locator

shift leader

sales associate

process manager

pt assistant

Karm Stores

You can easily get thrown into a lot. Directors are supposed to visit their stores once a week, and this historically didn’t happen. I had stretches where I saw them once or twice a month, and that didn’t always include a detailed sit down look at everything. Often just got pointed out what areas were lacking with no input to help fix them. I tended to have a hard time with my director being available, whether it was from phone calls or emails. I just kinda felt like I was left out to dry until it was time to talk about when metrics didn’t hit them mark. Trust me, everyone is behind on production or sales at some point. The expectation must fall differently on directors because store managers turnover like crazy with little grace given. You can also just become a manager that directors play as favorites and get by not hitting goals easier than others. So it’s probably a great job if you are in on the director level. 

In short, 
-Managers need way more training. One week of training and then at best a day a week from there on out. 
-There is an inner circle of people, it’s just very difficult to break into. Almost impossible as an outsider coming in. 
- Corporate has no way of actually keeping track of what their directors are actually doing with their stores. Only metrics driven. You can kill it with your store while barely seeing your director, and they will get all the shine and credit in their meetings. You then fall behind (it happens to all stores as stated, I promise) then you are quickly on the chopping block or looking to get moved or demoted. 
-I would dare to say out of the 600+ employees, less than 75 have been with the company more than 3 years. Maybe the fact that you can’t get more than 2 weeks vacation if you aren’t salaried has something to do with it. 
So if you are going for it, good luck finding success with a constant turnover of employees. 

If you’re a management favorite, it’s an amazing job. But, once you fall out of graces with upper management you’re gone. You can make any mistake and that’s it. There’s been employees/managers that have messed around in offices that are still on the management/employee teams, managers gossip behind their employees backs and mock them (even though the employee had brain surgery), they shut down any concerns you have if it doesn’t fit their agenda, was name called by my boss and yelled at multiple times. Depending on what store you work at be careful of who has a parent working higher up because they will have more pull because of it. If you have any mental health issues, keep it to yourself. It will be used against you. Been told by plenty of people that if you appear to be having fun at your job, it’s a problem. They send you to different stores constantly to switch things up but, it’s to disrupt store environments to see who they can fire. Managers on some teams encourage condescending communication. Gossip is “not tolerated” unless you’re on their good side and you’re talking about people they don’t like. I’ve left my store and multiple employees have reported back that there’s gossip between other employees and their managers about me and why I left. The managers enjoy the drama until it doesn’t fit their agenda. I once loved this company and believed in their mission, not I see it for what it is and I always tell people to follow the money now. 

The work environment and people are great, but management leaves a lot to be desired. From your first day, you are given a "minimum" understanding of your basic job requirements and are told that you should use your "best judgement" in your execution of duties.  You are told that you will be given approx. 6 weeks of training, but after a couple of weeks, you are "thrown into the fray" to perform your job on your own.

Ultimately, after minimal training, when you use your "best judgement" in any given scenario, you are reprimanded. And after X times of upsetting management by "using your best judgement," you are terminated without any clear explanation of what you did wrong.

The employees are excellent to work with and generally have a heart for Christ, but members of management are extremely lacking in areas of proper training for their staff and are only concerned with meeting goals/numbers, very quick to negatively judge their staff when they indeed use their best judgement in scenarios (as instructed) and will terminate you without a clear explanation of what you did wrong or without the ability to explain your "best judgement" actions.

For an entity that claims to embody the ministry of Christ, it seems that management has forgotten the nature of Christ's teachings.

the rules changed every other week there, they constantly changed rules depending on how it benefited them.  they would also enforce rules that were never officially stated. i was held off from being promoted over personal grudges for a long time. as a shift lead i was often expected to act like a store manager and did much more then my job description required. even after working with them for over a year and a half i was never paid over a dollar above starting pay and i put extreme loyalty into this store when no one else wanted to work at the unsafe location i was at. while when you start it seems like a fairly easy job, the longer you are there the more unfair expectations are put upon you. there are often times i feel i was encouraged to work harder not smarter. the people further up in this company are some of the most hateful people i encountered while working there.  i even witnessed a district manager once have a temper tantrum over a mix up with employee discounts. you are also expected to go above and beyond with theft instances and put your own safety on the line if you are in management. while the tasks expected done are pretty easy tasks, they are often time consuming and higher management often had unrealistic expectations about what could get done in certain amounts of time. 

Very clique-y. Upper management is run by people who don't have any experience running a business and they treat their employees like garbage. 

