Customer Service Representative | Regina, SK | 27 sept. 2022
Good first job
As with any call center customer service job, you are in an entry level position just barely making over minimum wage. They will pound you with call after call and depending on which business unit or department you're in they will micro-manage you into a fine paste with all the stats they want you to hit and put you on an "improvement plan" making it sounding like they're building a case to let you go or you may luck out and get into a department who is more laid back but either way you will not have a moment to breathe between calls. Every moment of your day is tracked from punching in an out of your phone to go to the restroom to clocking out for lunches, your calls are recorded along with your screen. If you don't like being watched and measured this is not the place for you. Co-workers are generally fantastic and I've had a good experience with the team leaders and seniors. They are very friendly and willing to help. It you thrive in a fast-paced environment and like stats and call quality scores... look no further. This is the job for you. If you're more laid back and want to work at your own pace with a "slow and steady" attitude you're not going to like it.
As it is not unionized like other call centers you will not be making very much. Unionized centers make nearly 30% more starting wage. On average I'm taking 50 calls a day along with emails and helping out newer agents with questions via teams. Day in and day out it becomes obvious that burnout is a real t
Points positifsWork from home available for most areas, decent benefits, great staff
Points négatifsLots of back to back calls burns you out fast, hard to figure out career path with so many depts and business units.
I was respected for my sales abilities, organization and willingness to help in other departments by most staff and managers, over most of my tenure.
However, at times I was burnt out due to company expectations (dictated by higher management) that exceeded my means and available time. Good managers, if present (managers change the most of all the staff!), will understand the limits of productivity when labour is limited and you are expected to assist customers whenever they appear, which is mostly unpredictable. Such managers will be willing fo compromise on the importance of some tasks and will be creative with the assistance of their team to find solutions.
I think that success at Staples, like with any retail environment I imagine, is to work hard but know your limits and communicate then clearly, because not to do so is like pushing an engine past redline regularly, when others may not know what is too much! I wish that I had invested more time in learning to communicate my limits and make peace with the results.
That said, I can speak only for my experience which was as non-manager in a position of experience, responsibility and seniority. I was relied on a lot and was willing to work hard which may have attracted others to depend on me more than average; I don’t know!
I firmly believe that my workplace functioned as best as it could at all times with all the stresses we were experiencing within the company and in our outside lives. In other words, we were all hum
Points positifsTeam spirit and appreciation
Points négatifsLow resources (time and staff) coupled with high company demands
Fun workplace got paid minimum wage + $0.10 for 3 years so I left
I became flexible for them for where I could work I worked at two different locations since they put in a request for an additional guy to go over to the other store and do overnight stocking for them and I was the 1 of 2 people that could actually do it so did that I did get a temporary raise during that time to do it and very steady hours. Learned shipping receiving for there systems. I was able to make the exact same calls as management if they were not able to respond in a reasonable time but that was an earned privilege which was worked for.
I trained a decent amount of people that were making the same as me as they got hired and it got tiring since I was doing a supervisors/lead job but not getting any of they benefits (did for 2 years if not a little longer). I trained some of the new supervisors on basics and then advanced systems so they could do their job better.
Management went downhill fast when the GM was sick for too long and the one next in line was in the acting role so the old GM left and I can almost guarantee that it had to do with the acting GM pushing everyone they can out to make room for their friends to be hired and hire a few new people here and there to make it less obvious what they were doing.
Overall I learned a lot and enjoyed the job on paper but the backend issues like pay being the same for so long kinda tipped over the edge and made me leave other then that the acting GM was power hungry and you couldn't treat them like a person you had to
Honestly speaking, the only good thing about Bureau En Gros are the employees. If not for them, I would quit the same day I got hired. I CLEARLY specified in my resume that I'm looking for a full time job, and they still called me for an interview where they offered me a part time job, where they GUARANTEED 25 - 30 hours. I wasn't really mad, because that would cover my basic costs, so I accepted.
Basically they started off by giving me 18 - 20 hours. I asked the manager, why? She responded with: "You're new, so I don't want you to be overwhelmed" Fine, I decided to be a little patient, and give them the benefit of the doubt, considering they are a big corporation, and believed they would act professionally.
