educator

key team leader

retail sales associate

store manager

guest experience leader

lululemon

This is going to be long as I want to make sure those who decide to step into lululemon with visions of advancing within the company are given an insight in what can occur. I understand this is just my one experience, and I encourage those reading this to take this into account, but continue to do research and create their own decisions:

I stepped into lululemon believing in their philosophy, and the vision they expressed. One specifically being around leading the industry in leadership development. I am always looking for ways to further my personal development when it comes to my professional performance. Lululemon also speaks highly around the Educator (salesperson) being the most important piece of the company.

I felt during my time at the store and with the company, that none of these principles were consistently executed. As a member of the floor team, I felt accepted and appreciated and reciprocated these sentiments with my fellow sales force. When I stepped into my work with the management team, I felt that my leadership development lacked authenticity, which is a core value of the company. I did not feel like I was able to develop my own leadership style, but was being forced to copy that of my management team. There was not a space to collaborate or discuss matters, but rather it felt like "do as I say or you will be logged." Overall, the lack of ability by the management team led to micro-management as they were not able to successfully manage their people - myself and other members of the team.

There was constant critique or "feedback" around my performance. I have grown up in an athletic environment where success and performance are constantly being evaluated, and have constantly received coaching and feedback with the end goal being success. I am comfortable with being challenged and pushed to grow. However, at lululemon, this was the first time I felt that there was no justification to the feedback. And when there was success by myself or a teammate, there was no proper recognition. If there was a shoutout on performance by a guest or a teammate hit a goal, the management team oversaw this. And when something came up around lack of performance, the management team would only then confront the employee. Along with finding these moments to give feedback, it felt as if management only sought you out to ask for more favors. At first, you do this willingly as we are all on same page to reach success, but quickly find out there is no appreciation and you are constantly working above and beyond. They preach on work/life balance, but then continue to ask more and more of you. I guess the silver-lining of this is that I quickly learned how to say "no" to things, which is not normal for me.

Educators were not respected for their efforts. And for a company to preach around connection and authenticity, it felt as if these aspects were then used as ammunition against you later on. We all understand that we are in a work environment and have to perform. But when we are asked to approach our management team with our needs and collaborate on what can do together to solve the situation, negative attitude and annoyance are not what you want to receive while being vulnerable. 

Overall, my experience with my fellow co-workers and floor team were great! They were all amazing individuals, and made "selling stretchy pants" incredibly fun! However, as I stepped into further roles with the company and management team, I felt belittled and irrelevant. If there is going to be a push for leadership development and growth within the company, lululemon needs to spend some serious time reflecting on their methodology and who they are placing in these pivotal roles!

Great company but unfortunately your asked to give your availability then once you give your schedule times your told that you have to work regardless what your availability is … why ask fir an availability if management requires you to work beyond what you can. Was there for a few years but felt forced away after having a baby and not being able to stay past store operating hours, daycare is not available after 6pm. It’s unfortunate because there were higher management with children who worked from home mostly and didn’t stay past 6 or come before 6 am either. Management does not really care about your availability after lifestyle change when having children. Also when someone says they feel left out of a conversation at store you may get in trouble so just don’t have personal conversations or build friendships with employees because some people take it personal and tell management that they don’t feel included so then you have to explain why they weren’t included and watch a training on inclusive behavior and read some articles and have a follow up meeting of what you learned in some ways it makes you feel bad as a person … not a place to easily grow… to many employees with potential but not enough positions to make them leaders. Most time your potential isn’t even noticed unless you say "look what I did "
No paid vacations if your not a store manager even if your full time!! Ridiculous especially because you accumulate vacation time and don’t end up using it because it’s not paid also it’s a pain to request time off,, you can’t request time off if someone has it off already but on top of that you don’t know who already requested the day off as there is NO ACCESS to view unless your a store manager.. and to top it off you need to email dates and explain why or where your going .. approval takes up to over a week to get a response sometimes and by then someone else request a day and then they will approve based on seniority, position, time away and any other excuses. Employees should have  access to View an  availability calendar without having to sit with a manager to look at when’s the best time for your vacation as if you are planning it with them !! It’s ridiculous and childish as adults you should be able to request your vacation time by being able to view an availability calendar on your own then put in your request with the open dates !!!   

