Poor leadership and micromanagement from the top down - Ecommerce Belk Employee Review

1.0
7 Apr 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The only pro of working for Belk Corporate was the 20% off employee discount at Belk stores.

Cons

I was in a management position on Belk's Ecommerce team; however, I was rarely empowered to make decisions or lead my team in any meaningful way. I had the president of the company along with an executive vice president, senior vice presidents and directors giving specific creative direction that they expected me to simply echo to my team to execute on the website, even when this direction was not consistent with industry best practices. There is an institutional lack of knowledge and understanding of the roles, responsibilities and processes needed to successfully operate a user experience team. They would often hire people who have the skills and knowledge to improve things; however, leadership then feels threatened by their knowledge, so they supress people's abilities to positively impact the team. Inevitably, the good people become frustrated and move on to go work somewhere else. People who don't move on to other companies are generally unhappy in their jobs and/or working under extreme stress and pressure. Goals and expectations are poorly communicated, and there is no vision for the Ecommerce team, at least there hasn't been one communicated to the team. I wouldn't recommend to anyone that they go work for Belk on the corporate side. I shared these concerns with HR, and they merely acknowledged their awareness of these issues while confessing they don't believe they'll improve any time soon b/c the executives aren't going anywhere. The icing on the cake is that Belk pays their employees about $0.50 - $0.70 on the dollar.

Explore other reviews about Belk

5.0
7 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good work environment and very friendly

Cons

There is nothing negative about the place

3.0
19 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I love the job and the work I do. Regional and corporate leadership are amazing.

Cons

Dated business practices. Less than bare minimum staffing causes so much unnecessary strain on employees. Hard working employees have to do the work of multiple employees because the staffing is not sufficient. Very difficult to have a work life balance when you're constantly in burnout with high levels of stress.

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