Disgraceful treatment of employees- BBW's Dirty Little Secret - Sales Associate Bath & Body Works Employee Review

1.0
10 Sept 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Appears to be a company one would be proud to work for, decent products, well groomed articulate employees and co-workers

Cons

You are "hired" for a "job" that you will never have, unless you consider a 3 hour a week job , a "job", you should still consider yourself "unemployed". You will be scheduled for 10-20 hours a week as a call-in. That means you are xpected to be available to the company to work and call-in daily, one hour before your shift to see if they "need you" (They "need you" once in every 50 call-ins) This means you will not work, will not be paid, but will be expected to be available for work that doesn't exist. You will be searched each and every time you leave the store- even in front of customers- this is the epitome of a tasteless, disgraceful and shameful corporate policy- it is humiliating and sends a message to customers- "we do not trust our own employees perhaps you shouldn't either". You will be "needed" for floorsets which are done after hours. This is a merchandiser job. You will be paid minimum wage. The industry standard is 10-11$ per hour, your willingness to do this job for minimum wage keeps the company from subcontracting this work to real merchandisers and/or paying you what you are worth. You will be willing to do this work because these are the only decent amount of hours you will recieve upon hire. Even if you work for the company for two years you will be treated as a "day 1" hire, you will not recieve more hours or more pay. The company continuously hires "3-15 hour a week" employees, even though good experienced workers want and deserve more hours. You will be reviewed. You are a hard working and committed employee doing a bang up job of selling and merchandising yet you will be given a mediocre" review" which is predetermined- meaning managers can not and are not allowed to give a top review- it is prohibited- (that would require a much deserved pay raise and perhaps more hours.) You will spend your meager paycheck on the products you promote because hey you are so good and convincing a salesperson you have sold yourself enough merchandise to cover your paycheck- brilliant. The company keeps track of your purchases- they know whose "paycheck" is a "wash"- i suspect your hours are reduced accordingly (ie. if you aren't buying their stuff you're not getting any hours- just a suspicion I can't actually confirm) You have a 30% discount . This is a joke. It only applies to regular priced merchandise and cannot be combined with coupons or sales prices- example, hand soap 3 for $10, you get to pick: take the sale price (3/10) or use your "discount" off of the regular price (3 x $5= 15 less 30% = $10.50!, I think this is an IQ test, if you use your discount you are an idiot)... It is a shame that a company that should be one of the best American companies to work for is one of the worst.

Explore other reviews about Bath & Body Works

5.0
3 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I previously worked in the field (for a different brand) and we were always so weary of corporate teams coming into the stores. However, the corporate team at Bath & Body Works is absolutely incredible, supportive, and does everything they can to advocate for the stores. The entire Store Ops team is full of people who care deeply about the brand, the store associates, and the customer.

Cons

A lot of meetings. But being remote, it was nice to see faces throughout the day!

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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