I have only worked for Old Navy for a few months but it has been a terrible experience for me. I was given no proper training before being thrown into six hour shifts, though my managers knew I had no retail experience. I was then yelled at for not knowing certain things that I should’ve been told during training, and then when I told them I didn’t have proper training they made it out to be my fault even though I had mentioned it to my supervisors multiple times and nobody reached out to help me and get me the training I required. I had to conceal tears on the job multiple times because of the harsh tones the managers would use with me when I wasn’t doing things fast enough or accidentally put an item in the wrong spot once. My managers also weren’t always clear when they communicated to me. There were always two managers on the floor during my shifts and sometimes one would tell me to do one thing and the other one would tell me to do something else, then whichever task I chose to do first got me yelled at by the other manager. If I said “the other manager asked me to do this first” they just said the task they wanted me to do was more important. I was also never provided with company emails or phone numbers to get in contact with my managers outside work hours. I had to call the line for customers one day when I called in sick, only to be told I couldn’t use that number and had to use the number specifically for managers which had never been given to me. The manager then
READ FOR A BRUTUALLY HONEST OPINION OF WORKING AT OLD NAVY
I'm sure stores vary by management and store culture so I don't want to say working at the entire corporate company (Gap Inc.) is bad, but definitely the Old Navy location I worked at was the worst job of my life. I have been working since I was 15 (I am in my early 20s now) and I have never been at a place as bad as this one.
To start off, the management at the store I was at sucked. All managers are rude, disrespectful, look down upon the brand associates, not understanding and cold. To start off there are like 10 managers, and yet with so many people as higher management team, they still can't get their stuff together.
Secondly, you hardly get any shifts even if your availability is totally free and when you do get shifts, be prepared to have them cut your shift early and you get sent home. One time I was scheduled to work 11am-6pm, so I obviously cleared my schedule to work and I went on my hour break and when I came back they cut my shift. If I had known my shift would be cut I wouldn't have went on such a long break and they said "oh management only just decided that after you left, and there was no way of knowing beforehand." That's a lie, if the store hasn't been making sales all morning and it's been a slow day, I'm sure you would've known that you'll be cutting people's shifts, it doesn't only occur when I go on my break.
Thirdly, I have witness a manager give horrible customer service to a cu
Prosdiscounts
Conshorrible, disrespectful and unorganized management team, not enough hours, shifts get cut
A fast paced retail environment with an enjoyable organizational culture and people
A typical shift at Old Navy varies depending on what position the sales leader, otherwise known as a floor manager, assigns a sales associate. They are categorized by three different types of positions which includes working as a cashier, managing the fitting room, or working the sales floor. Being a cashier involves providing exceptional customer service through quick processing of returns and sales transactions to reduce wait time between customers. Cashiering also involves strong conflict resolution and communication skills when trying to meet the demands of customers. A fitting room shift involves assisting customers in conveniently trying out Old Navy apparel, as well as "processing" and "running" of clothing, which is organizing then distributing returned clothing onto the correct departments of the sales floor. Lastly, working on the sales floor means reliably answering the questions of customers and maintaining a purchasing environment of the store by tidying particular departments in an efficient manner. With that said, all Old Navy sales associates must be well versed in the three positions and responsibly meet the demands of customers in all aspects. All in all, working at Old Navy has been ultimately satisfying with its strong uplifting organizational culture filled with great people and understanding management. It is difficult to say that working at Old Navy can get boring when your co-workers are your friends and that being an Old Navy sales associate require
Worked at Old Navy for a bit over a year and a half. In the beginning it was nice, I was treated nicely and got lots of hours during the summer. However, during school was when I noticed a shift. The hours became so low, a 3-4 hour shift a MONTH. Then after a few months, I was given about 4-5 shifts in a week I could hardly get my schoolwork done with any free time. The worst part about the shifts, were that they were always 3-4 hours, and always in the middle of the day. Not in the morning, not at night. Always from about 11-4 pm or so, which left zero chance to make plans with people or to get class work done.