1 Month passes, and they decrease my hours down to 15 a week. I decided to have a conversation with my manager about the situation, explaining to her that I will be homeless, if this continues and if she's unable to give me more hours, to tell me right away so I could find another job. She acted sympathetic, and said she will try to provide more hours for me, not only did this continue for 3 more weeks, now they decreased my hours to 9 this week, and 5 for next week. How am I supposed to live on 50$ for a week? (not considering rent). Most of my co-workers live with their parents, I don't and she knows that perfectly well. Basically they don't give a flying cr*p about their employees.
I will never work there again, and I highly discourage anybody on indeed from d
Points positifsIn-store discount for employees, great co-workers.
Points négatifsPoor management, disregard towards employees, no comission
Working in the Copy and Print department was honestly kind of fun (if you take out the part where you interact with customers!) just because of how much you get to learn and if you like being challenged. Customers were largely rude, as if the people working behind the counter were actually trained professionals who went to college for printing and not just teens and young adults working minimum wage. Discount was up to 15% off which wasn't really that profitable.
On Sundays (which was the most profitable day in our department most weeks) I worked alone from open until close. If I wanted to go on break, I would have to put up a sign that said to ask the cashier for help and they would call me out of said break. Management truly could not care less about what went on in the department and whether or not its employees were happy. When I went back to high school in September to finish my 12th grade, they were scheduling me 30 hours a week on top of my school hours due to a lack of staffing they were not willing to fix.
Some employees have been working there for 10+ years and have never seen anyone be promoted from within. They pretty much only do outside hires. So if you're looking to grow as a person or as an employee, I do NOT recommend working at Staples as you will likely just be in the same position until you quit, no matter how long you've been there or how loyal you were to the company.
(Background) this was the first and only call center job I have ever had.
Pros:
-decent pay, commission (if you have a good call book starting off with). (1000 dollars if meeting 100% sales goals each month/+more if you exceed qouta.)
-Good benefits
-Can earn Fridays off.
- nice/supportive co workers
-direct managers are supportive.
- vendor virtual shows
- large amount of customers
Cons:
-Lifeless upper management that pushes you with pressure. You're replaceable attitude.. which is probably why turnover rate is so high.
-have to dial a list of 25 customers that "hurt" your quota and call them every few days over again pushing, asking them why they don't buy ___ and what can I do to bring your sales over here. (News flash we are still in a pandemic... a lot of these people are having to close there doors.) Felt like I was harrasing them having to call these people every three days to give a sales pitch they aren't going to buy ..
- management not realizing that since the AM role is direct to businesses, this means we take on customer support issues as well and our email gets flooded. It's hard to hit live contact goals/#of calls quota when you have all these customers issues.. It would be really great if the other departments worked better together and understand each other's roles..
Managers changed so often that it was hard to really say "they all sucked" or "they were all great!"
I was there for about four years in various positions, tech associate, computer repair associate, cashier, print tech, and planogram worker.
During that time the store manager was there the whole time, she loved to micro manage and you couldn't talk straight with her about things, she lived the store mantra and policy. So it was hard to bring up problems or solutions as if it fell outside the company suggested mandate she wouldn't hear of it.
I had 4 different managers come in as the tech/sales manager, and leave at various times for better/different jobs. Two were amazing, two were pretty bad, the amazing ones cared about you as a person, and tried to meet all your needs and wants, everyone loved them. So of course those ones were the ones who got out of there as fast as possible. The bad ones stuck around for a while, tried to push aggressive and annoying sales tactics, and cared about numbers more than quality.
Points positifscoworkers are often the best part of the job, its simple, get to wear a lot of different hats and learn things there
Points négatifslow pay, low advancement options, pushy sales techniques, manipulative business strategies with the computer repair.
They'll make it seem great at first but then the true colors come out.
