sales lead

sales associate

assistant store manager

sales representative

retail assistant manager

Cole Haan

THE JOB // WORK ENVIRONMENT
 As an employee in the distribution center, every day is a monotonous, rewardless, thankless, back-breaking drag. The physical environment is absolutely disgusting (trash and grime everywhere), and there is no respect for the employees at all, regardless of tenure, reliability, or motivation/ambition. A typical day at the job consists of moving boxes around all day in a - often very hot or freezing - building.

 MANAGEMENT
At first, to most employees, the environment feels laid back and free, but this feeling is short-lived, as the the realization sets in that management in the facility consists almost entirely of people who are narrow-minded, short-sighted, petulant, and dishonest. It is a daily occurrence to have managers deny having said something they in-fact said, and then turn and blame lower level personnel for their own (the manager’s) error. 

Management continually boasts of opportunity and expansion of the company, but refuses to promote from within, despite having experienced, capable, motivated people on staff. Some managers will claim that a person is "too valuable" in the lower position to promote them. There is no training program or system in place to track or monitor progress, so employees have no tools at their disposal to give evidence of their gained competencies, and no means by which to assuredly and accurately acquire new skills. Long term department goals do not exist. Goals change daily, so employees have no set-target to help work towards, or to grow towards individually.

Male managers dramatically favor female subordinates - often to a fault - offering them promotions, cushy positions, and speaking to them in a manner that exhibits far more respect and kindness than is offered to well-performing male peers.  

  TRAINING 
Any kind of training program is essentially non-existent. There are no SOP’s or training systems for anything (except forklift training). Competent employees are known to have to beg to learn almost anything, most commonly to no avail. The company has a decent number of systems and reports to manage data (SAP, Oracle, Vision, & MARC, amongst many other spreadsheets and tools), but information is hoarded, and intentionally withheld from personnel as to how to use these tools effectively, and cross-training almost never happens. Management intentionally chooses not to train employees or give them information that would potentially better equip them to do their job, or cast an effective vision and increase alignment and buy-in with corporate goals. 
 
CULTURE
The culture is unfortunate at best. Problems are band-aided and put off until the last possible moment, so everything is a crisis, and management inevitably panics. (One of the managers is even frequently referred to as “Captain Panic” because of his demeanor each day). Management refuses to recognize good ideas, or help cultivate good/new ideas from subordinates. In very few instances, when an idea makes it through, management will claim the idea as their own and the employee who came up with it ultimately goes unrewarded and unrecognized.

There is a very clear and harsh disparity between the office workers and the warehouse laborers in which it is obvious that the office workers consider themselves to be more important than the laborers (and compensation would suggest the same). Another example of this would be that if the company orders pizza for everyone, the office workers might get fancy, name-brand pizza (Papa Ginos for example) while the warehouse workers will inevitably receive the cheapest local option.

 SCHEDULE
Overtime is extremely inconsistent - feast or famine. Frequently, no one knows if overtime will be required in a given week until mid-day on Friday (Saturday being the overtime day). So, notice is extremely short, and the pressure to work these overtime days is often very high, and may even be accompanied by threats of write-ups, withheld promotions, etc.

 COMPANY POLICY 
Company policy is enforced at random. Otherwise, it is basically a free-for-all. There are some established metrics for tracking performance in all areas, but there is no reward for exceeding goals/rate, and no penalties for consistently low performance. Performance reviews are a joke. The feedback is generic and uninformative - lacking next steps or goals. Blanket raises are given to basically everyone - if they give raises at all.

 INNOVATION 
While many warehouses have automated systems for most functions, Cole Haan's distribution center has very little automation, if any of it could be called that. The system that sorts cartons is about 30 years old (not an exaggeration). The company doesn't invest in systems that would ultimately cut labor costs, reduce work related injuries, and improve efficiency and accuracy. Instead, they continue to defend systems that have had the same old problems for 15+ years, while simultaneously blaming staff for bloated labor budgets, missed production targets, and (what should be preventable) workplace accidents. 

