sales associate

retail sales associate

retail sales supervisor

warehouse supervisor

store manager

REFORMATION

As someone that's been in retail for over 10 years, Reformation is definitely one of the best companies to work for. I've been around at places like American Eagle, J.Crew and Banana Republic for several years each and while each of those places always emphasize their culture, Ref. is really a place where your voice can be heard. They've taken the feedback from the employees and former employees that spoke out in June of 2020 and all of the members of the executive leadership team that were involved in that are no longer with the company. While each store is definitely different (from both an operational perspective with tech and classic stores and store culture perspective with different store managers) the support that corporate gives to the store level and teams is beyond what I've seen at other retailers. I'm very happy to say that I work for Ref and that I am able to provide my entire team, associates included, a living wage and a chance to work for a company that actually puts its money behind it's message and audits itself to stay true to it's core principal of sustainable fashion.

I also feel safe with COVID and everything that's gone on - corporate has been supporting teams with ensuring that everyone has enough supplies and PPE to feel safe and ensure that we are keeping our store and our customers safe while conducting business.

I wasn’t sure where to start, but after working at Reformation for a few months, my experience ended up leaving a negative impression.

At first, the job felt exciting, but over time I realized I was doing far more than what I was being paid for, including tasks that didn’t feel aligned with my role.

I tried to stay positive and push through, but the work environment slowly started to take a toll on my mental health and overall well-being. The atmosphere became draining and cold, and going into work started to feel more and more overwhelming especially with dealing with customers and management. 

I did try to grow within the company and had conversations with management, including the district manager, about other opportunities. Unfortunately, those conversations didn’t lead to much clarity or follow through, which was really discouraging and made it hard to see a future there.

In the end, the pay and hours weren’t enough to be sustainable, and the burnout wasn’t worth it. I wouldn’t recommend this job to someone looking for balance, support, or long-term growth. 

Pros
Generous store discount
Good benefits
Somewhat flexible scheduling

Cons
In general, you feel devalued and overworked. Unless you’re a store manager, employee questions and concerns are largely ignored. And even if you are a store manager, not much is up to the discretion of the manager(s) - upper-level management and execs control most every aspect of day to day activity. Employees are expected to complete extremely high work load that is basically physically impossible for most people due to intensity and demand. When employees make mistakes due to this, or try to voice concerns, they are often met with something similar to “do better.” Tech is extremely glitchy and often screens do not work properly. Employees are required to stay working in store with tech down until they are given the OK by exec to leave, which doesn’t happen because execs often can’t be reached.

The job was advertised as leading into growth in the company and ability to move into other departments according to your experience and goals, however no one was invested in my growth or development. We were expected to work overtime for several months due to bad decisions made in other departments and were hardly thanked for it; we were paid overtime however the base pay was so little that it hardly made a difference in your paycheck. My review was continuously pushed back for months, and when I finally received it, management had put in their notice to leave, leaving the department with no direct overhead, causing the opportunity for advancements or any upcoming review to slim even more.

I have been with the company just a month under a year, and have grown in the company this past month and became a Supervisor and the pay is really good! Before my promotion, I had left for 2 & 1/2 months for a summer vacation and my managers saved my spot for me when I got back. There is also yearly raises, besides the raise I got when I got promoted. I feel like Ref has a really good environment with the people you work with, as well as making you feel comfortable and confident with your background and personal lives. Very diverse company. Not to mention the job itself on the retail side is plenty easy, just sell clothes and the clothes sell themselves, and the back of house operations like shipment and things like that is pretty easy as well. 

As a part time employee, we were treated so terribly and management did not care. Every email, complaint, and meeting was disregarded. Corporate is just as bad, they listen to nothing. They pay everyone as little as possible and drastically cut your hours without warning, to the point my coworkers thought they would get evicted. We are chronically understaffed because of how cheap they are on payroll. Everyone is miserable all the time. The corporate employees are similar to high school mean girls- they come visit occasionally, talk to us like we're idiots, and talk so poorly about other employees behind their backs. It was so petty and just proved they didn't care about us either. AND THESE ARE OUR LEADERS. So many employees had to make reports to OSHA and the New York labor organizations about our treatment, management knew about it, and didn't care at all. Nothing ever changed.

A typical day at work at Reformation includes the following in chronological order: 

1.) Clocking in 

2.) Changing into the brand's clothing 

3.) Getting on the sales floor to offer individual customer service to clientele, managing fitting rooms, and ringing clients up at the cash registrar. 

4.) Going back into the stock room if need be throughout the day to organize new inventory that needs to be put out on the sales floor. 

5.) Organizing inventory on sales floor, and making sure that the store is clean, presentable, and aesthetically pleasing to the client throughout the day, and especially so before store closing.

Management is very exclusive and doesn't like to involve anyone in projects. They always advertise that they are "collaborative" but say one wrong thing and you'll likely be put on a people development plan, which basically is a buffer so they don't have law suits thrown their way when they fire people. Multiple people are fired weekly and management openly jokes about it so there is a very hesitant atmosphere in the workplace. 

However, it's a growing company so there's a lot of opportunity to learn how a successful company is built. There are some benefits and perks, but it's often outweighed by the heavy atmosphere.

They don't offer enough hours to be able to pay bills, I don't think I ever worked 40 hours in a week the whole time I was there.  The place wasn't that bad, the work was easy but they have hourly quotas.  I liked that there was always parking and a free hot drinks at the nice break room way in the back.  The management seemed nice, except for the very annoying onsite supervisor for the temps in 2nd shift.  The coworkers, save for a couple of psychotic girls that act like they could get away with everything seemed nice too.  One thing though that surprised me was the abrupt end of assignment notice I got in the email without prior warning.  That was not cool not cool at all so I'm changing my opinion about this company.    

Really just negative all around. Pay starts at $15.50 an hour and is determined by previous retail experience and has to be negotiated for work that isn’t always guaranteed. Job advancement is laughable if you have anything else going on in your life. You must be 100% devoted to working at this job or they believe your commitments and priorities are elsewhere. It’s nice to get a 50% discount considering the price of the clothing.  However, for how much the products cost full-price, there’s no justifying the incredibly low starting rates. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales associate 4 salaries reported	$19.88 per hour
Retail sales associate 3 salaries reported	$18.17 per hour
Retail sales supervisor 2 salaries reported	$21.00 per hour
Warehouse supervisor 3 salaries reported	$68,333 per year
Store manager 5 salaries reported	$75,000 per year

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