sales associate

stocking associate

retail assistant manager

assistant manager

store manager

Steve Madden

What is the best part of working at the company?
Some coworkers are supportive, but that is the only real positive.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I do not recommend this company to anyone trying to build a career. In my experience, the president is the main reason this company is such a difficult place to work. The environment lacks structure, expectations are unrealistic, and there is no real work-life balance. Verbal promises are not reliable, and employees are let go under the excuse of "restructuring", which creates a constant sense of instability. Overall, I would advise anyone to avoid this company.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is highly stressful and disorganized. The culture lacks transparency and support with very high expectations and little regard for employees work-life balance.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Involves managing high pressure, shifting priorities, and unrealistic expectations with limited structure or support. The environment feels reactive rather than organized, which adds to the daily stress.

i’ve never worked at a more toxic, disorganized place ever. management is dysfunctional, and are sales hungry to the point where they blatantly disregard safety and ethics. head office dumps skids upon skids daily, leading to boxes hazardously everywhere. the brand isn’t a hot commodity as it once was, styles are either dated or knock offs of popular brands. 

instead of addressing product design issues, they pressure the stores to meet periodic sales numbers. which only trickles down from management to everyone else, which leads to corners being cut to do so. they champion themselves on being “fast paced”, but really it’s just disorganization and scrambling chaos. 

everyone is out for themselves, and will throw each other under the bus to either look
good or absolve themselves from being blamed for a mishap. as a result, there’s absolutely no accountability; even from management when these situations arise. i’ve personally been on the wrong end of this multiple times. 

they understaff to cut salary, and try to squeeze more work out of the limited staff they do hire. the store is an absolute joke, avoid this company like the plague. 

Steve Madden is a drama-filled environment where the managers ask you to do unnecessary "tasks" in the back so that they could stay on the floor and steal customers so that they can make commission (since it is only the managers who receive commission, despite me going over my goals by $500+ every shift). My time with them was terrible. Because it is all females, you can expect a lot of name-calling, toxicity, drama, jealously, and gossip. The shifts are short (max. shift duration is 5 hours, 4PM - Close). Each sales associate had a lot of hard labour to do all while dressing business professional with makeup. It was very uncomfortable. 
Not to mention that to work in Steve Madden shoes is VERY uncomfortable no matter how hard you break them in. I would not recommend to work here and I would especially not recommend their shoes if you are looking for comfort...

The experience working here is terrible. Shady corporate with incompetent management on both store and district level. Management likes changing things on a whim to suit how they feel while looking for excuses to write up their employees. Corporate telling you you'll be making one thing and then you'll recieve that first paycheck and notice that your pay is lower than promised. Promises remaining unfulfilled until you complain about it ad nauseam. Overstocking of the backroom to the point where large piles of boxes are made and it all becomes a hazard of the boxes falling on top of employees.

All of this makes for a work environment that is miserable, dysfunctional and completely unacceptable.

The management is not supportive and/or helpful when it comes to mental health concerns and favouritism that is apparent at the store level. HR is not helpful either as they do not care about employees that are not store managers. Compensation is very low for the amount of work they expect you to do. Store level has immature employees that gossip and do not know how to separate their personal lives from their professional one. Store manager schedules employees based on their personal preferences and not KPIS as it should normally be. Company tends to promote unqualified employees for management roles, especially employees that have only been with the company for less than 6 months. Store policies are wishy-washy and are not aligned with every location. 

This was one of the most toxic workplaces I’ve been in. The culture of gossip started from the District Manager and cascaded down to everyone on the teams. They had so much turnover going on with management because it was so toxic. I was a new assistant manager, just completed training at another store where I experienced drama and gossip from day 1, and when I was finally entering my store, the store manager quit and I was left to lead the team with little to no communication from anyone as to what was going on. They also only paid commission to assistant managers, but to off set that, the hourly wage was lower than the part timers. 
I do not recommend joining this company.
I ended up quitting on the spot within my probationary period before I found a new job because it was so toxic. 

The worst feeling in the world is waking-up every morning and realizing you need to go to work at the Steve Madden Canada Head-Office in Montreal. 
This company is NOT innovative. This company is NOT modern. This company treats employees very poorly. The leadership at this company is TOXIC to the core, and very old school. It’s what I’d imagine working at a company in the 1960s was like. 
If you are reading this, do yourself a favor and try and find one employee (current or past) who will give a positive reference for this company...this "person" does not exist bc absolutely no one enjoys working at Steve Madden Canada.

SM has probably been one of the worse jobs i’ve ever had. The District manager is heavily involved yet isn’t helpful or there for their stores at all. Both ottawa locations were neglected and the montreal stores were always praised. Our Bayshore location went over 4 months without a store manager and full times were forced without a higher pay raise, to do everything. They leech off reliable people and think it’s okay to not pay them what they’re suppose to be paid. The turnover rate is incredibly high and staff is always coming and going. If you get promoted it’s because you’re needed not because you’re deserving.

The group there was comfortable and real. The staff treated each other as equals for the most part and we worked together and assisted each other while also making sure to reach our own personal sales goals. However, certain things presented difficulties such as not being able to kneel to remove shoes from boxes. Because of this, the job was very hard on one's body because of the many squats and bends we ended up doing every day.

Management for the most part was fantastic, supportive and encouraging.

It was great being able to interact with customers and coworkers in a professional but also friendly manner.

My experience at this company was very poor.  Management at this company is rude and toxic.  The micromanagement makes working at this company frustrating...I would never want someone from my family or one of my friends working at the Montreal office.  Poor work atmosphere.  this company desperately needs intervention from the New York Head office.  A real HR department would be great first step.  Replacing toxic management, starting at the top, would then be an amazing second step.  until then, the Montréal office should be avoided.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Sales associate 33 salaries reported	$18.62 per hour
Stocking associate 13 salaries reported	$18.22 per hour
Retail assistant manager 14 salaries reported	$18.66 per hour
Assistant manager 4 salaries reported	$19.88 per hour
Store manager 2 salaries reported	$20.75 per hour

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