sales associate

merchandiser

engineering intern

developer

customer service representative

Alo Yoga

I was a Guest Service Associate with Alo Yoga for almost a year, and I left in good standing for another position. My review is honest, and any former or current employee working within Alo's retail space would say most of my account of working for this company is accurate. I'm writing this review so that others will know what they are getting themselves into before they apply or work for this company. There are a few pros, but the cons are numerous. 

I'll just get the pro's out of the way since they are only a handful at most. The best part about working at Alo are your coworkers as they tend to hire pretty cool/fun people. I made some great friends working at Alo and I can at least say I'm grateful for that. The clothing is another big perk as you get wardrobes and a generous discount. If you need Health insurance, 401K, ect, Alo has great benefits for full-time employees. The last pro would be that this is a great place to network and meet some interesting, well connected people- some of the customers are high profile, influencers or well known in the public eye. You also get a lot of attention and compliments- I frequently had customers that would buy the entire outfit I was wearing which was flattering. Strangely, the least of my problems at Alo were the customers, but I will say that is one point current and former employees wont agree with me on. I had some truly memorable and pleasant moments helping and styling people and I had fun when I was able to do so. 

Now that I listed all the pro's, here is what I wished I knew about Alo before I started working for them. I am relieved that I am anonymous so I can be completely honest and transparent- I am writing this in hopes I save someone else from all the turmoil and suffering I went through. This is my truth and the whole truth.

 As I will illustrate, almost everything about Alo Yoga is a con. My time at Alo would be best summed up as disappointing, traumatizing and borderline soul crushing. Working at my store's retail location was excessively and unnecessarily stressful, disorganized, frustrating, severely troubling as well as emotionally and physically draining. This was the most toxic job environment I have ever been exposed to in my 10+ years of work experience. Alo currently employs some of the best people in the retail sphere and they give no care or regard towards their employees whatsoever, you are just a number to them and expendable. To start, the pay is very low and borderline insulting considering what they expect of you and what you are made to do in your day-to-day duties. Even if you're there for over a year, you will not have a performance review or a raise, no matter how hard you work or how well you perform in your role. They will tell you when being hired, especially if you are not satisfied with their subpar wage, that your pay will actually be better because of monthly bonuses- but trust me, the store will likely never bonus. I've talked to employees at other stores as well and this is a universal complaint. They hire for upper management almost exclusively externally, so don't expect to grow within Alo. Promotions rarely happen, and most employees at all levels in the store will most likely leave within 4 months on average. In less than a year I saw 30+ people leave/get terminated. Turnover is very high because of toxic company culture.

There is virtually zero training, you are thrown out onto the sales floor after day one and there is no larger purpose in being there- you are a maid and a servant dressed in Alo gear. This job is incredibly physical and will wear you down, especially if you're full-time. I am a very fit person and I couldn't handle the physicality of this job day in and day out, and at my location regardless of your status you will often be scheduled to work 6+ days in a row. You will be asked to do a million different tasks at any given moment to save your store from drowning. You will be exhausted after having to pick up clothes everywhere, literally clean up after people and fold numerous piles and straighten clothing racks all day long while having a walkie boom in your ear with everyone in the store trying to do stock checks  and management communicating a bunch of information about numbers that you don't know why you would care about, seeing as no one but the company profits, and also considering tomorrow will be the same as today- painful.  All you and everyone else you work with wants to do is go home. You will see your co-workers cry, breakdown and snap some days due to extreme mental stress. Drama is abundant and there are always unnecessary tensions. All of this is going on front and center daily, during busy days and weekends, whilst commonly and frequently understaffed. As a GSA, you're expected to deliver impeccable customer service to the dozens of people you assist on any given day that believe you are an Alo model and that you must make commission, when in reality you make less money than someone working at a drive thru. You will be on your feet 4-8 hours straight , your breaks are short, not restful and management is often stressed from having no floor coverage so the possibility of you meal violating at the five hour mark/ 10 minute breaks not happening on time, or at all, is high.

All this company cares about is profit and it is felt within all levels of the organization. Management at Alo is the worst. If you're a good person, you will not be one for long if you become a GM, Assistant manager or Keyholder with this company due to the stress and unrealistic demands corporate places on it's stores. The Regional Manager at Alo is truly an unpleasant and unprofessional person that is abusive and dismissive towards store managers and sales associates alike. The truth is this person hires their friends/ former coworkers to work for the company and they will protect those friends at all costs from being disciplined or terminated,  even if what they are doing is illegal, unethical and hurtful to Alo's employees, it's brand and company. It takes an astounding amount of bad things to happen before this company will step in and take action against an offender, and everyone that has been problematic that I encountered  during my time was hired or referred directly by the current Regional Manager. Bottom line is, you're not in a safe space at Alo.

