retail assistant manager

material handler

store manager

seasonal associate

order picker

Harry & David

Was heavily recruited to move across country to work for this great company, and work on the monthly branded catalogs for Harry and David, Cushman's and Wolferman's.

However, what was not relayed to me at the time was that the company was about to go through a chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding.

With 50% of the design and marketing department being released a scant three weeks into my move to Oregon. it then fell on me to do the following interim assignments:

Packaging Design and Production
eCommerce Design and Production
Catalog Design and Production
Media Asset Management
Ad Hoc requests from the Marketing Department
Branding Asset Management
Train an interim off-site design firm to produce catalog Pages

All of this with very little oversight and training.

I am proud to say that with my background in most of these areas I was able to help pull Harry and David corporation through this tough period in its history. with a skeleton crew, and countless long hours, we were able to pull through the busy Holiday season and actually produce the first profit for the company in several years!

I am grateful to the company for helping me gain invaluable experience with Packaging Design as well as eCommerce design and implementation. (some very valuable skills to add to the quiver)

After an eventful and productive 2 years with Harry and David.
My roles were diminishing with the on-boarding of more contract workers and outside firms to where I was simply becoming a Trainer for incoming contractors.

In addition with Medford being where it is It was difficult to recruit much needed "new blood" to the company. So many of the same people were re-hired due to the lack of qualified outside candidates.

My fear for this great company is this:

With the heavy use of outside contracting firms, and the re-introduction of the old-guard, the company culture has not changed significantly enough to avoid future problems.

My great hope for the company is:

The re-branding and moving away from the costly production of mail order catalogs, to a more streamlined internet presence will keep this pillar of the Northwest going strong for years to come!

Harry & David is an extremely user-friendly company to work for.  They are very receptive to new ideas & suggestions from all their employees.  The CEO visits all the stores once a year and takes all suggestions very seriously and as a result of these visits, several changes have been implemented.  They generally like to promote from within.  They encourage independent thinking and "outside the box" brainstorming.  A typical day is very fast-paced & fun!! As an ASM with H&D, I have learned new ways of approaching other businesses in an effort to increase our B2B sales and have been very successful.  My co-workers and management above my level are fun and always cheering each other on in becoming more involved & learning more about the company and improving our sales approach.  The hardest part is probably their system for ordering merchandise not already on auto-replenishment.  Because of suggestions contributed by employees at all levels of H&D stores, this is in the process of being re-structured. Another example of improving our customer service is our new i-pads that have just recently been installed in several test stores--including ours in Destin FL--which will make in-store ordering much more efficient, faster & certainly more enjoyable for our customers.  I would say the most fun part of my job are the customers!! We have the very best customers anywhere!! Since we are in a strong tourist destination type area, there are many repeat customers that have become good friends.  Because we have come to know them so well, we are better able to assist them in fulfilling the gifting needs.  We really do go out of our way to be the perfect example of our company's tag line--"HAPPINESS DELIVERED!!"

Signed on as a Machine Operator after an interview process where they reviewed my operating experience in Navy. Worked here for several months as a Machine Operator with little to no problems - though know going into it the schedule / shift work can be a bit daunting for someone unused to such work.

After a few months I was forced to switch my job to General Laborer in order to transfer to day shift. After accepting this demotion and pay cut to transfer shifts, as a Gen Laborer on day shift, I found that the supervisors were extremely harsh and disrespectful with unrealistically high expectations of productivity from their minimum wage employees.

On one occasion when quotas were particularly high through the holiday season, we were told that the company would be supplementing our own production of caramel corn with outsourced product. What we weren't told is that unlike the usual bags of mostly loose popcorn with some odd chunks in it, we received completely solid bricks of hardened caramel corn. We were expected to break apart these blocks of candied corn by hand without leaving any clumps or chunks together and to do so as quickly as the packaging machine operated. This is simply impossible under these conditions. Just as my shift as the popcorn smasher was about to end in a few minutes anyways, my supervisor came over and basically yelled at me, chewed me out, disrespected and humiliated me on the floor in front of everyone, sarcastically asking if I "couldn't handle the duties that had been assigned to me."

Wouldn't recommend hiring on as General Labor unless you have no other choices or don't mind being disrespected.

When I was hired, I was told I'd be a full time employee.  Once I started working, it turned out that there's no such thing as a full time employee unless you're upper management.  Not even Team Leads work full time.  Most days, you work 6 or less hours.  If you're lucky, you work 3-4 days a week.  Given that every employee is basically a part time employee, the pay compensation is dismal.  Almost everyone I've met at Harry and David works a second or even a third job.  You'll find a lot of elderly people who gladly accept jobs with Harry and David for supplemental income only.  

Management is a complete mess.  While there are policies and procedures set, no one follows them and no one enforces them.  People will call in late or absent halfway or near the end of their scheduled shifts and no one cares.  At least they called, right?  Because P&Ps are not followed, no one cares if they're screwing around between calls or whatever.  Unavailable codes are abused and agents aren't even given a slap on the wrist.  In fact, most Team Leaders don't even read the coaching tools sent to them.  

There's a serious lack of respect for your fellow co-workers.  People lie and cheat each other all the time.  FMLA and OFLA are abused.  The work ethic completely sucks. After my 90 days had come and gone, I still hadn't been offered benefits.  I mentioned it to my Team Lead and they didn't do anything about it.  I attempted to reach out to HR directly and never heard back.  To this day, I still do not have my benefits other than accrued PTO and sick time.

