retail sales associate

interior designer

retail advisor

driver

delivery driver

Steinhafels

TYPICAL WORK DAY:
As a visual/displsy designer you pretty much clean up the showroom floor. You straighten vignettes, you fix problems, you do wearhouse tasks. You're operations manager will bring in furnitue and plan where and how it will be placed in the showroom. You then get to choose how to dress the furniture with the limited tools available to you. There are often unclear directions on what to do, or how you are expected to do things. You need to be selfreliant and be able to interpret what might be expected of you, as well as, being prepared to have to redo tasks until it satisfies management. 
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(HARDEST) PART OF THE JOB:
They need to improve on communication. So much frustration from the position is from lack of effective communication and active listening. They also have many specifications and rules to follow that sometimes contradict eachother making it feel like you are set up to fail. Having tough skin definitely helps with this position. Vignettes get replaced often with the replenishment process not being slot-for-slot. Maybe more groups are coming in than you have room for or there are empty slots and now you need to deal with those problems.
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MOST (ENJOYABLE) PART OF THE JOB:
When you actually get to do display work! When you get to pick out that rug that ties everything together. When you know just the lamps that are going to go beautifully with a group. When you get to take the time to perfect and create a beautiful showroom floor for the sales team and customer both to navigate. Getting to challenge yourself to work with different styles and color pallets that you might not have thought about before. 
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WHAT I LEARNED:
This company does not seem to care how corperate actions impact the difficulty of the jobs below them. They make decisions or commands and exspects it to be done no matter what. They also value sales associates much higher than anyone doing the work in the warehouse, display, or hospitality roles. They do however hold the sales team to higher standards but they show their appreciation to them MUCH more often.
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MANAGEMENT:
Higher management (corperate) has high self-importance and feels very disconnected. There are many taboos at this company. You can't do anything that migh upset them or differe from their ideas or opinions. The store management for the most part, from who I worked with up until recently, has been great. The store manager at Appleton cares not only about bettering the store but he also cares about his employees.
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WORKPLACE CULTURE:
I met a lot of great people at the appleton store in many different positions. My coworkers in display made the job lots of fun and was how I stayed in my position as long as I did. That being said, there is quite a bit of drama throughout the entire company, not just this location.
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FINAL THOUGHTS:
I feel like they do not accurately describe the work that will be expected from the visual/display team. Steinhafels is an unique company and they like to jam as many responsibilities into one title as they can. Display does wearhouse tasks: they train you to work wearhouse, you help with loading furniture or unloading trucks when needed.

I was employed here for about 4 years and during that time a lot has changed for the worse. When I was hired it still had a family like environment and was a great place to work for. But all good things come to a end and I definitely see the END coming. Working commission sales you expect long hours but expect to be compensated for not having a “regular” family life. Major pay changes made in the past year have dramatically effected our incomes. I understand sales are down and some changes needed to be made but... DON’T lie to your employees that the pay changes are due to tariffs changes and not your greed. DON’T flood the sales floor with more sales associates to make up the lost revenue. DON’T  have salaried “managers” make commissioned sales associates train the new sales associates. Speaking of “managers”... the biggest conflict of interest is having entry level managers be forced to also sell. Half the time you need a managers assistance and have to worry about them trying to weasel their way into your sale so they can hit their unrealistic sales goal to get their bonus. Also they don’t promote sales managers from within and hire unqualified people from non commissioned lower level retail positions. They don’t care about your income and easily get jealous if you’re a top writer making more then they do. I’ve seen a lot of great people who would’ve made great managers get passed over a sales manager position by outside unqualified hires. DISGUSTING and so disrespectful! Also deliveries... HORRIBLE. I personally have had friends make large purchases from me and have multiple issues. The delivery department has no accountability whatsoever. If the delivery department screws up a order and the customer threatens to return the sale. Sales managers will discount your order and you will lose your commission. Also, you would think if you sold a product over 10 months ago you were safe from losing  your commission... you would be wrong! You will lose your entire commission because weak spineless managers will cave to unreasonable customers, return the sale because it barely affects them and they’re scared of confrontations. There is still a lot of good people at Steinhafels even though many have already left. I met so many good people there that I will continue to be friends with even though management created a hostile environment. Once a company can’t even provide business cards, be scared. Unfortunately the direction this once great company is going is sad. I hope anyone looking to be hired here knows what to expect after reading this review. What I hope most is that someone still employed reads this and realizes that there’s so many good opportunities out here. Good luck!