 STAFFING // JOB SATISFACTION
Cole Haan employs a lot of “temps”. Turnover is insanely high. One out of two new hire temps won't stay past the first day, most of the rest will likely go unhired - that said, the reliability of the temp workforce is usually subpar. While there are a few stragglers from the “Nike” days still employed by Cole Haan, the average tenure in any department is easily less than 3 years. Anyone who has been there in excess of a year is completely unhappy, and the vast majority are looking for other work. 

 BENEFITS 
The ONLY somewhat good thing about Cole Haan itself is the benefits package (decent vacation package, 401k, and dental, but lame health coverage, and no supplemental life insurance option), and even that gets worse every year.   

BEST / WORST 
Perhaps the best part of working in the warehouse is that the time often goes by quickly, as it is a high paced, highly physical job most days.
The hardest part of the job is knowing it's a dead end.  

The best part about working for Cole Haan is being able to interact with customers.  Cole Haan is an amazing brand with high quality merchandise and being able to form relationships with customers to match them with the perfect product, knowing that they are happy and that I might have touched their life in a meaningful way is incomparably satisfying.  I am great-full to Cole Haan for allowing me that opportunity.  

Now that Cole Haan is owned by a private equity firm the corporate structure has changed significantly.  They talk a lot about "multiplying" which means getting more from your people with less resources.  From a profitability standpoint this makes a lot of sense.  However, the Brand vision is undefined, or at least not communicated to the people responsible for sharing that vision with the consumer.  They have very high expectations for performance but offer very little in resources to be able to deliver on those expectations.  From the store level it appears that the different departments at the corporate level have little to no communication between themselves, leading to excessive amount of merchandise shipped to stores that have no capacity to handle it and very poor marketing or in store advertising.  There is little to no communication about how to merchandise stores, especially those that have different layouts.  Yet when guidance is asked for the answer is often "just figure it out."  And when one does the best they can to figure it out, heaven help them if they make choices that don't follow company expectations, even though those expectations are not communicated.  The concept of Multiplying is most effective when expectations are clear and creativity is encouraged.  Neither is the case in the "new Cole Haan."  Expectations are not clear, and while creativity is encouraged it is only rewarded when you manage to follow the secret rules.

Ray Etzo is the only one who shines a beacon of hope for the future of the company.  He often communicates inspirational messages designed (I assume) to motivate.  However the underlying message is that we must work harder with less for now and that things will get better in the future.  The beacon of hope that Ray shines has no meat behind it.  It just continues to shine just out of reach so that we are struggling just to continue seeing the light without ever seeing what that light shines on.  He tries to give hope, but without a goal hope can only take you so far.

I wouldn't recommend Cole Haan to work at unless you are an ASM or a manager, you have no hours and never are able to work a normal 40 hour work week as a sales associate. No benefits if part time and not even any PTO. The managers and ASM's do nothing but talk their entire shift. They look at you and expect you to greet, talk to, and deal with every customer even if you are clearly doing a task they asked you to do or are busy helping another customer. They were not bad people, they were very intelligent about the company and had answers to most of my questions, but they like to talk to each other about random irrelevant non work-related things even if customers just walked in the door. If I was doing a task and they clearly were talking, they will immediately look at me as if I'm the only person that could greet them? While all three are 5 feet from the front door. The pay is horrible and the ASM's and manager are more worried about making money for the company, aka for them. Meaning, higher bonuses for the ASM's and manager. While I work hard for NO incentive, NO commission, and NO higher bonus. It all goes to them. I get nothing while they all talk and waste the day away doing what? Yet they get a larger bonus on top of their hourly rate or salary for meeting the goals that I, the sales associate, the one making the sales... doesn't?! How does this make sense? When the shoes cost $200 surely this company can afford to pay sales associates better if I don't even get commission and a low bonus every three months that's literally the price of ONE of their shoes. I am not about to work hard to try and sell a $200 shoe for the company if I don't even get anything out of it. Also, they say you get a "free shoe" when you first start and then once every 6 months. Keep an eye on your paycheck because they actually tax the shoe out every paycheck. They also like to take out money for random stuff...even the manager wasn't sure what it was for when I asked. Also, I got ripped off when trying to transfer when I was moving. So have a back-up plan. Luckily I was going to find a new job once I moved and had already been looking; I just wanted a transfer so in the meantime I had some money coming in. 