Going to try and apply the “sandwich method” to this review. Oh, Lulu. I appreciated this place as I came across some really awesome people. The employee discount on clothing was incredible, although I feel like just because you work part-time doesn’t mean that you should recieve less of a discount than a full-time employee does (trust me. I told them I wanted full-time. It really isn’t my fault that there wasn’t enough room for me to be full-time). I am appreciative of the [paid] training I received. The company actually took the time to train their employees for five days prior to starting. I loved that I was coached on what it’s meant to work for a “luxury” brand. I also liked the fact that they give their employees money for their “sweaty pursuits” monthly. It allows the employees to wear their Lulu gear to sweat and be able to talk to the company with fluidity and authenticity.  However, I don’t like nor do I think it’s fair that part-time employees received less money for their sweaty pursuits than the full-time employees do. Moreover, holy cow was the hiring process very inconvenient of time. Talk about ‘Asteya.’ When I started working for the company, I did not see the things that I was trained on be carried out by the managers and employees at my store. I won’t go into detail about that. Although I was hired as a (seasonal) part-time employee, I averaged working only about 7.5 hours per week, which is only one days worth. How fair is that? Now do you really expect an employee for a retail store that’s constantly changing the layout of the store and recieving new clothing to be able to work authentically? The horrible work times didn’t even allow for me to work and bond with my Manager & AM. I felt very disconnected with them, the store, and my co-workers. Also, as the five day training is nice, they should allow employees to come in a lot sooner to actually work some hours at least two weeks prior to Black Friday for crying out loud. I also didn’t like how key leaders would walk up to you during your shift and ask you to pick up a customer when they were more than capable of doing that themselves? I know they “lead” the floor, but wow. Most guests don’t want employees to hop on them as soon as they walk into a store. Believe me. I was that guest when I walked into 4 other Lulu’s and felt smothered. Lastly, as a seasonal employee, I felt like I was chewed up and spat out. I worked really hard (when I did work) and would go above and beyond.

I specifically worked for the overnight team as a lead in the Returns and Damages department at the Ontario location. The first thing that caught my eye was my first week there I was told by my supervisor not to speak out about Supervisors or Managers on the shift to the HR team during our "so called" close door conversations. These were called "coffee and convos" and they were often very hostile due to the reaction of the HR Manager

As time went along I started learning the environment and earning the respect from the team but the shift did not work well for me so I asked my leadership team what I could do to move into a morning shift role. I was told to call the dedicated hotline about my issue & I was also accused by my Supervisor of using the night shift to get "my foot in the door" & move other places within the org. 

I was never given any sort of negative feedback until that same week where I was pulled into the office about my "constant misses" these calls to the office worsened as time went along and rather than 1:1 meetings with my leadership team I was getting coached week in and week out. I had only one true 1:1 meeting with both my Supervisor and Manager in my 7 months being there, all others were tied to disciplinary reasons. (Retaliation was what they handed to me after asking to change my schedule, so please be wary of this if you do decide to take this position.)

I could no longer take the constant call outs and blame culture my Supervisor had on not only myself but the team. She took no accountability of her mistakes and often placed blame on the team, all the while, she sits in the office not ensuring the team has what they need to succeed. There is clear favoritism between this night time Supervisor and the night time Manager which other Supervisors realize as well. 

It was very tough going to HRBP about their behavior because the HR Manager is related to the Overnight Operations Manager which is a complete conflict of interest and is being used to take advantage of teammates on the night shift. 

