senior retail sales associate

stocker

sales associate

warehouse associate

cashier

SUMMIT TOOLS

I worked as the Manager for the Central Dist. Center for nearly a year until Covid hit. At which point, amidst their downsizing "due to company restructuring" received an email and only an email stating that my position had been removed. When I had called to inquire and receive any constructive criticism pertaining to my time there, I was met with answering machines and "out of office" voicemails. Not even a character reference after being told, numerous times, by the current Regional Distribution Manager at the time, that they'd be calling me within a few weeks to report back to work. 

To begin, I'll highlight a few positives of the role and the company:

- Good work/life balance w/ minimal overtime and weekend off
- Average Salary for a management role of this caliber.
- They'll reimburse your expenses for buying coffee and donuts for your team.
- Average benefit package
- Company discount on tools.

Now, the company is family owned and run with a hierarchy that prevents any real collaborative decision making unless it goes through the owner first. As someone who is very progressive and open to offer new ideas, this had become extremely demoralizing over the months, as more and more concerns in their operations had revealed themselves and provided the company with reason for new implementations, which was never acknowledged or acted upon when the issues were raised..

- Their SOP's for inventory coordination are non-existent. They have an annual inventory count and that's it.

- I was instructed to advise my team that only some in-bound shipments required break down and counting.

- When variances surfaced - usually after 6 months of receiving the product and the levels depleted to 0 - I was told to investigate and if the item could not be located, it was to be marked down as stolen by the warehouse team, regardless of numerous other viable causes for said discrepancies.

- Cross training of warehouse staff was rejected numerous times before I went ahead and did so on my own accord and only when the weekly order output exceeded the weekly standard, was it then accepted.
- Upper Management does not base their times to reprimand off of performance metrics, but rather from emotion based off of a limited collection of data and, when provided with metrics and KPI results (which were at 99.3% success rate), I was told (yelled at) that those didn't matter and that I needed to perform better, or they'll find somebody who will, before I was hung up on...I later found out that the reason for being reprimanded wasn't due to my facilities year end variances (which was an average annual loss for a company that size), but rather the facility that was ran by the regional Distribution Manager at the time.

- Most purchasing is done in bulk in order to fill an annual forecast, as opposed to quarterly. Even though the DC would be filled to max capacity the team would still receive upwards of 40 skids within a day, with no warning, and be reprimanded on their performance when Upper Management decided to come by and witness the congestion. 

- The inter-departmental avenues of communication are lacking at best and unresolved inconsistencies to the process being a direct result.

- Employees have no value in this place and professional development is not high on their priority list.

These are only a few of the highlights of the type of environment that you'll be getting yourself into. 

If you're somebody who is driven, self motivated, w/ little to no experience and looking to breakout within your first management role  then this is a great opportunity for you, as there will be minimal supervision and an opportunity to learn from your mistakes, as well as the mistakes from your superiors. Please keep in mind that you will also be held responsible for their mistakes as well.

If you're somebody with adequate management history and looking to apply your knowledge and experience in order to enhance a companies operations then keep searching, as you'll be met here with the text book phrase "No, it's always been done this way". Your days will become very routine and will provide you with little to no room for further growth.



What is the best part of working at the company?
As the manager, had good independence to operate the day to day business.  Good focus on Customer service, everyone has a good opportunity to serve customers on a one on one basis.  Contractors and tradesmen are great customers to work with. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Poor company direction and infrastructure to build business and culture.  Culture is continually damaged by ownership family who do not focus on long term building and upgrading.  Adversarial culture exists between family owners and their staff and store managers that is very damaging. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very poor, without changes in corporate leadership, culture will never improve. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Technology and operating systems are very antiquated and time consuming for staff to operate.  Training is poor and inconsistent, often contradictory from leader to leader.  Processes are based on needs of the head office, but are often not beneficial to store operations.  Hiring is very difficult due to company culture and stunted future outlook.

They lie about the pay on the hiring add they post 23 $ to 25$ for sales associate and once they hire you they’ll  start you at 19 $ and then convince you that they will pay that once u pass the first 3 months probation and then decide a new pay wage between the 23 to 25 depending on how you perform and there’s no extra Pay commission or bonuses no matter how well you perform or how Much sales you may achieve. There is no flexibility on your schedule and your expected to work as late as it 12 hours on the price tag change days and inventory dates! No coffee breaks and 30 min lunch breaks unpaid…the rules are also made up randomly by the manager and they are unfair and dishonest! I’m sorry for the workers who have limited options for finding better jobs and great full that I’m going to be leaving soon ! Wish love and hope to you all! Please don’t sell your self short to companies that treat you like a cheap tool! 

They were quick to respond to the initial application, I had a phone interview and scheduled for an interview within a week.