This is  2023 and what I have seen and experienced working at Alo is unbelievable and unimaginable given the current social climate and what is considered acceptable in today's work environment. Alo crosses every line imaginable-ethically, morally and legally. 

One thing I want everyone to know is that employees and customers are being watched on camera and are being listened to without their consent at all times in the store space. I found this out towards the end of my tenure and felt violated. Management and whoever else that has access to the store's audio will listen to your private conversations and use this as fuel to harass, intimidate or retaliate against you if they feel slighted by what was said without your knowledge or consent. Also they have little to no protocol for handling theft, all kinds of harassment and dangerous situations that sometimes arise, which I find astounding for a company that has the capital and capacity to do so. HR is a joke and I would say outside of asking mundane questions, never go to them for help. You would be much better off going  to the Labor board, a lawyer or the police instead. 

I could go on and on, but I think I made my point. Somehow, I still have hope that Alo Yoga could be a truly great company if they started valuing their employees over profits and obvious greed. Until that day comes, if ever, my advice would be to stay away if you value your mental and physical health. The most important things I learned from being at Alo were  that I need speak up when I see something wrong and know when to walk away from a toxic environment. Proceed with extreme caution. If you made it this far I wish everyone reading this two things that don't exist at Alo: safety and happiness.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Best part of working for Alo was the discount on the products, you get the wholesale price 
Lavish holiday parties 
Beautiful gym but unless you are an influencer or celebrity you have extremely limited access 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There were many things that attributed to stress at Alo
- unrealistic time lines that needed to be met
- the fear of messing up, if something didn’t execute to plan many from upper management would belittle you in front of your whole team, it wasn’t uncommon for the VP to go down a rabbit hole trying to identify whose fault it was
- there would be times where your team would prepare for weeks for presentations only to be made to wait and delay until upper management had time to attend, many times we’d sit for hours, sometimes days until we’d finally have the presentation, ultimately further delaying deliveries and necessary information to our partners 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Company culture was very cliquey and at times toxic
Other teams were encouraged to work in silos so it was normal for these teams to be rude or talked down to when it was necessary for them to interact 
If you were a “favorite” you were treated as such, you got a seat at the table so to speak
If you weren’t a “favorite” it was normal for you to be discredited in a meeting 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Loads of emails that would be continued into after business hours
It was common for you to be on call 24/7 for all of upper management 
Lots of meetings, majority could have been an email

I loved working at Alo at first because my co-workers seemed really chill and down to earth and so did my managers! The employee discount was great and there was wardrobing , beauty products, and shoes that were provided. Lastly, they accommodated my availability! 
 Overtime I realized that my managers were extremely passive aggressive and put a lot of pressure on meeting unrealistic sale goals and selling sneakers. People who wouldn’t sell sneakers were labeled as “useless” and were called out.  We did get $5 commission for each $198 sneaker we sold. 
You get in trouble for chatting with your co-workers while the mangers stand around and talk with each other. 
You can’t leave your assigned zone and you HAVE to ask permission or ask someone to cover your zone if you need water or use the bathroom. You will get in trouble if you have your water bottle on the floor or leave your zone with out saying something.
I was also told that we get wardrobed every 3months which is untrue. For example, I started working in May and it’s now September and the next wardrobe is in October.. Which I found misleading.
Super labor intensive, alo has very high standards with standardizing.
I would recommend someone to work at alo for a short period because the wardrobe is worth it! I really fell in love with the clothes and I connected with a lot of my coworkers. But working there long term is 100% not worth the money at least for sales associate. 



Beware... DO NOT WORK FOR alo.

The premise of alo is Southern California vibe meets New York City style...however, this is far from the case. I have worked in retail for the better part of 10 years, and can say with certainty that my experience at alo was hands-down the most traumatizing experience of my life. 

The company will lure you with the idea of "full-package" compensation, and bonuses- but what they don't express is that you will absolutely not be able to bonus due to many issues well beyond the scope of your own control. 

Teams are given very little training, and management turnover is extremely high due to the lack of structure, ever-changing expectations,  and lack of communication. 

This company prides itself on all of the new stores they are opening, without recognizing that they can barely support the doors that are already established. 

Upper management in corporate is so out of touch with what life within stores is actually like, and the lack of transparency is negatively impacting the brand (which is truly not as great as they make it out to be... product is damaged out constantly due to issues.)

They need to make adjustments from the top down- starting with those overseeing retail as a whole. The individuals in positions of decision making have no business making decisions for folks who have to spend 60-80 hours/week in store and deal with their lack of decision making expertise. 

Oh, did I forget to mention you will work at minimum 60 hours/week due to lack of staff and payroll? And the vacation time you're "awarded," you will continuously be denied to take. 