If you are in high school I would recommend a job like this, but as someone who is in college or isn't and needs to make a little more cash, there are plenty more options. This is my first retail job and I am never working retail again. Now I see why they're always hiring.

Company meets it's budget limits by taking advantage of employees. Some temps and new hires will be paid at higher rates on their first day then workers doing the same job who have been employed with the company for over a decade. 

Management/Directors don't bother to stick up for their lower level employees because they are focused on themselves and getting their family members promotions. 

Random short notice overtime days are mandatory, unless you're paid salary. You'll find out if you have to work Saturday by Friday afternoon. Might as well scratch those plans you made with the family for the weekend.

Coworkers are nice, but there is dissension among the workforce due to the lack of equity and integrity in regards to pay, as well as the contrast of how some associates are treated as opposed to others by supervisors.

Management gets defensive and at times downright upset when ideas are brought forth whether good or bad. Instead of trying to help the company, you are seen as trying to undermine their ability and make them look bad.

Supervisors will purposely withhold information and training from certain employees so to pigeonhole them into certain positions.

Blame for late days/inconsistencies are placed on employee performance, as opposed to poor strategy and not hiring enough employees to balance workflow.

Benefits are decent. Nothing substantial but still nice to have. You will constantly be reminded of that if you ever ask about pay increases.

No air conditioning and poor ventilation. Constant health hazards with people fainting of heat exhaustion. Dirty, moldy warehouse that the company will never spend money to clean workstations for. Only areas in which they feel they need to in order to keep up appearance (breakrooms, front office etc)

Unless you are looking for some extra money during black Friday week, I would not recommend ever working at Cole Haan. The work culture is toxic and the management is only out for themselves and the ones that smooch up to them, not the employees that the company grinds out it's numbers on the backs of. Do yourself a favor, keep your sanity and dignity and stay far away.

I worked at the same store in Texas for a long time and I can honestly sat that the store where I worked, and the company as a whole, has seen its better days.  

The sales associate position is no longer valued, respected, or appreciated by this company.  When I began the store was staffed by full-time, professional, mature, intelligent, dedicated, wholly commissioned associates.  Being a sales associate at Cole Haan was a career, something you could make a good living doing.  

This is no longer the case.  There is no such thing as a full-time associate anymore, nor can you earn a full-time position.  We had a DM that regarded the sales associates as disposable.  Yes, a very good team of associates ultimately left the company and what replaced them was a patchwork of part-timers that were not of the same caliber of the associates who left.  Even these "replacement players" left the company.   When we did find talented associates, we couldn't keep them.  

The decision making skills of corporate management is not the best either.  Sales associates at my store were no longer given business cards and their clientele books were sent away and replaced with a "clienteling app".  The "clienteling app" either crashed or just went away, who knows.  And do you really need thirty something colors of the same shoe?  Coming out with a different color of the same shoe is not being innovative, its creative laziness.  Then there was the time someone decided the week of Black Friday would be a  good time to completely overhaul the phone system. 

If there is anything that the company values less than their sales associates its the merchandise.  It seem the company in in a state of perpetual promotion.  This achieves nothing but debasing an already damaged brand.  

If you need to make a few extra dollars on the side, working for a mediocre company, yes its a great place to work.  See it for what it is, a "mac-job", and get as much out of it as you can and don't expect much in the way of appreciation or acknowledgement of your accomplishments.   

Working as a sales associate for Cole Haan is no longer a profession for adults who have financial obligations.

I would greet the customers and help them with the best of my abilities.  I promote excellent customer experience.  Extraordinary knowledge of the products that are in our retail store, that I can easily give the customer great service with in order for them to be able to buy the product. As I am able to give the customer some knowledge of the product, they are able to know how to wear the product and how to dress it up or dress it down on a everyday bases.  I have amazing co-workers that I get along with, which means I can perform great team worker. The most enjoyable part of my job is making sure that each customer receives excellent costumer service and leaves our store happy, which allows us to know that they will come back again or even spread the word to their friends of how they received amazing customer experience.  Although, the hardest part of my job is sometimes dealing with angry customers and trying to find solutions to their problems that can lead to a great customer experience for them.  Second hardest part of my job is parents who let their kids run around causing a mess and treat the store like their playground.  The third hardest part of my job is when customers complain about the prices, when we as sales associates have no control over how much the product costs.