First of all let me start by saying that one of the executives at this company claims we are hiring six hundred people. We can't even hire ten people, let alone six hundred. Do not believe anything they say! The "ground breaking" on the expansion has stalled to a complete halt and the building will not even be expanded this year! This company claims to promote from within, but if you aren't friends with the right people you'll just get ignored. Every department is for themselves and they don't care about anyone else. We have over six different managers and they all are in charge of everything. You can't ever get a straight answer and nothing ever gets accomplished. They have a number system that doesn't work properly and they completely swear by it. If you cheat you look like their best guy, according to their computer screens. Very large lack of anyone existing (they stay in their offices and never come out). Policies written and never enforced. They were having issues with people calling in and coming in late, so rather than fire the bad employees they were all given a free pass! They said if you had horrible attendance they would look the other way and created a policy that doesn't effect anyone. The raises are around twenty cents a year and don't keep up with inflation. Upper management is pushing harder and harder on the workers, burning them out and slowing down production. Management is actually literally making it so we can't do our jobs because they "lock" all the pieces we are supposed to be building. Calling in seems to be popular here, even management does it! They used to buy us food, but rarely ever do now. We are being forced to work holidays instead of having them off with our families. They don't pay any attention to quality and rely fully on a "return rate" system that doesn't report bad quality. Pieces that are being exchanged are not being inspected. There is usually no one around to fix furniture at certain times, even though it has to be loaded on the truck the same day. Do yourself a favor, don't come here. The guys who have been here for 10+ years only make around 15$ an hour.. There is no future in this company.

Employees are expected to use their own iphone with data and/or a Apple tablet to work with customers without reimbursement, and won't even supply pens, paper or scissors to be able to do your job. There are work stations, but not enough and many don't have a phone to call for assistance. None of which is told to you when going through the hiring process. Majority of the training is done on your days or shifts you have off, because they don't expect you to have a life outside of work. The training that was provided early on is covered briefly, but never in depth or in a real application setting and some of the online programs and tools were never even covered. Technology can be challenging when not properly trained or covered at all. The managers offered little to no coaching to solidify what was being taught or to overcome challenges you commonly run into. Customers complained about the lack of support from a manager with a new employee requesting help going through something the first time in addition to the treatment customers received from the same manager. Managers have zero care or respect for their employees or the customers, and the work place has created, condoned and encouraged a cut throat environment which makes it hostile to work in. They are also supposed to price match, but it can take up to 5 days to do it so the customer has since gone elsewhere. When you end up not doing well, due to the lack of support and proper training, the same managers blame you for their shortcomings. Managers also have a very poor view about new hourly employees by insinuating poor intentions against the business which is extremely insulting to say the least.

Worked assembling "furniture" with the use of their electronic scanning system which "clocks" every piece you assemble with a predetermined amount of time; so if you were shorted hardware and need to get some, or had to go to the bathroom, the clock never stopped and you're penalized for going over the allotted time. Managers and employees tell me they rarely see the grandkids who are now in control of the company as they're just the collecting checks; so saying their "family owned" is a term used loosely. No fresh air is allowed into the warehouse, so doors remain closed, even when "finishers" are using/spraying stains and lacquered finishes as they repair the cheap imported "furniture" The "Revolving Door" on employment never stops as the grunts of the company (drivers, assemblers, warehouse) are constantly leaving this place. I was just getting the hang-of the job and then I was called into my managers office for a discussion. You see, I applied for several positions there and took the first position offered to me. However a Customer Service job opened up and my supervisor was made aware that the C.S. manager was now interested in me. Believing this company "Promotes from within" I was excited the C.S. manager was interested in me. However my supervisor informed me that he had hired me to work in the warehouse. I offered to stay on a month as he searched for a replacement but that wouldn't suffice and when I confirmed that I indeed applied for that position, in Customer Service, I was terminated. Unfortunately my termination was before my 90 days so I had no recourse - so thru Revolving Door I went.