They evaluate their employees negatively. Its not what you do well but what you do wrong. They do everything to give you the smallest salary increase possible. I did a great job, so much that they promoted me within the normal time frame (6 months-told me I beat all records). But their promotion was tinted. Instead of working 9-5 it was between 7am-8pm with a minimal salary update (0.80$) and much harder work. Ive then decided it wasnt for me since I needed family oriented hours. It was a hassle to go back to my old position, they made me feel like Sh** for it. Then their attitude really changed and I wasnt doing anything right anymore. Got sick, went on a 1month leave (doctors order) came back, and they fired me. No employment insurance, no good feedbacks for interviews nothing. Have nothing I can do since CNESST is only available after 2 years of employment. They gave me no severance package, put it as it was my fault so no EI. My former colleagues still don't understand how they did this. They were shocked because I was one of the best agents.
Do not work there unless you really have to.
Points positifscollective insurance
Points négatifsEverything
3,0
Customer Service Representative | Saskatoon, SK | 31 mai 2022
Work culture is determined by the floor lead for the day
Bringing each other down doesn't help a place to grow. The hiring process is not a priority. Company tries to cut corners from all angles. One shouldn't dream of getting paid overtime iven if work demanded you to stay back. Less associates on the floor to get the work done efficiently. Pay rate is way low in comparison to work expectations. Extremely slow process if you wish to interview for a different role within the company. Not enough time alloted for training employees. Lack of a cohesive force. Though all tools are in place yet the team I worked with, could have done better. It feels like, most people work just to get the day's pay, including managers and supervisors. Most people have No accountability. The environment become very stressful once management changed.
Payrate increases only by a couple cents every year. As an employee you will get 10-15% discounts on products. Good option to start somewhere and hone your skills but should move out as soon as you get a better opportunity.
Hardly any formal feedback session ever given. No body cares about your trainings or desire for professional development.
I've been working for Staples for over 3.5 years, and got promoted to Copy Lead 2.5 years in. Stepped down to associate a year latere to return to school. Overall, the people are great and fun to work with bu the amount of knowledge, expectations and quotas to meet (in both your own department AND other departments) is not worth the pay. Constantly understaffed, the yearly pay "increases" are a measly $0.40 which I consider to be a slap in the face. It is a constant revolving door of new faces every other month to the point where I gave up getting to know everyone. and god help you if you knnow your stuff well, they reward you with more responsiblities rather than pay or compensation. After stepping down from my lead position, shortly after they hired a copy supervisor (directly above my old position) and asked me to train my soon to be supervisor instead of sending her to a differnt store for training which they've done previously but they milk everything out of you. I of course declined to do so unless there would be a separate compnesation since it is no longer my responsibility. STAY AWAY.
1,0
Quality Control Inspector | Portland, OR | 10 mars 2019
Portland Fulfillment Center Less Than Fulfilling
I took a job at the Portland fulfillment center right out of high school in 08 and was hired PART TIME. The job is extremely fast paced and stressful for a couple of reasons, however at the time pay was very competitive in the market.
-PART TIME equated to 40+ hour work weeks with no full time benefits whatsoever. My manager at the time had the audacity to ask me if I even wanted my job after I was always volunteering my hours to be cut on slow days. Listen here lady, I wanted part time for a reason and was overworked pushing 50+ hours a week in peak seasons because managers are too good to step in and help pickers. I had a life outside of Staples and when I was ACTUALLY part time, it worked out really well. My life soon became nothing but eat, sleep and staples which is not condusive to a healthy work-home lifestyle.
I was too new to the job world to realize just how much abuse someone should and should not be taken when employed. These people pushed it.
-LACK OF ADEQUATE, CARING LEADERSHIP made days long and even more stressful. Always being pushed to move faster and do more when there's an absolute threshold for how much your own machinery will take before you've overloaded the system. Your machines will hold approx 800 boxes before shutting down? Okay, maybe keep remembering that when you now have 900+ and bark at your pickers to pick faster because you need to put more boxes on the line and the cut off time for your freight trucks are quickly approaching. It's
Points positifsPay, stock options
Points négatifsShort breaks, lack of management care, micromagement, no job security
Toxic, anxiety induced and a negative company culture!
A typical workday is being micromanaged by insecure, inadequate, and unqualified managers who are only there to carry out useless strategies to make the company a lot of money meanwhile making every effort to pay you as little as possible. They pick these managers because they can pay them as low as possible because most likely they did not have the minimum education to lead a team.They just need a stooge to carry out directives that won't complain. However, they have the favoritism of upper management that led them to be chosen. Constantly being bombarded with useless and ineffective meetings is nerve-racking.