Lastly & Professionally, I would not recommend anyone to work here unless you are willing to give up your mental health and ultimately go against the values you have grown as a leader in your past positions.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Flexibility, fun atmosphere, great benefits, you can work as much as you'd like or get others to cover shifts. Managers are easy to talk with and enjoy most of the other employees. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I am semi retired and coming as a former business owner it's hard to watch the younins come in and stand around and talk while your carrying the load, I suppose that's typical in most businesses. Some of the kids are great and hard workers but some of the employees are there only for their discounts, we'd all prefer those employees to seek employment elsewhere so we're not covering their load while their standing around gossiping 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Postitive 99 percent of the time. As in any job gossip gets the worst of people and those who carry that weight into the workforce. There isn't a lot of gossip amongst employees and not bad talk amongst one another. I love that all body types come in to Lulu and when one comes into shop everyone is there to help make customers the right choices and make an educated decision with options and choices that are online as well. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Depending on the time you come in it's a tad different but mornings are taking out trash from the night before, fulfilling online orders. 
Typical day is by zones, your in fits (dressing room) cleaning stains and deodorant, lotions and self tanners off, hemming requests, putting clothes back on hangers correctly 
 cash, helping customers, on refill (putting  out things from back room to floor. Couple days a week (if you have an interest) is merchandising, moving store floor, bringing new products to fore front manaquin change, accessories. 
There are weekly markdowns that need to be marked, lots and lots of folding and putting things back in the right place!  Closing duties, is trash cans, cleaning bathrooms, security tags taken, sweeping, vacuuming, cleaning mirrors, gold standing (clothes by color and size) . Box shift is after store hours and that's unpacking stock, hanging or folding and put away, discarding boxes, and all the trash that comes with it.

When you have a passion about a job and really care about your co-workers and what you do on a day to day basis...its a harsh reality to find out, they dont feel the same.  While I was an employee at lululemon they have their own language, that I will admit I started speaking as well.  They use Yoga terms for their Rules Book, which in all honest is quiet disturbing since yoga is so genuine and they are not.  
Upper management has favorites, they do not give you the time of day if they dont like you and they hire based off looks.  My manager, during the Seasonal hiring for holiday, hired a college boy specifically to stand at the front door and say hi to the guests because he "looked cute, even though he was not very attractive" 

If I could give this company an over all rating with the stairs above, they should give an option not to fill out a star because thats how awful they are.  

My old manager continues to have babies to live off the 6 month maternity leave.  Not only does she take the 6 months, but she has told a part time educator that she plans on saving all her sick days and vacation days since her due date is in Oct for her to get out in August.  

But, if you are a part time or full time educator, or even if youre an ASM. IT DOES NOT MATTER.  When you call the integrity hot line it goes straight to PEOPLE POTENTIAL basically HR which is a joke because the HR person is best friends with my ex store manager so nothing is ACTUALLY reported.  Oh, and to top it off! when I told People Potential what ACTUALLY was going on in the store, and she has heard from 2 other people the same thing, she said "maybe youre just taking this personally" and I was applauded. She told me SHE felt that store manager was the best fit and asked if I WAS QUESTIONING HER JUDGEMENT AND PROFESSIONALISM.  Yes, Yes I am lululemon.  And I have friends that still work there that are looking for jobs and nothing has changed since I left 8 months ago.  This company is FAKE.

I have been working for lululemon athletica DC in Sumner, WA for four years. I have been cross trained in all almost all the departments here. 

I started out as a temp in April of 2010, and was hired in August of 2010. 

I have been in my current role in the Invetory Control department for almost 2 of those years now. I am they "Hypo" for my lead, and also the admin for the department. A typical day for me, is sending out excel reports to the managment team, updating daily logs, putting together cycle count audits, managing time cards, scheduling meetings on outlook. I work closely with the finance department in Canada as well. 

I put together investigation reports for SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act), which is a company that makes sure that all of our data is true, and that we are completely the neccessary audits. 

I created a whole inbound audit process for our retail DC. Which includes grouping each of our vendors into four different grades based off of errors that we find from them. I also log all information in an excel sheet that i created. It includes vlookups, and formulas that show me which po's have and have not been audited. We are responsible for auditing every PO that comes into this building. 



The people that i work with on my team are really great people. They look to me for leadership and i rely on them to help get the job done as fast and efficiantly as possible. 

Culture is really important here at lululemon. We are a company of health and fitness and bringing that to the community in anyway we can. We have a yoga studio and gym on campus, equipped with a personal trainer and yoga instructor. We also have boot camp 5x a week, Barr class, personal training sessions, basketball hoops, etc. 

I love working for this company, but there is not a lot of room to advance up the chain. I am looking for an administrative postion that will challenge my skills, and also allow to advance within the company some day.