Overall this place is a great company to start your career at or make it your forever career. I began here when i was 21 years old and studying marketing & business. I was hoping to branch out of my comfort zone and make a decent income. The coworkers here are phenomenal and become like family! It is a prettty laid back atmosphere but still a sales enviroment - so if you are even a little competitive, you'll enjoy it. You do work weekends (required) which can be difficult at times, no doubt, thankfully they are felxible when you need time off. Things have been changing over the past years as the company grows and expands into more of the midwest, which is exciting and brings me to my next point. Steinhafels just became employee owned;  if you work at least X amount of hours each year, you will start earning stock in the company. There seems to be a very bright future for Steinhafels so that means a brighter future for YOUR future retirment as well. 

if you are a new employee. They do a great job of singling out what your expectations are. And you don’t really find out that your expectations vary from one person to the next until you meet months after. Outside of that your work contract can change without a moment, hesitation, or notice. I was hired upon contingency of volunteer work, which they recommended me for and we’re very grateful and happy and excited to hire me. Until they realize that it would mean, I would miss one to two hours of babysitting the store with ample coverage. They use any means to justify a unfair termination. With backhanded threats as well as missed match conversations. Meaning you would have a one on one with your leader in which they would smile in your face and tell you everything was OK but then send a follow up email attached to the president HR and everyone else important stating how this was a final warning and how I would be terminated if this happened again. Which obviously made for a confusing and harsh work environment. Also, there are no minorities in leadership. Which makes sense why I was often singled out. So the inclusion only stems from what they want to include.

If you start here, you risk falling in love with your job, customers, and coworkers so much so that you will be determined to stay and ride it out despite numerous questionable management, HR, and higher up practices and decisions. Don’t do it; it's a rabbit hole. You will  get trapped into thinking maybe things will improve. After being here well beyond five years, I can assure you they will not. The annual salary goal from last fiscal year was $75,000; the new annual salary goal after record growth and changes to the bonus structure is $68,750. I don’t know what more needs to be said about a company that has implemented changes that are promoting a $6000+ salary reduction due to higher thresholds for bonuses amidst uncontrollable variables like reduced traffic and inflation. As much as I wish I could say otherwise, Steinhafels does not value their employees, have any concern about them leading fulfilled lives, or care about retaining them. 

The environment with Steinhafels offers so much more than that of previous big box retailers I’ve worked for.  I enjoy what I do and am proud to tell people where I work.  The promised work/life balance really does exist.  This is retail so of course nights/weekends are mandatory.  However, the store  hours and flexibility with time off still allow for a healthy balance and time with my family.  This is also a company that operates by their core values.  As with any company, there are going to be things that you don’t agree with, but the reasoning behind decisions made  within in the company do line up with their core values.  

This was a job that provided excellent benefits and that's what I enjoyed most about the job.  The reason I didn't stay was because there was no advancement opportunity for me after almost 2 years.  I wanted to get into my chosen field or at least be provided the training through the company to get started.  Instead, I was given the role of mattress sleep specialist and sold mattresses during the entire duration of employment.  Though they were high end quality and the company provided a price range for every budget, I personally couldn't stand working in a very slow environment with sometimes no social interaction for an entire shift which sometimes ended up being almost 12 hours long.  I don't like to be condemned to answering phones and browsing the internet at work.  I enjoy working hard and keeping busy so this was definitely not the right job for me.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail sales associate 30 salaries reported	$32.00 per hour
Interior designer 14 salaries reported	$72,500 per year
Retail advisor 17 salaries reported	$30.00 per hour
Driver 9 salaries reported	$19.50 per hour
Delivery driver 4 salaries reported	$23.00 per hour

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