I am a former employee. I had recently was hired for this location and ended my employment a week later. I've been in retail for about 5 to 6 years and never did I feel this was unfit for me. I had great managers before and when I came into this store it was horrible. First day on the job, they did not train me with any knowledge of their product, expects you to know it yourself because if not and you ask for questions you get the short end of the stick. Store Manager Matthew is the only one I can say that helped out along with Kat and Sebi as associates. The others I worked with, well lets just say they need more help in the management position. I always asked questions and most of the time i recieved a smart remarked back because I didnt know the answer. I was an assistant manager before this job and I know the prodecures on training new employees.  Im more out on the floor then the key holders and assistant manager. While i was out on the floor contacting clients(customers), restocking shelves, cleaning the refrigerators they would put a stool behind the register and sit there being on their phones. I put in my 100% for this company for a week and the little knowledge I learned by myself I was capable of adding sales on top of the original sale. Oh, when there were sales on items I would have to look for the promo sheet by myself they would not inform me on the promos. For only being three days there , i rather work for another company.

A typical day for Harry and David is a lot of one on one customer service, custom gifting and sample preparation. Customers were always the most important when it came to tasking. I worked on several floor plans, I did event planning along with special promotions. I also worked with a lot of B2B customer and high end clients. I learned a lot from Harry and David such time management, merchandising/ purchasing, and how to make some really great gift baskets. Management at Harry and David was very unsuccessful due to the fact that my store manager was creating issues between employees, never preformed his duties (except for taking vacation days), and he created a hostile work atmosphere. He was eventually let go and the new store manager got the job because the district manager was his sons god father. There is no room in the company to move up the food chain no more matter how much promise you show. My co- workers were fantastic! I really loved the people I worked with and I am still close with all of them. The hardest part of my job was when I had to report my store manager for harassment and theft. The most enjoyable part of my job was making the custom gifts and being able to sell a wonderful brand. I have to say working for Harry and David was my favorite job that I have had.

Harry and David has been in this valley and is its biggest seasonal employer. However the environment is not the best one. People are treated as replaceable and many people come and go and treat the job as a quick paycheck.

The people that have been there for years and like tenured professors and don't really do their fair share of the work as they will be there until they quit or pass-away. If you are working with one and they don't like you for some reason, they will make your life not fun and the job not very enjoyable.

As with any job, there are many different personality types. Sadly, Harry and David, does not seem to attract the best of them. Many are brown-nosers and do everything in their power to get in good with an management person and then act poorly to their co-workers because they figure they are covered...

Overall, it isn't the worse place to work, but for many it is a last chance place to work, as they will hire almost anyone and give anyone a chance to be a productive citizen. However, some people don't appreciate the opportunity and are not worth the effort and actually cause more trouble than they are worth.

Too bad, that some people that have been there for two-three years have attitudes and treat their coworkers with disrespect.  That is the worst part of the job for me, is dealing with people like this.

The workers and myself are always happy to see customers walk through the door, ready to greet them with a sample of chocolate-covered fruit or other delicious treats. If they are searching for a particular item or even a gift, we do our best to narrow it down to the perfect idea and the customer's are usually delighted with the end result. The management is very cooperative; if you have to tend to an emergency last minute, they are usually helpful in covering a shift to help you out. Everyone there is relaxed, helping to make it a stress-free workplace. Working at Harry and David was a wonderful experience. I was able to learn so much more about new cooking ingredients, recipes, and most importantly, reaching out to help customers. Every retail store has there streak of bad customers, but I enjoyed every day of that place. If there were a location closer to me, I would go back to Harry and David in a heartbeat!

Its really nice to get trained enough to feel confident to do your job. They have all the information you need right at your fingertips as well if you can't memorize everything from your training (which they don't expect you to,) and people walking around to help you if you raise your hand.
During season there are plenty of hours available, but limited overtime availability.
I really like that they have rewards and incentive programs.
The hardest part of the job is remembering what to do for held orders and achieving a lot of up sells, cross sells and telephone specials..
The most enjoyable part of the job is helping the customers, and turning around angry callers. Especially when they're really grateful that you've helped them so effectively.
Co-workers are really fun and a lot of them were people I already knew.
Sometimes the team leaders don't help you like they should and don't respond in a timely manner or at all.., but when you find a good team leader/supervisor you're in good care.
They also have employee assistance programs, which is really helpful.
Not to mention, they try to rehire before (sooner than) they hire new employees so they get more money during season, and they train them a week shorter time than new hires.

My typical day at work as a supervisor was to guide and teach and oversee new call center employees to make sure they were meeting their work performance as well as to make them as comfortable and happy as possible, ie to offer reassurance/praise and sometimes a treat. I carried candy with me everyday. If I saw a team member that was particularly stressed out from a hard call id give them a piece and i found it helped break their anxiety or brightened their mood. 

My management team was the most wonderful of any I've ever encountered. All were supportive in the most positive fashion and compassionate. All of my co workers were amazing people, I never had any problems with them. 

The hardest part of the job was the customer service. Sometimes you found yourself in a situation that was not going to resolve in the customers favor. A gift to a recipient was going to arrive late or the worst, a gift going to the funeral wake that will not arrive. 

The best part of the job was all the great people i got to work with and the great customers i got to help. Yes, some could be challenging but most were delightful to engage with.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail assistant manager 32 salaries reported	$19.47 per hour
Material handler 3 salaries reported	$16.17 per hour
Store manager 13 salaries reported	$30.38 per hour
Seasonal associate 18 salaries reported	$18.67 per hour
Order picker 7 salaries reported	$26.00 per hour

Working at Harry & David: Company Overview and Reviews

Harry & David

Harry & David Ratings

Popular jobs at Harry & David

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected