retail merchandiser

merchandiser

software engineer

staff software engineer

senior software engineer

Blackhawk Network

I Went there in person, For interview everybody was extremely nice I thought..i got a warm welcome and I thought of this is a great company. I'd been working another job at the time, but I wanted to work there. It was a week or more And I hadn't heard from them, so I went by and let them know I was really interested in working. I started my training with them all excited and everything positive and then come to find out they had to put my email in wrong!! so there was all kinds of hassles with that. and that's why it took so long for them to finally hire me.
All of a sudden  I'm supposed to prove that I'm a US citizen by getting my records from my high school and college records and that all of a sudden I'm supposed to spend money and get all that info to them. Training was way too short with all the info they expected us to know, and they said they would be there for us on the floor and they weren't, they left us all by ourselves.
They showed favoritism too young computer wizards like mostly guys. The women working there showed favortism to the guys, and acted like they were trying to get dates with these guys on the weekend.
They would talk inappropriately loudly across the room yelling &very unprofessional. I said in the interview that I can work days or early evenings, but after training we had to bid on what schedule we wanted and I wasn't given a schedule anywhere near what  I said that I wanted, and it was a late evening schedule.
 And I noticed they are offering 13 to 15 an hour when I was never given that choice with all my considerable experience and everything, I was never given a choice of that wage. Be a all right position for kids out of high school or college for a first job &that are Wizards at the computer. Your left on your own, to succeed or fail, and then your fired if you don't pick it up fast.

I left Blackhawk Network last week just a few days shy of working there 10 years. I was one of the original hires with the merchandising division. 
 I dealt with 2 district managers and they were fantastic. 
Upper management was always just a phone call away.
For merchandising, promotions are very very limited.  I was nominated by my district manager for a area supervisor position. Sadly,I didnt get it. 
When I first started, I was capped at a 1000 hours per year. (19 a week).
As time went on, it changed to roughly 1,500 hours per year (28)
Reset season (usually 2) are obviously the busier time of the year. But sadly other than that there is no rhyme or reason on your scheduled hours each week. One week it could be 15, the next week it could  be 25. 
Your remaining work would be sent to third party. The amount of money they probably spend on third party is insane. I'm sure there's a lot much more to their reasoning of doing this, But this is what it is in a nutshell. I accepted the fact that it was always part-time permanent work. That was never ever a problem for me. 
Sadly, if my work was a little more spread out and then the approximate scheduled hours to be more balanced each week, I would have never even thought about looking elsewhere.
I got many awards over the years and nothing but praise from my managers. I'll just never understand the reason of so many companies that don't do anything to retain employees instead of the turnover rates.
Leaving this job was easily the hardest decision I've ever had to make. I made so many professional relationships over the years with the stores I visited, I truly feel bad that I wasn't able to say goodbye to all of  them.


The job pays more at entry level than any job I have ever had.  I have seen multiple promoted in the one yr I have worked here.  It is a call center so there are metrics to be met.  You need to show the effort and the willingness to work hard and do what you can to meet those metrics.  This summer I had a family situation happen. They adjusted my hours and worked with me so I could keep my job. They saw in me passion, a good work ethic and a drive to be better all the time. Because I gave my all to them they worked with me.

We alwayd have something fun going one. There are incentives to work hard and do your best.  The medical coverage is great.  Vacation time, sick time, paid holidays, family time off are available....you do have to earn your conversion by hitting those metrics. There are only 2 in the department I work with: average handle time on calls and QA scores.

Attendance is important.  That is made clear when you sign.....it is not a secret.  They need people on the phone to help the customers.

The management has an open door policy.....you can walk right in and talk to the highest ranked employee and are welcomed. 
It is an "on the job training" company. They give you time to get the hang of things and learn the ropes and you find your niche on your calls.  Everyone is their to help...whether it is the person sitting next to you, a team lead or a supervisor.   Everyone who works there is there to any answer any "how do I......" questions....it does not have to be a supervisor or manager that has to help...any co-worker can.

I love this job!

Run don't walk!
It is disingenuous to say that this company is flexible and merchandisers can work independently. 
The bosses are overbearing.
The travel required store to store is that of a territory sales representative, minus the company car, gas card, company device, and salary.
During the new hire process you will be asked to upload various location tracking applications and their devices into your cell phone.
The process of signing in and out of your daily schedule is deliberately monotonous. Perhaps used by the bosses to control they're on agendas. The process is redundant and time-consuming and not easy.
Taking into account this is a gift card company run by the banks, it is no wonder that the onus is on the employee to show his or her employment is viable.
Third party providers are constantly used to complete assignments. Therefore the company really has no interest to be vested in their employees. Although it is quite common for an employee to want to be vested in their company, you're loyalty will be wasted.
Don't bother.
Save it for a company that deserves you.



There is no typical day. The communication between the corporate office of Blackhawk and the retail establishment is horrible or close to none. At store level, no one cares who you are or what you do. There is no rhyme or reason for the inventory control. The supermarket chains go to their own beat. If there are holes it's fine and you can not  fix it or try to make any sense. Some stores just trash the product, others just don't care. I found this very pitiful and frustrating.The organization itself has to be reorganized. Territories are not mapped out or logical. 
The hardest part of the job is massive disorganization. Simply stated, I figure the product itself has no monetary value therefore, receives no attention. The try to micro manage but are not successful 

This is high on my least favorite job list.

This may not make sense to anyone but if you are an employee that 
 is conscientious and cares about doing a good job this is the wrong stop!

Payments industry is dynamic, so this company operates in a hot market. Never a dull moment. But the company does not compensate most employees well or fairly (for example, the majority of its workforce does not receive annual bonus or an opportunity to participate in the equity plan); it does not supply cutting edge tools for jobs do be performed efficiently with scalability, and it does not hire enough people to do the work. It results in a chaotic work environment with very little down time, often feels like a non-stop revolving door. People who stay are typically those living near the office and are stuck with having few employer options in the East Bay; or they are near retirement from the work force so don't want to 'shake the boat', or are the lucky ones who don't work at headquarters and don't have the day-to-day sour office culture to deal with.

I would answer inbound calls regarding online gift card orders, technical problems activating cards, lost/stolen cards or fraud etc.  Also would be the help desk for stores with gift card problems. I addressed emails from the consumers.

There was much to learn and new information was changing or added often.  This was a fast paced office.  The management was very helpful but often not available due to the fast pace of the office.  The co-workers and management were extremely friendly.  

The job was difficult due to the large amount of information to learn and retain then apply to each situation. Some consumers were quite demanding and rude. 

The hardest part was that the office was open 7 days a week including all holidays.  

The most enjoyable part of the job was the co-workers.  Great people.  They were always friendly and there for you.

Technical troubleshooting for the partner support department. I learned how to sink or swim; which I swam. I developed tough skin because many of the people working here, starting with management were brass and very rude, very unprofessional at times. The culture of the company has its perks. Company picnics and outings, off site meetings, travel, if you are willing to learn, there are individuals willing to teach you. HR is bias and reports what you inform them to management prior to having a meeting which makes for an uncomfortable environment at times. Most IT work is in theory, not enough hands on or practical. The hardest part is that if management does not want you to advance even for personal reasons, it will not happen. You will remain stagnant. Most enjoyable part is that it can be fun at times with the events and gatherings they hold.

The company tries to focus on team building exercises in the interview and in the training sessions but there is far too much office politics for my liking. They said there was room for advancement in the company in the interview and when I actually got on the floor I was told that this was not the case by my fellow agents. My direct lead was great and my team was awesome but the supervisors and managers for the most part would say one thing and do another. The job functions are easy to learn if you try hard. Many members of different shift teams did not. Poor customer service was not addressed and the QA focus was on call time. A certain supervisor would blatantly pick on/harrass one team member and it was never addressed by upper management.

The branch of the company I was brought onto was the best place I ever worked.

Everybody was laid-back and friendly and encouraging. Management and leads put an immense amount of trust into us. So long as we got our work done in a timely fashion, the methodology behind how we got there was irrelevant. We were welcome to take reasonable breaks and breaths of fresh air.

It seemed they truly believed that happy employees were productive employees and we responded in kind with our best work.

Sadly, there were numerous technical difficulties surrounding our projects and our IT infrastructure, which meant that productivity frequently screeched to a halt on a weekly if not daily basis.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail merchandiser 16 salaries reported	$16.48 per hour
Merchandiser 1 salary reported	$14.50 per hour
Software engineer 2 salaries reported	$112,984 per year
Staff software engineer 2 salaries reported	$159,840 per year
Senior software engineer 2 salaries reported	$95,448 per year

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