Nordstrom Reviews

Pros

-commission based -amazing managers -got a good amount of hours per week

Cons

-store was always freezing cold even in the summer

Pros

Learning opportunities when they have time to chat

Cons

Long working hour on global hour

Pros

One of the things that makes Nordstrom an enjoyable place to work is the concentrated effort behind company culture. Sure, working on commission creates a slightly competitive work environment but it really isn't the cutthroat atmosphere some people warned me it might be. We have rallies in the shoe department almost every morning before the store opens with music and occasional prizes. Our store manager really does his best to start each day with enthusiasm which is not always easy. I can't speak for every employee but in TBD (women's denim) I really do feel like my managers have my best interest in mind and come to my defense when it comes to the occasional fussy customer. Nordstrom has some of the nicest oversight I've had compared to my other customer service jobs. Almost all of my time-off requests are honored and you are allowed an entire hour for lunch.

Cons

The only real con that comes to mind is the fact that it is difficult to make commission and this gets glossed over during the interview process. At my previous retail position I earned commission on every item I sold. At Nordstrom the formula is as follows: S = pay period sales, Commission = 5% for example (S x .05) --> if this number is still greater than your total hourly pay, then you can tack on the difference to your paycheck. Let's say your total hourly pay will be $800. If you sold 17k within the pay period, and 17k multiplied by .05 is 850, then because 850 is more than 800 you can add the difference ($50) to your paycheck as "commission". If you only sold 16K in the pay period you would not get any commission.

Pros

Nothing really stand out here.

Cons

I had a solid background from the A to Z company up the street. Nordstrom liked and wanted that. Then when I got there, I found out that no one would even say that company's name let alone admit that it was a competitor. Further, I presented an outside the box marketing suggestion to management throughout the company. New ideas were encouraged and welcome at my old company. At Nordstrom, the comments were, "we've done things the same way for 100 years" and "who asked you to think up a new idea?" I also presented a way to save hundred of thousands for international customers and reduce delivery times for customers. I brought in senior mgt from a bank as further evidence. Nordstrom just said the approach was too good to be true and turned it down. Anyway, worst job of my career. Couldn't wait to leave. Stock price has done nothing in 5 years. I could have told you that.

Pros

Perks are competitive and align with standard practices in the industry

Cons

It's very difficult to move up levels because of HR policies. Even if your manager, and your manager's manager would like to promote you to a new level, the HR policies make it extremely difficult. It's easier to just leave the company and maybe return later so that you can skip the HR internal processes, and just get hired in a different role and compensation.

Pros

Pays well for retail. Not very physically intensive. Coworkers are friendly for the most part. Decent discount but they make it tedious for you to use it.

Cons

Gossip and distrust among certain coworkers, few people mind their own business. New hires are pressured to pick up more slack than hires who have been there for a while. Employees are made to feel guilty by fellow coworkers and managers for taking breaks, even if you show that you work hard. Management turns a blind eye to the toxic work environment and dead weight, pretends to care about you but really doesn't. They care more about customer satisfaction than employee satisfaction. Management asks employees invasive questions about their personal lives, and retaliates when you submit your two week's notice. Overall, they are very passive aggressive and lack professionalism. They leave it to employees to train new hires. They pick favorites and are inflexible with your hours if you aren't one of them. Somehow they still manage to ignore talent and they will not support you in your career growth in the event that there are promotions within the company.

Pros

I loved working here. If you're a people person and enjoy retail, you'll love working here. However, you do have to work hard to reach your daily/weekly/monthly commission goals if you want to get paid well.

Cons

If someone returns something, your commission decreases. Your commission also rolls over; It's not fun when someone who bought something three months ago or so decides they don't like their product. Your current sales will drop.

Pros

Been with the company for 9 years. The pay is great for now. Coworkers are amazing. Not much opportunity for growth when you hit a certain level though.

Cons

Used to be guaranteed a raise every 1000 hours worked. But now they do Pay for Performance which puts you against your peers performance wise. If you're a bottom performer compared to your peers you're lucky if you get a 10 cent raise. Whereas top performers get bigger raises but not much. There are people who have been working less than me getting paid the same amount as me, and people who have been there longer making less than me. It's all up in the air. They recently closed all stores in Canada and a bunch more on California. So things don't seem to be going too well. Constant policy and procedure and management changes make the day to day job very tedious.

Pros

The Employee Discount is an attractive benefit.

Cons

I found the environment toxic. Leadership states they are inclusive of marginalized individuals but 1 look at career progression and tenure demonstrate otherwise. Additionally, the culture of working your way up from the stores is a well engrained aspect of the culture that allows a select group of individuals to remain in key positions gate keep talent. The folks that are focused on DE&I in mid level roles do not last despite the efforts of a few inclusive executive people leaders. Spoiler: 1 person cannot fight a whole culture from the seat of power they are in.

Pros

- Base pay was decent for a non-tech company + amazing employee discount - Overall good WLB (that is if you are able to say NO) - Decent tech-stack - Ability to have end-to-end ownership, so great to get experience - Diversity in tech is good (=not male dominated) - Friendly team mates but had some toxic managers

Cons

- Lay-offs (Oct 2022, April 2023 and likely more to come!!) - Who gets layed off is not a rational decision based on performance and a result of calibrating everyone and identifying the bottom x % Rather it's a decision made by the VP, mostly dependent on who he likes, how many shout-outs you've received, and how much visibility you've gotten, irrespective of whether you are capable / hard-working / delivering meaningful results - Were committed to WFH until they realized pushing people back into the office is a great way of getting more people to leave without having to lay them off - No long term vision - Hard to do data science since they are so reporting focused and don't have the patience for things that take more time so be prepared to be a SQL monkey. - SO many reorgs and overall very chaotic - Most times there will be no bonus. Only Senior manager and higher level get stocks - Hard to get promoted and their calibration is a joke - A lot of favoritism - Very woke and they LOVE to virtue signal, so be prepared for a lot of talk about BLM, LGBT, etc. Also it's very obvious what political party leadership supports so if you don't agree with everything on the left, best to shut up and try not to get irritated with them shoving narratives in your face. - Has had high turn-over on executive level in 2022/2023, likely another signal things aren't going great - VP is unauthentic and not honest, a lot of hollow words and virtue signaling. Forget about getting any real answers in office hours