whopping 3 hours when you were hired as a 20 hour/week part timer. LOVED LOVED LOVED my coworkers and the fact we didn’t have a dress code but honestly not worth it. I was a Team Leader and i was paid barely a dollar over minimum wage, they don’t care about their employees and their mental health at all. great discount tho (40% and 60% off)

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Sales associate 4 salaries reported	$15.25 per hour
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Retail assistant manager 1 salary reported	$18.22 per hour
Assistant manager 2 salaries reported	$22.50 per hour

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