This is a very high stress, monotonous, soul and creativity-draining job. Management is not emotionally equipped to manage taking gum out of a wrapper but, will do everything possible to avoid supporting you. Nepotism and favoritism are the norm and microaggressions are the status quo. The whole faux support of diversity is insulting and reeks of gaslighting. They pay the lowest in the industry and that is if they do not figure out a way to "adjust" your CVO and your commission. Meanwhile, the performance reviews that they picked apart will ensure that they will rate you as low as possible to avoid paying you that extra 14 cents per hour. Pay is not on par with the cost of living and struggling financially to live while working at Staples is real. If you are a single person with no spouse, no responsilibilties or children, you could possibly be okay with a meager liv
Points positifsFree office supplies, no approval Health insurance, Great Dental, Eye, Free coffee in office and clean restrooms.
Points négatifsOffice politics on steroids, high insurance deductible, lack of investment in employees, no education reimbursement, extreme micromanagement, micro aggressions from managers and colleagues, nepotism, inconsistency, and very low pay!
Co-workers were amazing people, Terribly ran business.
Terrible company to work for. I worked there for 2 years at the beginning it seemed fine nothing too special, they keep advertising about their excellent training but in reality their training is basically you sitting on a chair for 8 hours reading repetitive stuff and answering quizzes and then they throw you on the sales floor to learn by yourself as you go, they suck up to customers so much that they created a loophole were regular customers would come back to the store to shop either return or destroy merchandise just because they know they can since the managers don't want to anger anyone
even going as far as to brake or bend rules just to get a happy survey, if that sounds like terrible management and terrible way to run a business to you well that's just scratching the surface for example the store was ran so bad that we didn't had supplies and sometimes would ran out of supplies for days or a week not because they weren't available but because management didn't care until the last minute at one point we literally had no bags for customers or paper for their print orders but they didn't order anything until the day they finally had to and they would put pressure on us saying we need to increase sales even though we don't have control over customers not coming back because they notice the store was so badly ran. The Co-workers i had were great and amazing people to work with but The management is useless they don't listen to workers and if you report anything to HR t
Points positifsGreat Co-workers, sometimes the store buys lunch for everyone, flexible schedule.
Points négatifsLow morale, badly ran stores, do as i say not as a do management mentality, Useless HR department and district managers, lack of well trained staff, low employee retention, Low pay for the amount of work specially when understaffed, Rude customers everyday, Lack of communication, constant leadership conflicts
3,0
Copy Center Associate | Concord, CA | 10 août 2020
Really depends on the particular management team, but the company itself...
I worked at Staples for 2 years. When I started, I had a pretty good management team that started becoming better and better. Despite this, they have rather annoying selling quotas for minimum wage work. Sales managers are in charge of keeping those numbers strong, and at the locations I worked at, they often had employees track their insurance add-ons and rewards sign ups on a piece of paper. They used to push us into selling credit cards, while doing a terrible job of explaining that, but they've stopped pushing for that as much. And when I say a terrible job, I mean I didn't even realize I was selling a credit card!
They give you training on a computer for about 3 days but they try to teach you the real important stuff later on, so the computer training isn't great.
I got transferred to the copy and print center after about a year. I got paid fairly in my home town, as they raised my wages by about 75 cents per hour. But when I transferred to another store, which struggled in a rural area, I worked the copy print center exclusively- for straight minimum wage. The min wage went up while I was working there, so when my manager failed to add back the 75 cent raise I'd earned, I promptly left that store. I transferred back to my hometown where I got my raise but the management team was a shell of what it once was, so I didn't stay long.
They do offer some coverage options to part time workers, I had dental coverage for about 5 dollars out of every paycheck. But I never used
Points positifsInsurance options for part time employees, different departments available for promotions
The Staples store located in Buford, Georgia is a strange one. It is often the guinea pig for the company's trials and experiments, while also being a high-volume store that generates a lot of revenue. Because it is technically retail, a lot of younger people are hired throughout the year as they need temporary jobs while in high school, college, or in-between jobs. There are some long-term employees (reading 10-15 years!), but most of the associates are younger than 30.