Let it be known that this is a company that cares NOTHING about thier employees, pays poverty wages,  lets keyholders and management team verbally disrespect, BELITTLE AND TERRORIZE their employees and face, ZERO consequences! The "leadership team" at ALO BROOKLYN couldnt MANAGE their way out of a paper bag, yet has the responsibility of day to day operations of an entire store? Its almost comical how horribly they led everyone there to failure,  due to thier JANKY skills and lackluster work ethic...I have NEVER  in my LIFE been more gaslighted, disrespected, and unappreciated at any work environment as I have, working for Alo yoga...( Excluding the amazing yoga instructors and the guest services associates)  EVERYONE  from the store's leadership team, to the human resources department are incompetent, pompous bafoons, ill equipped to run an efficient, company with actual values and morale..I feel sorry for the retail employees because you will truly get treated like garbage at this company, which is a shame because it's the sales associates that keep the whole establishment running smoothly .. again, the ONLY plus about ALO is the YOGA CLASSES taught by GREAT instructors,  and the clothes are cute...sometimes... the reality is this store needs a COMPLETE OVERHAUL,  AN ACTUAL STORE MANAGER, AND NEW LEADERSHIP TEAM...

This place has ZERO work life balance & is supposed to be all about mental health which is far from the truth. Constantly getting calls &  texts from corporate & store team on every day off at all hours of the day/evening. Salaried managers are overworked & not compensated for it. Expected to be on the floor 100% of the time & not set up for success with payroll to execute administrative duties. Will also get negative feedback from area manager & business partners for using your administrative hours. The store is busy all the time, so there are no slow days to have a good time to be in the office. A lot of work drama & very sensitive employees who go to HR for everything & HR always has their back. Unrealistic sales goals & lack of sales training for the team but they expect elevated levels of customer service. The company only cares about expanding its business, employees' well being is their least concern. Upper management’s so fake & very inconsistent with how they manage. They have favorites & let things slide multiple times with certain people where others are let go immediately. Lacks consistency of delivering the guiding principles with their people which causes a very toxic work environment.

Alo is a great place if you are early in your career and need experience or are looking to make impact right away. Everyone is really nice and easy to work with (there are always bad apples)

Pros:
Highlights:
1. Deep discount on clothing (70%)
2. Minimal leadership = you can drive your work (team dependent)
3. Dog friendly

Cons:
Alo has seen a lot of growth in the past two years, but they are struggling to keep up and it is reflected in poor delivery and lack of direction and support from leadership. The comp package stinks (the CEOs keep all the money for themselves). Leadership only cares about selling yoga pants, no core values are reflected in the company (what are the core values)??

Highlights:
1. No career development
2. Under paid
3. Upper management is out of touch (digital team)
4. No structure for project delivery
5. Doesn't care about covid-19
6. Not flexible on remote work
7. Under staffed + over worked
8. Lack of strategy for implementation of work
9. Needs more diversity in management
10. Worked hard through holiday and saw no bonuses

Working as a Sales Associate at Alo has been an exciting and rewarding experience. The company emphasizes a positive, team-oriented environment where personal growth and customer experience both matter. Every day involves connecting with customers, understanding their lifestyle needs, and helping them find products that make them feel confident and comfortable. The brand’s focus on wellness and premium quality makes it easy to feel proud of what you’re selling. I’ve developed strong communication, customer service, and sales skills through daily interactions and have learned the importance of maintaining visual standards and product knowledge. Management is supportive and encourages growth, often providing feedback and recognition for hard work. The fast-paced environment keeps you on your toes, but the energy and culture make it enjoyable. Overall, Alo is a great place to work if you’re passionate about fashion, fitness, and building meaningful customer relationships.

At first glance, Alo Yoga seems like a great company to work for. They are great at Marketing the brand  and that also defines how they market their culture.  But beware of the office politics and disorganization that stems all the way from the top. If the executive team loves you, great!  You will have a wonderful time working here - especially if you play the office politics game well. If you are not one of the chosen few, then you will not thrive here. 

So many people eventually burn out and leave their position without another one lined up. That should be a clue into the toxic culture here. Most of the employees who leave are very talented and amazing to work with but eventually had to make the difficult choice to leave to prioritize their mental health.   

Fun to work here for a short time but not to build your career. 

Overall, working at ALO Yoga comes with amazing perks for anyone for loves their clothing. Employees get free wardrobing every three months, including black tops, bottoms, socks, one hair clip, and one pair of shoes (the exact amount varies by location and position). However, I found the management and scheduling poor. Many part-time employees, including myself, were constantly scheduled during class times and exam times. Even though I only had to call out twice to not cut my exams (other three shifts I got covered after two weeks of texting people daily), supervisors kept calling me to remind me of the consequences and importance of coming in. It's also extremely hard to swap shifts, especially if you work non-sales positions. Some of my shifts also ran quite late, a few after midnight, and there's no overtime pay.

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