If you have a good manager at KARM, enjoy it while you can, because I can assure you they won't last very long. The turnover rate at this place is ridiculously high because they don't know how to treat their employees like humans. 

Do NOT go into management here, whatever you do. They will string you along, make you move to any store they want without giving you a choice, and if you don't live up to their impossible standards they will terminate you as soon as they get the chance without even giving you any sort of warning. This place is a bed of snakes that masquerade as "Christians". It is NOT about feeding the homeless, but it's all about profits. This is not a nonprofit organization and it shows in the way they run the place. It used to be a fun, easy going place to work and I felt like they cared about me but that changed. Now it's just all about how much life they can squeeze out of you before you break. 

I have known multiple people who have given their all to this company and worked their butts off day in and day out and the only thing they ended up getting out of it at the end of the day was a separation notice. 

Don't work here unless you're perfect.

KARM store management (both store and regional) could care less about their employees. From reprimanding employees for using their best judgment in dealing with a potentially dangerous situation to not having properly working heat in the store (and expecting employees to wear their coat, hat, gloves, etc.) for the duration of their shift, this place has been a huge disappointment. I have watched people get fired (the day after Christmas, mind you!) for supposedly breaking a company policy that doesn’t exist, shift leads get yelled at (and eventually fired) for caring about and putting their employees first, and at the end of it all, management is a joke and doesn’t care about the well being of their employees. At all! Most store managers are nothing but puppets who do the bidding of those higher than them, and I can tell you from personal experience that they’ll throw anyone under the bus in order to make themselves look good. KARM is supposed to be a Christian-based organization, but from the way they mistreat their employees, it definitely does NOT reflect any type of Christian morals, beliefs, or values. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
My coworkers, the customers and working in retail was great. But the store manager and regional manager needs to go. They do not set a good example of a Christian base store!! 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Two face management. If you miss you are punished by having to work your assigned day off. Having tasks to do and not having enough time to finish it before being put on another task and another task. Makes your head do a 360’. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Sell, sell, sell! Always strive to make the store as much money as possible! Always stay busy even if the teenagers aren’t pulling their weight you pick up their slack! 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Set up bags and newspapers for wrapping glass items when purchased. Sweep behind counter, unlock dressing rooms, turn on the Christian music for the store setting straighten up anything that’s out of place. Windex, the jewelry glass cases if you’re on the floor, then you put out product and straighten up as you go.

KARM stands for Knox Area Rescue Ministry. They have a homeless shelter downtown. Their 18 thrift stores take donations and resell them to help those at the shelter. I focused mainly on assisting customers by cashiering and answering their questions. I also spent a lot of time putting out new products and removing old products. It is a really good job for entry-level employees such as students and people with disabilities. It is a very peaceful environment with everyone treated equally and friendly. However, some of the stores are too small to hold all the products, so it can be difficult to find space to stock them. There are busy and slow days but  there always seems to be enough progress to keep the stores open, the staff successful, and the homeless cared for. I learned that being happy on the job was more important than the income. It may not pay much, but the friends I made at the job are worth more than millions.

Expect to be overworked and underpaid- and to be very unappreciated. I would not recommend working for KARM stores to anyone- most people quit for better jobs as soon as they can. Management does not care about their workers- and the company has begun shifting to an increase on profits rather than their mission of ending homelessness. They increase quotas and goals regularly- making it increasingly difficult for workers to keep up. There is no real job training- and most managers are promoted from within and are ill-quipped  and not trained to manage their workers or their stores. Expect to work holidays for regular pay, late hours, and to do the work of 2-3 people without being paid for it. Do not expect fair treatment or the ability to express concerns or problems.

The store manager of this location is amazing, although I had issues with higher up VP of operations and miscommunication with my interview, I came in for one position and they offered me a lesser position without warning and I was kind enough to accept. Other than that the environment was like a family with the rest of the employees but they are always short staffed and this location was too big and busy for a few people to handle. If you did not take a break you got in trouble but couldn’t complete tasks and give your other staff member breaks and lunches without technically not taking a break yourself. Manager tried their best but unfortunately this location is corporate controlled and they nitpicked everything they did and it was hard to please them in anyway. It was a struggle everyday to make them happy. I think they’ve lost the true mission and message behind this company and I hope they make a big change soon. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Locator 118 salaries reported	$13.82 per hour
Shift leader 149 salaries reported	$15.03 per hour
Sales associate 168 salaries reported	$13.13 per hour
Process manager 34 salaries reported	$17.13 per hour
Pt assistant 33 salaries reported	$17.02 per hour

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