Working at Lacoste — Reviews by Employees

Retail management is a difficult career and if you are looking for a company that treats you better than many other retail companies, this is not it. On the positive side, as a manager you are paid on an hourly rate which means that you work reasonable hours (overtime is avoided like the plague). On the downside, if they cut your hours-which happens at the store level for managers and employees-you lose money. On the upside, the company spends money on semi-annual managing director (store manager) gatherings where everyone has a fabulous time. The rest of the employees get reduced hours, commission percentages cut for hourly employees and very little training. Understandably this comes as the economy has been difficult but it really hurts employee morale and store production. HR is not very responsive to such issues either and open communication is not a hallmark of this company. If you are looking to move up, you have your chances here as they do look for rising stars in the field but also have opportunities due to management turnover; additionally investment in employee productivity is almost non existent. Benefits are lacking; the 401(k) plan, paid time off and health plan are abysmal compared to comparable employers in the industry. If work environment, compensation and benefits are on the top of your work priority lists, you should pass on Lacoste. The word "quality" is reserved for their pique polos and no more.

The company has virtually no respect of its workers. The managers are trained to sell, sell, sell not matter what it takes. On top of the that, the company cut hours due to slumping economy and expects the current workers to put in more hours without getting paid and do things that are not part of thier job decription. The particular store that I was working in, had a very interesting management force in which the store manager is also new to his/her job and has no idea how to lead the store and when that particular manager would get in trouble by his/her boss, s/he would take it out on his/her employees at his/her convenience.