There are three main sections: copy & print center, easy tech, and office supplies. Copy & print creates... copies and prints for customers. Brochures, documents, posters, pictures, etc. are created daily. It is one of the most stressful sections of the store because of how many orders they get and how fast they have to finish them with the lack manpower and machinery to do it efficiently. Office supplies consists of selling furniture and supplies for offices and schools. The hardest part of their job is helping customers that do not know what they are looking for and doing freight throughout the day while helping customers.
As an employee that works in the easy tech section, there is a lot to say about it. Easy tech has two main jobs: to fix and sell computers and other electronic devices. I am the main tech, so I spend most of my part-time hours fixing hardware and software related issues with computers. I also try to help customers find what printers, computers, tablets, or other electronics they ne
If you are a beginner, this is not the place to start working.
Working at Staples requires years of retail experience.
*Unloading trucks
*Operating Pallet Jacks
*Lift at least 40lbs or more
*Work in a fast-paced environment
*Properly stocking shelves
*Answer phones/radio equipment
*Work under pressure for reaching sales goals
*Cash customers out at a decent pace
The issue I have with Staples is that you get paid close to minimum wage, regardless of experience; unless you work in management. As a dedicated sales associate with Staples for 5 years, I only get paid $9.40 an hour and my manager said I cannot get a raise higher than that for the rest of my career unless I move to management.
This may vary among stores, but management is poor at my store, specifically by the Store Manager. The General Managers seem to be in more control than the store manager. My manager is not very friendly and tends to belittle every worker as if it's their first day on the job (no matter how long of experience). I also do not get feedback from the store manager on how we're doing, therefore every day I work, I feel I do not meet expectations from the store manager.
These days, a lot of retail associates are lazy and often call out. This was the case at my Staples, so be prepared to be short-staffed often. Management rarely attempts to call someone in for backup in case a particular person calls out.
This job is high maintenance, especially during Back to School Season
Points positifsAccommodating to secondary job schedules, days off
Points négatifsLow Pay, Quick-Paced, Short Breaks, Poor Management, Short-Staffed
Good Entry level, seasoned reps run don't walk....
I have been in outside sales for 14 years. I took the position with Staples Advantage because my other company was not growing but, losing year after year (bad management, and poor position in the advertising arena)
Staples Way, training is a complete joke. You sit in classroom with trainers that really teach you nothing about the company or product and teach the 1970"s Feel, Felt, Found. It was brutal. The worst part of the training you are made to share a hotel room with a complete stranger for the entire time you are there. Isn't this an HR, nightmare?
When you get back to your territory you have little to no support unless it's a mandatory team role play or a company training on product which I found beneficial.
When you travel again you will be made to share a hotel room, to save $70.00 for the company. I have never in my career been made to do this. If you make waves about it, you will be called in and raked over the coals, of why it is a big deal to you. So you spend entire 48 hours with a co-worker, that might snore, have bad hygiene.etc. A COMPLETE NIGHTMARE!!
Let's get to the commission: WORST PAYOUT I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED. You will get a subsidy for one year that is a sliding scale, after that you make nothing. So, for the first year you will make the most money. Your subsidy starts out at 1,000 for the first 3 months and goes down from there. The commissions are based on margin. You will find when you get out in the field it is all about cost in winning your acco
It is easy enough to get a job. Say you can do what you are told. Wait through three days of training videos. The worst interviewer for the company will actively try to intimidate you. The best response is to laugh at his ridiculousness. He made a few people cry. I'm not convinced it is ethical. He says things like "this is a hard job," and "I don't think you can handle it."
Life balance? HA! There is no balance. For such a low pay job an intense manager will try to bully and manipulate you into putting effort into tasks they have purposely over-inflated. Everything will take fifteen minutes. I can think of several days where the fifteen minute job took me all day if not two days. A project that would take eventually take a week would surprise the manager each time it wasn't done. All four managers could be surprised a project isn't done, twice a peace. I'm surprised it doesn't dawn on them that they are incompetent.
