warehouse associate

Marks Work Warehouse

What is the best part of working at the company?
The flexibility of hours and the empathy of the team I worked with. Every one I worked with made the day go by quicker with good morale and efficient management.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Probably meeting the membership quotas each month. They can get a bit steep and it takes a certain type of person to push those sales. Understandably, customers can shut down once you try selling them something they haven't picked.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Fun, Light-hearted, easy, empathetic, relaxed. I always felt at ease because our manager delegated really well, and made sure we all felt comfortable in our roles. There was always someone you could ask for help, and the rules there were way more relaxed, without jeopardizing safety or professionalism. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I would either go in for opening, or closing. I would walk right in, greet any coworkers and customers, clock in, and head to the back to drop off my things. I would then check that everyone was okay, as in lunches and coverage, and then head to the office to count the safe, check reports and deliveries, as well as make sure the back door was locked. after that I would do what was needed that day like stock, floor planning, cleaning, fitting rooms, and sales. At closing I would delegate tasks and redo the counts, reports, lock checks, and sweep the store for clutter or lost and found. once done, we'd all clock out and I would bag check and code lock the door.

This is easily the first job I’ve ever genuinely, fully enjoyed. Management here makes you feel appreciated, heard, and valued. They acknowledge that the upper levels of the company don’t provide the best training, and every associate is eager to help you learn. We look out for each other here. 

A typical day at work:

I arrive for my shift and am immediately greeted by the nearest coworker. We exchange “how are you”s, catch up a little, and I go to the back to clock in for my shift. (I’ll arrive a bit early to accommodate for this to make sure payroll counts me as on time.) I’ll check our system for the department I’m working that day and get to work with the tasks that need to be done - you’re encouraged to be independant here, but any support you need management is always happy to help with. Our managers make sure everyone gets their breaks, and they always ask if we had a good one when we get back. I take care of my end-of-shift duties (other colleagues help out with these without me asking) and head home, ‘See you soon!’ and ‘Get home safe!’ following me as I go outside. :)

Hardest part of the job? 

Everyone with retail experience knows what I’m talking about: Cleaning up after customers. 
Mark’s Vernon has very little mean or malicious customers, just weird ones. I once found a pile 4 feet high of clothing one had tried on. 

The most enjoyable part of my job is easily interacting with my coworkers. Everyone’s so positive and friendly, and when someone has a rough day you can bet someone will hear them out and listen to what they need. I love it here :)

Typical day- The store is almost always understaffed, so many employees end up missing breaks because it's a busy store and it often means leaving one person on the floor who cannot realistically take care of the store tasks. Expect short shifts as corporate cares more about the bottom line than the morale or state of their stores so they have every store running on almost no hours.
 
learning opportunities- you will learn the basic things you would at any retail job; time management, basic paperwork, retail experience. not anything too unique

management- during my employment under two different store managers I experienced; harassment, two separate instances of being deceived about my wage, deeply inconsistent schedules, huge loss of hours unexpectedly, lack of direction or receptiveness from the corporate office, lack of care from HR, and so much more. 

Hardest part of the job- due to the high employee turnover caused by the working conditions, and lack of a managerial presence I had to figure out a lot of things virtually unassisted, including complex government forms for the fire evacuees. I worked there for 3 years hoping things would improve but the corporation seems to make it as hard as they can on their stores.  

A typical day was very busy with receiving the orders and entering inventory received into the computer system. I would also be responsible for placing stock received on the sales floor in their intended spot as directed through head office. In the beginning of the shift, we would do a small staff meeting with sales associates, and being the key holder, I would assign them their daily duties. I have learned with this position, the shipping and receiving aspects of retail stores, as well as fallowing product placement strategies assigned by head office. My co-workers were great people with a lot of self-drive and ambition, and also very friendly individuals with both customers and fellow co-workers. I believe that hardest part of the job would be the lack of storage in the small store we had. It was even more difficult around the Christmas season when stock is coming into the store at what I would consider an overwhelming rate. We had off site storage that we would have to travel too in order to store some overstock that we had no place for in the store. The best part of the job was actually the customers. Granted, there were some that could have been a little bit easier to deal with, but for the most part everyone was great. They seemed to really enjoy the fact that the sales associates all went out of their way to give outstanding customer service and take the time to develop a relationship with them.