But whatever, I put up with it. Then the second summer came around. No hours again. The same small shift once a month or so. I brought this up to them and there was nothing they could do about it apparently. But whatever, school was starting soon. It was going well, not too many hours but enough, about 1-2 shifts a week. Then January came around. No hours for the entire month. Finally in February they bombarded me with so many hours AGAIN that I could not keep up with. I talked to them about it, they told me that they "are enrolling a new work plan" and this would become the new normal.. I finally gave my notice and quit, however they seemed really hesitant on letting me go, asking me to keep thinking it over. I did not. I could not keep up with the inconsistent hours and them literally giving me 20 hours in a week, every week. I could not handle that with school. I
INFO
The salary is minimum wage (currently $14/hr in Ontario).
Employee discount is currently (check date of review) 50% off all merchandise. For merchandise that is on sale, you get 50% off the ORIGINAL price.
Shifts range from 4 to 9 hours, but you rarely actually get more than 6.5 hours in my experience (unless you're in a higher position). Subtract 30 minutes of pay from that due to an unpaid break (make sure you ask in your orientation about the specifics of breaks and how long they are depending on how long your shift is).
A tip for people who want to work here is to make sure you ask to get trained on not only the sales floor, but also fits (cash is mandatory but it takes a few months for them to get around to training you). Doing this helps you get scheduled more often.
This job would be good for someone who doesn't want or need to work a lot of hours and just wants retail experience for their resume before eventually moving on.
PROS
The people at Old Navy are, for the most part, great to work with and supportive. I love the diversity of the staff and customers, and interacting with people throughout the day uplifts me and puts me in a good mood. I don't have any problems with management so far either, they seem to do a good job. Everyone works hard and collaborates to get things done efficiently. I find it to be a very fun, enjoyable environment.
CONS
However... the number one thing I don't like or quite understand about Old Na
ProsEmployee discount, fun environment, the people.
ConsShort shifts, difficult to get hours, hours get cut on slow days.
Honeslty in the beginning it was fun and okay later on the managers changed and became really stuck up, they sceduale you whenever and god forbid you actually have an availability which doesnt allow you to work everyday theyll make you feel so bad and coerce you to make it more open so its more convenient for them. The team has been leaving like dropping flies they don't reward seniority nor hard work mainly those that are the "favorites" and oh dear are there ever some favorites. Dress code is okay though kind of odd that you cant wear leggings, for a store that's like 40 percent lounge and activewear it's not really open to wearing those products expect on the set theme days. Pros would be the three store discount at ON, Gap, and BR, however at old navy now most things are overpriced or everyday magic to which you employee discount wont apply. Cons they dont realize it's a retail job and they expect everyone to have put it above and beyond your own needs while still paying less than ever, you can rarely call in again my managers made me feel worse about being sick when I did have to call in (I've been at this job for almost 4 years first two years I rarely called off and would come in when called even if it were last minute) they often make last minute changes to the schedule and add or cut a shift nearly sometimes the day of, though you cant give your shifts away even if you have gotten them covered by someone else without being interrogated. For the managers that have mad
ProsShort shifts for those that prefer it, employee discount, pet sweaters and shirts
ConsShort shifts, bad management, random consistent sceduals, rarely any vacation hours, minimal raises not even a dollar after 3 years, favoritism
When i applied as a part time seasonal i was told i can get 20 hrs per week and there is a big chance that i can get hired as a permanent sales associate. So i left my 25hrs per week job at another company to take the chance. I was confident that my hard work will pay off and i made a mistake of thinking they would be responsible enough of letting me know 2 weeks ahead before they let me go. They also have this app called shyft that allows you pick up the posted shifts by managers. They told me i can pick up extra shifts from there its first come first served. What they did not told me that i was fixed with 8 hours per week!! Oh but theres the shift app right? Not really bcz they didnt even bothered to cash train me (which will take mostly an hour to show me their system) so i wasnt allowed to pick up shifts. Managers always refused my requests because of the shifts always include cash floor and changing rooms. Also since you cant use your phone during your shifts you wouldnt be notified if there are extra shifts posted while you work. Also there is this toxic environment towards the seasonals. They just dont care about you because you are not a permanent and never will be. The permanents do the easy tasks as assisting customers with changing rooms and folding and hanging clothes while chatting with each other, when the seasonals do all the foot work which is an endless loop of taking back the clothes left by customers. And being told “you cant stop you have to be walking aro
ProsJust some discounts on clothing who are not on sale
Cons8 hours per week? Only getting hired for 4 weeks?