There is also a trick they do that I am sure isn't legal. In an eight hour shift a person should have three breaks. Two fifteen minutes and a lunch. There is a trick where the manager will hold off or forget about breaks until four or five hours into the shift. Then, they will tell people to go on the half hours and give them no other breaks. If you ask for a break, they'll ask "do you think you deserve it?"
There is a common practice with holding employees for an hour or two after work. I stayed after four days in a row to "finish" things five days in
Points positifsThey have been flexible with time off, Replaceable you could work anywhere--move to a new city
Points négatifsBreaks are considered optional, manipulation
This company does not treat its employees correct. They get walked on by customers to avoid complaints. Get yelled at for numbers when they are set to high to meet. Get overworked and told to do other peoples jobs. NOT PAID ENOUGH. Staples needs to pay their people for they actually do. Management visits the stores and does nothing when they know things are wrong. The only reason I am working here for so long is that I do not want to put more stress on my coworkers. My coworkers are the only enjoyable part of the job. We all work for the horrible company together and I do not want to leave them stranded. For the copy center department, you get no training hours to learn or teach new employees. You pretty much have to figure it out on your own. Meaning you have to get everything done before you leave if you know what you're doing because it can not be left for other people. But the thing is you can not go over hours for the week because they can not pay overtime. Copy center department is very stressful. Never enough staff to help the number of customers. You have to be able to multitask because you have to do everything without getting complaints, get all the customers print jobs done, help customers fax and scan, and take in print jobs. The company is also making the printing department call the customers a minimum of 4 hours out of the week to ask how their printing orders went. So that's 4 hours off the floor. They are making us be telemarketers, but no extra pay is added.
Points positifsNONE
Points négatifsEVERYTHING: yelled at all the time, no breaks, horrible pay, no guidance, bad management, understaffed!!!
Overall a fun place to work and challenging at times.
When I first started working at Staples my typical day at work would to clock in and then go straight to a cash register. I would greet customers as they walked into the door and answer questions if they had any. I would sometimes handle returns. When the cash register would need to be balanced I would call a manager to help me with it. What my job would be to do is count the money and sign a paper saying I counted it all correctly. Then at the end of my shift because I worked the afternoon until close, I would clean the bathrooms and all the counters. Also I would help with other departments if they needed it. When I got promoted to be a sales associate, I would greet the customers as they came in. I would answer any questions they may have and direct them into the right direction for their items. I then would go into the back room and grab a dolly with merchandise on it and unload it on the shelves. While I unload the boxes I would also make sure every shelf was neat. I also put away returns. As a sales associate I was able to sell furniture to customers.
I learned a lot of useful things while working at Staples. I learned selling techniques, how to provide customers with the perfect customer service and I also learned a lot about myself. I learned that I am a hard worker. I also learned about myself that I am a determined worker and I work hard to get all my tasks done. I learned how to multitask and how to count money. I learned how to work a cash register. The reason
Points positifsThe co-workers and customers I worked with.
Points négatifsWhen I went on break, I would have to come back early.
Questions et réponses au sujet de l'entreprise Staples Canada
Si vous deviez quitter Staples, quelle en serait la raison?
Posée le 24 mars 2017
Poor management. The lateral staff think they are better. Not a team environment. Lack of organization.
Réponse du 17 janv. 2023
Plain and simple, not paid enough.
Réponse du 20 nov. 2019
Vos supérieurs sont-ils facilement abordables chez Staples?
Posée le 24 mars 2017
-raised the salary.
-upgrade their internal system for people to track their order
Réponse du 15 mai 2022
Better wages and hours
Réponse du 4 mars 2020
Why would you want to work at Staples?
Posée le 19 mars 2017
I wouldn't recommend working with Staples the company isn't managed well and all they care about is sales. If you get into a position like me that isn't sales focused you will never move anywhere with this company.
Réponse du 14 sept. 2019
You don’t. Don’t make that mistake. You’ll regret it. Horrible place to work
Réponse du 25 juill. 2019
Comment les cadres communiquent-ils leurs commentaires chez Staples?
Posée le 9 mai 2019
Very good
Réponse du 30 mai 2023
Moyennement bien
Réponse du 1 avr. 2023
À quelle fréquence bénéficiiez-vous d'une augmentation de salaire chez Staples?