I worked at Premium outlets CH for 4 months. One week after I started two AM's quit leaving one senior store Mgr to do it all. I was quickly promoted to AM temp key opening the store  almost everyday. The Store Mgr at the time was wonderful, her team building skills were off the chart, she training me and stood by my side making sure I knew the ins and outs of CH. the products are great, they sell themselves. My
Manager quickly burned out having to cover all shifts without staff, she left under extreme pressure. Upper management never communicated hiring status of a new store manager. There is no communication, never know when we will get new stock or replacements of great selling items. Just the same shoes in 10 colors. Holidays are a joke, understaffed or kids right out of high school with no work skills or ethics. They force good staff out by over staffing or understaffing or playing favorites. There is no team building at all, no telling staff they did a great job. The store is filthy, carpet stained and smelly bathroom no break area for staff, just stand and sell. Horrible experience I would not recommend it to anyone.

I started as a sales associate and was promoted to the key holder position, and eventually to a manager for more than three years. As an assistant manager I have many administrative responsibilities that are completed daily. I process and update employee paperwork, maintain a payroll budget, file and organize paperwork, filing and reviewing inventory reports, creating and managing financial reports, and creating weekly schedules. I use Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook to create and process documents. I manage a team of fifteen employees and train them on duties and procedures. I handle any client issues and resolve them in person, on the phone, or by e-mail. I act as a liaison between the district manager, store manager, and the staff. 

The most enjoyable part of the job is making that connection with my clients and having them leave my store with a smile on their faces and happy with their purchase. World class customer service does make a difference. Having a team with strong communication and customer skills is what drives sales, thus helping companies thrive for years on going.

Ever since new CEO and CMO came into town, things changed drastically. Even though we were promised the sun, "we're not like other private equity companies - we care about people". Unfortunately, after working in a hostile environment (nobody knowing if they will be fired and people trying to prove themselves), "cost-cutting" became the regular norm. Positions were slashed by the dozens both in the NYC and ME offices, with no real foresight. In the Marketing dept. everyone from the production person, copywriters, digital designers and directors were laid off within weeks. 

The people left over have been asked to take on all the extra work, most of the time doing what they have no experience or training in. You do not leave the office before 9PM because of the increased workload doing other people's jobs. Marketing manager doing print production? Check. Social media person doing dept. budgets? Check.

You might say, but maybe laid off people were bad at their jobs - well, 2012 was Cole Haan's highest profit year in recent history and from a marketing standpoint, the brand was back in people's minds. To top it off, they're now hiring for the same positions they eliminated two months ago. 

Open the store with one of the managers on team, prepare the floor for customers by cleaning the facility, inventory count and restock products. Have a sit down with manager for five to ten minutes and go over daily sales goals for myself, our store and our regional goals for the day.
Everyday in retail you learn something new and that is the fascinating thing about it, no day is the same. I enjoy my coworkers, especially the one's who like myself have been there since the opening of the store. We are like a family at work and that makes teamwork that much better. it also makes it that much more exciting to go to work everyday when you care about and know the people you work with.
The hardest part of the job for me at this point is Average item per transaction, so getting the client to purchase more than one ro two items at a time.
The most enjoyable part of it is the team we have as well as the clients we are able to please on a daily basis with our affordable priced product. no one feels as if they are not able to purchase something at our stroe and the the price is within the lifestyle and price range.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales lead 15 salaries reported	$17.32 per hour
Sales associate 14 salaries reported	$14.07 per hour
Assistant store manager 1 salary reported	$40,102 per year
Sales representative 3 salaries reported	$19.58 per hour
Retail assistant manager 2 salaries reported	$17.25 per hour

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