The interview was archaic questions like 'tell me a time when you disagreed with your boss', and many similar questions, basically no right answer type questions.

The interviewer was interrupted several times during the interview, kept apologizing but really disrupted the flow of the interview.

The interviewer, who was the store manager explained the typical work day, every employee was required to work every Saturday, every one gets Monday off and one other day. You work 8.5 hours per day, half hour unpaid lunch (which is fine), but they do not allow coffee breaks, you are permitted the 1 half hour break in an 8.5 hour day.

you get 2 weeks vacation, but June and July are blacked out, as is December, and several other "sales weeks" throughout the year, basically any long weekend.

If you do need a Saturday off, I was advised you need to request it at least 5 weeks in advance, even then there is good chance it won't be approved.

needless to say I declined the offer

All the previous comments are correct! There is no company culture. It was incredibly discouraging to see how the management did not even know our birthdays or even our last day with the company. We had the store owners going to the floor without even smiling at us, the cashiers, and the rest of the staff. It was just a parade of fear whenever they were there. They never listened to our feedback but were the first to complain for whatever.

Despite having a massive parking lot, we were told that we would never be able to park there because it was exclusive to the customers. IMAGINE NO PRIORITIZING YOUR EMPLOYEES!

This company is also trapped on the 80's. Outdated system and processes 

In payment terms, this company pays better than its competitors, however, you will find yourself in a toxic environment where you feel miserable, sad, and frustrated. It's funny because we all agree on how bad this company is and the only thing that makes this job a little bearable is your coworkers.

Upper Managent needs to learn how to run a business properly. What a joke.

This company says they just want their employees to be happy but they treat them like garbage. The preach employee retention but do nothing about it, hence why their turnover rate is through the roof. The owner of the company doesn't know how to run the business, at all. They preach "teamwork" but enforce segregation.

There is a very unrealistic work load and no work culture. Management will get mad, yell, scold or lecture for the stupidest things and/or smallest of mistakes. They fail to realize that there are holes in the training that they, themselves provide. The training is so minimal and is embarrassing to say the least. Your thrown to the wolves on your first day. If you try to help someone you're told to "stay in your lane".

If you’re looking for a simple, creative, and fun work environment…. Keep on looking.
Your coworkers are the best part of this whole company, except for any form of management. The general manger is constantly confused and extremely passive aggressive. The general work load isn’t often that much, however, you will be constantly harassed into doing jobs that divert your attention from your main job constantly forcing you to be behind on your own work. It takes weeks, If not, months for any form of solutions to basic safety requirements. Even the building itself is barely holding up, pipes leak everywhere on rainy days and often times the lights don’t work (there has been a bathroom undergoing repairs since I started working here). Instead of coming to an agreement on how to fix these problems, they shove it back at you saying it’s your fault and refuse to admit when they make mistakes.
I suggest you look elsewhere for any employment opportunities.

Worked there for a few months and the job itself is great. Once you start to learn where everything is it becomes quite easy to direct customers to the proper product and you eventually get regulars who are very nice. This being said inventory is a joke and the store itself is extremely dissorganized. There are no proper locations for overstock and product is just thrown anywhere it fits... This makes it difficult to find anything. Also there is lack of staff so if you're sick you get a guilt trip by management or are told to come in/rough the day out anyways... Staff are quite nice other than a couple who look down on you and brag how good they are. Overall not a hard job but deffs not one you want to stay at long.

I have been working at Summit Tools for a few months now and I have really enjoyed it so far. The Burnaby location is a good place to be if you are motivated and a hard worker, the company and the customers require the employees to work hard and be knowledgeable, which is a good match for me and my tool experience! 

Aside from the job, I really like my co-workers, they make the job enjoyable and the culture in the store is really great. There is always lots going on that keeps the staff and managers busy, but I always feel like they have time to help me and answer my questions. 

One of the best things about this job is that it is full-time, which isn't always easy to find. Another plus is that the pay is good and there are benefits available after six months. 

The only downside is that you have to work Saturdays, so you don’t always get two days off in a row.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Pay is good, full-time hours, opportunity for over-time

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The head office often likes to micro-manage, same with the store manager. Only one manager and leads managed when he wasn't there. Being belittled was common. Job security was non-existent.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Manager was stressful to be around. A lot of turn around, people being fired and forced out. Even so, the team was often great. Comradery and support was aplenty amongst the employees. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
First thing was finding a lead to figure out what was being worked on. Working out stock, figuring out lunches, fixing prices, helping customers, and tidying up.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Senior retail sales associate 19 salaries reported	$27.19 per hour
Stocker 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour
Sales associate 8 salaries reported	$22.06 per hour
Warehouse associate 1 salary reported	$21.00 per hour
Cashier 1 salary reported	$21.00 per hour

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