I cannot recommend working at the Abbotsford Mark's.  Hours are constantly being taken away regardless of position or time worked there if they decide they don't like you (based on gossip) or if it's slow.  The latter is understandable, but then after cutting hours to old staff they will hire new ones. This happens repeatedly throughout the year.  Don't work here if you need a steady job for rent etc.  Felt more like a number rather than a person while working there.  There are small policy changes constantly, making it difficult to keep customers satisfied.  Management is poor with communication about rules and policy in general and there is gossip between management. You will be told to your face that you're doing a good job and then suddenly lose roles or privileges because they decided they don't like you behind your back. Management is absent from the floor most of the time, so decisions and performance opinions are made based on what is secretly said in the upstairs office.  Training is only sometimes given properly, and if 1 or 2 staff screw up something everyone gets punished with stricter rules.  I finally decided it wasn't worth it and quit.

The problem with the marks organization is the part time staff don't get paid enough for  the origanizations expectations.  Upper management has no clue how hard it is to always meet their expectations when they can't listen to the staff and what their concerns are.  You can do surveys until you are blue in the face, but they deal with your manager, not the organization.  You are always having to do their online courses(on your own time at home) with no compensation (I guess you having a job there is their view of compensation).  I worked in the boot deck for years and can't tell anyone how hard it was to keep it organized  and shopable with the continuous off load of  footwear we got.  There was no where to put it, so we are putting it where we shouldn't.
The staff at our store were wonderful.  They got it, so we could vent with each other.  After almost 10 years, with no significant monetary adjustment for the amount of work done , and the  permanent damage to my shoulders due to lugging footwear boxes to store them above 11 feet, I called it quits.
The most enjoyable part of the job, was the wonderful staff i worked with


What is the best part of working at the company?
They have very flexible hours, and are very understanding when it comes to scheduling. Managers are understanding and are able to help with problems that you may have.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The only thing I can complain about is trying to get Mastercards. The company is big on trying to get triangle Mastercards and can sometimes pressure us to get as many as possible. Another thing is email capture it isn’t per say stressful but it does get annoying when they tell you that you need to get your email capture up.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The environment is supportive and friendly. I have found that it’s easier to make friends because everyone is so welcoming and understanding of the fact that you may be new and are always willing to give a helping hand.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day is clocking in and being assigned a zone or task for the start of your shift. While do said task you’ll be interrupted by customers frequently but most of the time they just want to know about our products.

A typical day at Mark's would consist of having a strategy meeting in the morning if we got a big shipment coming in and how we would tackle it. We would then proceed to our departments where we would all ensure that everything was fully stocked and clean for our customers that day. Working in boots and industrial wear I learned many different things. I learned the difference between some of our Flame Resistant (FR) clothing and the different ratings for each. I also became very knowledgeable in what items were and were not allowed on specific job sites. Because of my knowledge in both industrial footwear and industrial clothing, I was able to help each customer find exactly what they were looking for whether it was at our store or another location.

The most enjoyable part of my day was watching customers leave happy knowing they had the things to help keep them safe on their job sites.

The location is on a tougher side of town so expect alot of shoplifters to come in. This aspect made the work place more stressful than it should've been, because there wasn't enough action being taken. (Marks should really hire a security guard for this location). Along with that, the building was supposed to be torn down along time ago, however it's still there. Everything that falls apart in this location takes a long time get to fixed. 
Top management is overly stressful. Often creating a tense environment. Often over your shoulder and criticising.  
Pay never has an increase, they are only allowed to give out a small amount of money per year and it often goes toward only one employee.
Other than the cons, coworkers are very fun. A close knit group of people but also very welcoming. You'll learn alot there from having to handle a wide assortment of customers. 
It's a good job for short term, just make sure your starting wage is high enough.

I strongly believe in all the products I sell and enjoy making my customers happy and finding what they came in to look for. I stand behind my customers, staff and the products I sell.

As a part time employee, I work full time hours (very inconsistent).
I do an extremely large array of tasks and receive no acknowledgement of it. I work every shift, and do all sorts of tasks out of my "job title" and still receive no advancements professionally.
Various full time positions have come and they keep them secretive and later note that they wouldn't want to lose me in all the other departments I work in. I have worked there for 4 years and do everything from regular store clean up, customer service and cash register but I also do "shift leader" duties without the benefits, complete store visual, process all incoming products and product placement.

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