Interesting company with good clothes and friendly staff
I would go to the store to begin my orientation and job interview. They were very friendly, and considerate. It was a class of eight women who would compete for the job position. I was only there for two oriental days, where we read a booklet and answered questions. They showed us around the store, and around the back area.
I learned that Old Navy has racks and racks of jeans hanging from the ceiling and all the way across the room. My sister friend works there, she is how I go the job interview. Working retail never seemed hard after I was there, I have thought this to be difficult. They are a very kind organization, that supports veterans. There are many Old navy locations around the Edmonton area all of which, can switch employees if needed.
Management was great, they had a few people show us around and teach us about the working aspects. The manager at the time, was my sisters friend. She was very clean, polite, organized and interesting. I loved there focused atmosphere, they're ability to get things across, and their ability to establish a working environment. They have shown great pleasure and pride in their jobs.
My coworkers were mostly female, of multiple races and origins. Some seemed prosperous, and others very competitive. They were good women who learned well, and each was very unique. They seemed friendly, and cooperative. There were many times when they would do something intriguing or something worthwhile in order to receive the job position.
I was referred by a friend to work at Old Navy as it was my first job and needed to save up for college. Hiring process was very simple and laidback with some interesting questions.
As someone else previously stated for this particular location (Fairview Pointe-Claire), the bigger a company is, the bigger is the mess. Hours are very inconsistent and some managers don't respect your availabilities, even if you are a student with barely any free time. The store condition is always messy, with it only getting worse during the colder season (especially in the Winter). The amount of shipment boxes that the store receives is too much to handle in the back of house, with the overstock on the sales floor overflowing and boxes piled up everywhere in the back. The store condition is disgusting and it is obvious that the store is falling apart. The clothes are mindlessly dumped into large plastic bins onto rolling carts only to be piled up in the fitting room for whoever is assigned to work in that section. There have been instances where employees would call out but they'd still push you to work as hard.
Back when I used to work there, overall management was decent until the pandemic hit. Higher ups would introduce themselves, stay for a bit only for them to leave/transfer to another location within a month. On top of that, some would take advantage of their authority and would blame the staff members if a given task was not completed by a certain time. The overall store layout is o
Going into Old Navy I read alot of reviews mostly good things so I was fairly excited when I got the call and was hired there. Before reading this review I would like anyone reading to understand that it was during the holiday season, so it was more busy then usual.
The job itself was basically cleaning up the store. Which was a bit difficult due to the fact that it was a two floor store and I was the only person who was cleaning it. I had to pick up any clothes on the floor which for one floor alone would take about 30 minutes since nobody else picked it up and I was usually opening. Then I had to proceed to:
Sweep
Mop
Clean Mirrors
Do bathrooms
Clean Fitting Rooms
Clean Back and Electrical Rooms
Take out the trash and replace all trash bags in the store, by myself.