As a manger I was faced with several heavy employee situations (some ever turned legal) and did not receive support from Human Resources or my Regional Manager. I was told to handle the situation and not to talk about it with my co-workers. The said "problem" employees were allowed to continue and work in the store while they were being investigated creating a toxic environment with the rest of the team and managers. I documented several instances with these employees and submitted them to HR and nothing changed. In both instances it was clear as day that these employees were creating a lot of issues and had committed acts that were out of integrity according to our Pramana handbook but still nothing was done. It is not a company that practices what they preaches. I saw several people move up through the company that had friends in high positions. I also saw people come into higher positions after one interview when others were expected to interview 2-3 times for positions. The company definitely plays favorites and looks out for it's own. I feel a of relief being away from that world. Looking back I can see that I was not supported to handle situations with my employees and had to standby while employees mistreated me because I was a manager and I had been coached not to take things personally. In my current workplace people aren't allowed to say or do the things my coworkers did, they would be instantly disciplined. I did not get recognized for my hard work or time. The HR team is a joke and to this day I have no idea how my regional manager got her position as there were several people more qualified then her for the position who had already stepped into that role when needed. The management positions are not worth the time and money unless you are one of their favorites...then of course the world is your oyster.

Overall, working at Lululemon has been a good experience. I have managers that care and take their roles seriously, they also have great soft skills (which is a trait that is often lacking these days). And my fellow Educators are super nice and outgoing which makes for a better work experience. Working at Lululemon has opened my eyes to what retail SHOULD be, and has changed my perspective as a retail worker. I definitely see myself wanting to create a future at Lululemon. 

Only downside, is that if you're looking for more hours or to be elevated into a higher position, it can be difficult. Our interview process is quite competitive for only being a retail store, and it is often a coin-toss if you're moved onto the subsequent rounds. All of the questions are behavior-based so make sure you have sound story telling ability utilizing the STARL method, and don't come off too scripted or scattered as it can be a detractor. I've seen fellow staff members who you'd think would "have the promotion in the bag", walk out of round one being cut. It's gotten to the point to where I can never guess who'll be elevated. People that you may think are next in line for a position often do get passed up. I've seen an Educator who's been with the company for two years get passed up for Key Lead due to external candidates having more qualifications. I understand trying to select a candidate who has more/better experiences, but why not promote within? How is that Educator ever going to move up and be given the opportunity to prove themselves? I wish the company showed just a little bit of favoritism to internals before externals. And I will say, this isn't the case across the board, I mainly want to inform with the simple fact that the interview process is unpredictable as the applicant pool increases (obviously). 

Honestly, avoid at all costs. 

They will rope you in and claim how collaborative it is and how they offer benefits and a salary over  minimum wage. 

It is not collaborative at all. They will let you voice concerns/issues on the floor but nobody actually listens to what you have to say. There was also major favouritism in my team. The team lead had people who were their favourites and those people got benefits. They were also constantly changing what was expected of us and we were expected to catch up on absolutely everything in 15 minutes before our shifts. In those 15 minutes, we were expected to check hundreds of teams messages, get our systems up and check emails. It was also pushed that you need to do what’s best for the guest (customer) but anytime you did that, you were on trouble for not following rules. Next time, I would follow the rules and be in trouble for not going “above and beyond for the guest”. Very confusing and discouraging. 

On to benefits. I still don’t understand what their benefits package was. They preached about it but anytime anyone asked, they couldn’t give a straight answer. It was through another site and you had to sign up but only after 3 months were we eligible. But on the other hand, after 3 months if you weren’t signed up, you forfeited your benefits. As you can tell, this was confusing and again, nobody would give us a straight answer. 

Lastly, wage. They love to preach how much money you can make when they pay you less than a dollar over minimum wage. They tell you theres room to advance that wage by hitting target which is an unrealistic target goal set by people who don’t work the floor and handle customer interactions. Tell me how you expect a live chat to take 6-7 minutes? It takes people 1-2 just to answer. 

Basically it is a company that acts perfect but unless you are lucky enough to kiss up to your boss and become best friends, it’s really terrible. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Educator 243 salaries reported	$19.80 per hour
Key team leader 3 salaries reported	$21.51 per hour
Retail sales associate 1 salary reported	$20.35 per hour
Store manager 4 salaries reported	$88,950 per year
Guest experience leader 1 salary reported	$23.12 per hour

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