A Once Grand Old Lady, Now Tarnished and Rotting From Within - Anonymous employee The Container Store Employee Review

I loved, loved, loved this company, and would speak to anyone who would listen about The Container Store, who they were, what they stood for and what a great company customers were supporting. Then a few years ago came the mass exoduses by long term employees getting laid off, others quitting, and going through managers in a revolving door manner. I kept thinking that things would get better, and to hang in there that this was a rough patch; the company was just trying to make the books look good for going public, etc. Boy, was I a fool; and an even bigger fool to keep drinking the kool-aid and hang in there hoping things would get better. All the while Kip speaking in the press about how things USED to be with the company and not how they currently were. He lied, not only to employees but to the general public. The Fortune surveys are only being given to employees who will give the company a positive review; they used to be handed out to everyone to fill out, but now only a select few get them, and those are the one's who they believe will give the company a good review. Yeah, the last one I got while working there, I couldn't fill out. I had a strong feeling the results were being tracked, especially with a number on them. I'm not going to lie, but I didn't fill it out out of fear of repercussions. This story needs to be told, because the propaganda is bogus that comes out about this company. The Container Store is now the food stamp company for their part time employees like Walmart was labeled. The hours are so severely cut, that a part time worker can't even afford to sleep on the floor of someone's house, wages frozen, and the "We Love Our Employees Day" is an absolute joke and needs to go away. They fed their corporate people this past We Love Our Employees Day, but the stores all gave their employees a book they put together of notes that were taken at a meeting of companies about how employees can do better and be more motivated to perform better for the company. How in any way is that appreciated? The Container Store employees have for years now been making due with less and performing as much or more with less. Even new full time employees are hired at lesser wages. It's sad when Part time employees are training new managers within stores to help them get up to speed. The whole group at the top ought to be ashamed of themselves. I am not a disgruntled former employee but a sad one. I thought I would be with this company for many years. I even brought ideas to management about how to improve the company without spending lots of money but was met with great ideas, but even the managers say we were told from the top to just "do what you're told to do". One has to wonder if now that the big wigs are getting their money back that they don't care. Another reviewer here is correct. The CEO has stepped down, the money isn't being reinvested into the company, and many many employees took a bath on the stock they purchased with the company, while the guys upstairs made sure they got theirs. Frozen wages, with pitiful (at best) hours. Sadly it's a downhill slide, they don't have enough people to help customers in the store anymore which is what the customers who came in the store for years came to expect; they get frustrated and leave. The stores a lot of time are a mess, with stock not pulled down and the shelves a mess, but there aren't visual people on the floor anymore. If merchandise can't be sold either via help or not stocked properly then sales are going to remain down. The old adage that one has to spend money to make money has been lost on upper management. No communication anymore, minimum training, horrible morale, "In The Know" has become "I Don't Know and I don't care." It's just sad, very sad. I could go on and on, but you are wondering about what type of a place it is to work. I guess as a new employee The Container Store is no longer different than any other big box retailer. Low hours, mediocre wages, cut hours and shifts. The difference now between The Container Store and other retail stores is that with The Container Store there are going to be no cost of living or performance increases until further notice, or at all. Not much involvement or caring from the higher ups, the "just slap the stuff on the shelves and get it sold attitude" has become the norm. Just don't believe the hype about The Container Store believing in paying a living wage. I had to leave The Container Store and go to a generic big box retailer in order to make more than I was at The Container Store. The generic retailer sells a lot of the same stuff The Container Store did too but for less money. Profits are never going to get better with this kind of thinking and execution; but again the upper end doesn't want to hear any peon's suggestions.