The job was difficult to say the least, considering most of the time you would only be allowed 2-3 hours before the store actually opened. Management would allow other seasonal workers to leave their stuff everywhere. Let things rot in the fridge, let workers throughout the day not take the garbage downstairs and generally be slobs making the job 10X harder then it should be.The only help I ever got during the ENTIRE holiday season was a woman who was unfortunately suffering from a disability so she wasn't able to really help as much. When I approached management about needing help or objects being broken that I needed for work. I was brushed aside and my frustrations grew. Since I was told that I wa
Working here was a bittersweet experience. A typical day includes going to the back, clocking in, and completing your health check. You’d talk to a manager that is in charge for that hour and they’d tell you where to go (cash register, sales floor, fitting room, helping them with a project, etc). You are usually told when to go on your break or lunch, but sometimes things may get hectic so you’ll have to ask them yourself or just go and let them know on the walkie. You get paid breaks and unpaid lunches. If you’re opening and you’re new there, your jobs usually include cleaning the store, placing items in the fitting room back on the floor, or recovering the store so everything looks okay. While opened, you can be on the sales floor recovering, in the fitting room, running go backs, on cash register, or doing a loyalty blitz (asking everyone in the store if they wanna sign up for the loyalty program). Closing usually includes doing the same as opening, excluding cleaning the store usually.
You learn how to work in a fast paced environment here. It gets super busy before school begins, during sales, and the holidays. You also learn how to multitask, provide great customer service, resolve issues with customers, and work in a team setting.
Management here is so-so, some of them are good, some of them are okay. There’s sometimes no communication between managers, so managers may tell you to do something differently than the other. This location goes through a lot of managers
Pros50% most items, exclusive employee sales (highest was 70% off), flexible schedule, great coworkers
ConsCOVID-19 concerns, NO raise for promotions (expected to do more work for the same pay), loyalty/credit card sign ups
I began working here as a second job and it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.
Where do I even begin? The management was a nightmare. They were aggressive, pushy, invasive, and frightening majority of the time. I had anxiety attacks before going in for shifts because all I could think was, “what am I going to get berated for today?” When performing new tasks, you were rushed and berated over the walkies for everyone to hear. I scalded my hand steaming clothes once because I was startled by a manager hollering at me over the walkies about how long I was taking to steam a pile of clothes to perfection. Yeah. Everything was wrong or done incorrectly no matter what and you were humiliated for it.
The shipment shifts were a nightmare because you could be moving as fast as you could at 6:00 am and it was never fast enough. More berating would ensue. New employees always looked petrified and broken-in employees looked like they wanted to die. The clothes arrive in plastic bags and they don’t recycle them, so there were 10-15 (maybe more) massive garbage bags full of plastic bag waste being tossed into the dumpster several times a week.
They never trained me on register in the 8-ish month period I was employed there and then had the audacity to get angry with me when I told them I couldn’t hop on during busy times because I wasn’t trained. Then I was forced to ring on “Mobile Register” (a literal iPod) which didn’t work majority of the time, and customers who were pull
Great people, but corporate is terribly demanding, tech doesn't work, and scheduling is shady at best
I am a college student who applied for a part-time job listing and selected "10-26 hours" on my application. I am working 40+ hours a week. I asked for fewer and was told I could do 30. I am scheduled for 39 and 3 quarters next week, just short of getting benefits....
Most of those shifts are 7 and 3/4 hours, just short of getting an hour long lunch...... again, I am in school and applied for a part-time position.
There is an insane push to sign up customers for the loyalty program. I was originally trained to ask when it fit naturally into the conversation and I had built up a rapport with the customer. But corporate will not budge on their 10% conversion rate goal, so we are pushed to ask literally every customer, whether we've helped them at all or not and even if they just walked in. It is draining.
There is a lot of time when the store is fairly empty and things are already recovered. During this time, you must pretend to be working. If you stand still, sit, or walk without occasionally touching an item, someone will appear to remind you you have to be recovering. It doesn't matter if everything looks fine, you need to pretend to fix things for hours on end until there's real work to be done.
