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One of the worst work experiences I have had so far. I am an experienced retail manager and was led to believe that this company valued its employees and there would be room to grow. The reality is the company ONLY hires from the outside when filling positions higher than store manager. Lots of carrot dangling to keep you in play, but once the uber important Holiday season is over, you are expendable and they let you know it. Godiva used to be privately owned by Campbells Soup Company and those were the good days. The company was bought out by Ulker a Turkish company and that is when everything went downhill. It has been a rough transition with no major backer like Campbells for support. New faces and forcing out of some really quality people who have gone on to bigger and better futures with other quality companies.
I really used to enjoy working for Godiva but I will be giving my notice shortly. The sense of arrogance from the top filters all the way down, this is not a business I choose to make money for any further. Honestly, you would just be wasting your time here so don't think this is a career move.
starting salary was forty thousand per year ending at forty-seven thousand. 2 weeks vacation with the standard 3 after 5 years service. Bonuses are very difficult to achieve usually only if you are taking over a poorly run store. Used to be some great perks but they have all been rescinded - remember this is an american company and they have scaled back considerably. Benefits are OK but the culture and the way people speak to each other is very offensive. Part of the responsibilities of a good manager should be scheduling to meet business needs, but here they tell you when to work and how many hours; 3 weekends per month, 2 sundays all stat holidays (to save money). Payroll is very very limited and increases only for the November/December holiday sales period. Hard to hang onto employees because the store goes to skeleton staffing during the summer and it is very difficult to take your own vacation with such limited hours available. Numerous conference calls, "Mandatory" is a key word they overuse, numerous emails many conflicting, very poor pay and no benefits for PT employees and annual reviews with increases of .05 cents and up. Yes, .05 cents and up; try telling that to a good employee who has been with you for a year. Sampling to random customers is mandatory all day long, you have a lot of sympathy for those ladies at Costco believe me! This generally doesn't result in sales but someone on the board of directors who used to VP at the BodyShop has insisted on this method so here we go again. Next month or right after Holiday they will probably tell us to stop because it costs too much money.