The technology we have to learn to use in the store, necessary to perform many tasks, is spotty at best. We are provided 12 "mobiles". Corporate will not allow us more. We ALWAYS have more than 12 employees working and there are never enough devices to go around. If you are lucky
ProsGood snacks, wonderful coworkers, learning a ton
ConsShady scheduling, bad technology, frustratingly boring at times, loyalty program push is stressful and rude
I believe my particular experience at Old Navy was a very specific one that not a lot of people get to encounter. Our team opened our store from the bare bone empty white-walled department setup from the ground up. I'm talking no shelves, no booths, no mannequins, heck we didn't even have a store on day one! We had to train at semi-local stores to prepare for business at our location. But we sweat and worked hard to put up shelving units, hang bars and mannies to get that place up and running. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed every minute of it. We were even a test store, so there were always exciting things happening for us as the new hit top spot Old Navy in the area. There were opportunities to move up, promises of new experiences, pay raises for those who showed promising qualities, and we were moved up a position to be leads. It was great.
But then... the dark clouds that hang over evert retail store started to roll in. Managers got cranky, corporate started to press hard, sales and cards dwindled fast during the post-Christmas slow season. Times were rough and hours were scarce. Our managers even suggested picking up secondary part time positions to supplement our income while the sales drought carried on. It seemed endless... myself and my fellow employees who were lucky enough to show strong sales associate skills in the beginning were the only ones getting hours anymore. But then of course people got sick of winter and started shopping more as the second quarter ca
ProsDecent breaks, yearly raises, social environment, chance to make work friends, can be abundantly busying when life gets boring, can also be calming to just fold things when life gets hectic.
ConsNot as many chances to move up as they say there are, the tough times get tough, not everyone is in it to win it, don't believe them when they say "do the darn thing, " no need to bring a packed lunch (Old Navys are usually a short walk from any plaza restaurant)
This is honestly the worst place I’ve ever worked and I’ve been working retail for awhile now. They started out nice and understanding but the managers are the opposite. I got hired with 4 other people and out of the five of us only one of them still works there. They give you issues about using the restroom, if I spend maybe 3 minutes to actually use it then I had to wash my hands and spend some time sanitizing the area (store rules) I was questioned about why it takes me so long. (I was legit in there for maybe 6 minutes) I was questioned publicly with customers nearby about why it takes so long and told of I have bladder issues I need to speak to them. It’s highly embarrassing and they could have pulled me in the back room to talk about. They won’t work with you on scheduling, I couldn’t work until after 10 and they kept scheduling me for 9:45 shifts, they even have a habit of adding time onto your shift than what you are emailed. It happened to a coworker, she was scheduled for a. 9:45-5 shift and they asked her the day before if she would stay an extra hour. She refused and they still scheduled her for it. It happens a lot according to the other coworkers. They almost never give 15 minute breaks, so be prepared to wait until lunch! Working there I never got a single 15 minute break. They try and promote being ‘fast’ sometimes, one shift they had me running all around the store and I was told I need to be fast because if I’m slow I’m letting the team down. I was the only
ProsIf you are desperate for money go for it.
ConsManagement, bad scheduling, etc.
Questions and answers about Old Navy
Why did you leave your job at Old Navy?
Asked Mar 21, 2017
Managment, no work/life balance
Answered May 2, 2022
New availability made it frustrating to stay plus lack of hours. Also got a new job that was mentally a better environment for myself
Answered Jan 23, 2022
What benefits does Old Navy offer?
Asked Feb 27, 2019
Employee discount
Answered Apr 25, 2023
Full time
Answered Apr 25, 2023
How often do raises occur at Old Navy?
Asked Jan 31, 2020
Supposed to once per year
Answered May 29, 2023
1 year
Answered May 21, 2023
How are the working hours at Old Navy?
Asked Mar 31, 2017
Ils obligent leurs employés a avoir minimum 3 shift semaine. Il n'acceptent pas en bas de cela.
Answered Feb 20, 2021
As a part time sales associate I work about 10 hours a week, most full time associates get 20-40.
Answered Sept 2, 2019
What is Old Navy holiday leave policy? How much holiday leave do you get per year?
Asked May 28, 2021
3 weeks is max but you can take days off whenever
Answered May 8, 2023
You get earned paid time off depending on the hours you have worked and vacation time off increases with the amount of time employed.
