The North Face
The North Face Employee Reviews
Found 19 reviews matching the search See all 386 reviews
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Overall view it was good the vibe was excellent however the pay was bad and their management was not effective.
Sales Associate (Former Employee) – London West, Greater London – 1 February 2019
Overall view it was good the vibe was excellent however their management was not effective. The contract copy was not given to me and the resignation process was poor.
Pros
Two lunch breaks
Cons
Journey was far
UK Retail stores
Sales Assistant (Former Employee) – UK stores – 13 November 2018
District Manager never supported stores in his district. To occupied with his own importance and career path. Store and Assistant Manager turnover over 70% in 12 months in the UK. Awful company to work for high turnover of staff. Lack of training supplied to stores from head office. Compared to training in actual Outdoor stores. This is not an Outdoor brand anymore which is reflected in the fact it is sold in Sport-shops now. Low calibre staff in stores who struggle to understand customers needs. Also staff with poor English language skills causing frustrations with customers.
Friendly staff and sufficient training
Sales Assistant (Current Employee) – Lakeside Shopping Centre, Essex – 8 October 2018
The company ensure that all staff are adequately trained and fully understand the features of the items in which they are selling. However, pay per hour is the minimum wage. Great staff benefits.
Fun place to work in younger years
Retail Assistant (Current Employee) – York, North Yorkshire – 1 October 2018
I have thoroughly enjoyed working at north face the day is good and the bonus scheme is fantastic, most of all my management team were fantastic and really supportive when it cam to my other commitments
Worst manager ever
Assistant Manager (Former Employee) – Bristol, Bristol – 14 March 2018
Great company but I was unlucky.I had a frustrated manager who treats the staff as slaves changing their schedule every day without announcing,because he couldn’t manage to do it properly.In times of high trade it was shaky and was not a support for the team. Never assume mistakes , blaming others,and he was not open to new opinions believing that he was doing everything perfectly.I didn’t had support from manager and supervisor, both was really fake people .Really a bad experience
No Pros only Cons
No Pros only Cons
Great Retail Job
Sales Assistant (Former Employee) – Portsmouth, Hampshire – 31 March 2018
Always occupied due to the popularity of the North Face as a retail store however the management is very relaxed and lenient as long you're doing your job correctly and meeting the sales targets.
Pros
Hours, Pay and Other Benefits
Cons
Management
Great Place
Sales Assistant (Former Employee) – Carnaby Street, – 1 February 2018
Great experience, great benefits. Lovely staff and the coolest manager ever. I would've stayed at this job but its a shame that the pay wasn't so great. If you like to keep busy in an energetic, fun environment this is the job for you.
Pros
Staff, Location, Benefits and Discounts
Cons
Pay
Amazing Places to work.
Sales Consultant (Former Employee) – London, Greater London – 3 March 2018
good place to work, good friendly stuff lots of support and fun place. learn new things everyday. It's a good place to up-skill you training and fun..
Pros
free clothing after 6 months
Cons
none
Good company to work for
Sales Assistant (Former Employee) – Ellesmere Port, Cheshire – 25 January 2018
Enjoyable company to work for. Learning about the different products and the technologies in the fabrics is really interesting, each day is varied and can provide a challenge.
Pros
Uniform allowance
Productive and fun environment
Sales Assistant (Former Employee) – Manchester, Greater Manchester – 14 September 2017
The job is a healthy challenge for aspiring people wishing for challenge. The rate of pay could be improved for the lengthy hours that are asked from the workers and advancement is very difficult to achieve. The company however have great work ethic.
Pros
50% discounts.
Cons
Long hours, slightly poor pay for such a large scale company.
What you put in is what you get!
Secondment Store Manager (Former Employee) – Cardiff – 4 September 2017
My example of being able to start from the very bottom to rise to the top is a clear example of the opportunities available - everyday day can vary but with so much to learn, you get to work with a small and caring team that can help you grow.
Pros
Private Health Care
Cons
Working weekends
Fun Place to work
Sales Assistant (Current Employee) – Leicester, ENG – 28 October 2014
Days are either extremely busy or very slow, extremely unsociable working hours. This job has improved by communication skills and allowed me to learn another aspect of business. Over the time I have been there I have been given some management opportunities this included completing the weekly rota and the daily planner.
Pros
Centre Discounts
Cons
unsociable hours
The North Face, in my view is a good place for a first-time job seeker.
Retail Associate (Former Employee) – London, ENG – 28 January 2015
While at The North Face for 6 months I was trained with the technologies on the inside of every jacket/pair of pants, however they did not train us early enough when new stock came in.
As a person trying to get into a completely different industry it was difficult, even on my days off to apply for work within the Film Industry.
Each shift was 9 hours long, even the "early" shifts had odd hours as we would typically finish late at night and were unable to do much else after work.
However the main redeeming quality were the people, the staff that I worked with were all lovely people that enjoyed a laugh.
All in all anyone that is looking for an entry-level sales role should look into working for the North Face as it will teach you many things in a sales environment.
As a person trying to get into a completely different industry it was difficult, even on my days off to apply for work within the Film Industry.
Each shift was 9 hours long, even the "early" shifts had odd hours as we would typically finish late at night and were unable to do much else after work.
However the main redeeming quality were the people, the staff that I worked with were all lovely people that enjoyed a laugh.
All in all anyone that is looking for an entry-level sales role should look into working for the North Face as it will teach you many things in a sales environment.
Pros
The other staff
Cons
Long hours resulting in not much freedom at night
small fun team
Sales Assistant (Current Employee) – Glasgow, SCT – 2 July 2013
I really enjoyed working with the north face, On a day to day bases I would help set up the shop cleaning and dressing windows. I would approach customers and ask questions on what they where looking for and match the products to what they wanted.
Pros
discounts
Cons
not enough hours
Productive and fun workplace
Sales Assistant (Former Employee) – Regent street – 9 December 2016
I worked there like sale assistant and cashier, sometimes i even worked in the stockroom doing delivery.
I learned a lot about the product and how to serve a costumer improving my costumer service.
I learned a lot about the product and how to serve a costumer improving my costumer service.
Productive, Good Team
Retail Assistant (Former Employee) – Bath – 17 February 2015
A typical day at work would depend upon what time of year. At peak times, it is fast pace and dynamic normally handling 6-9 customers an hour, out of peak it is closer to 3 in a day or less.
I learned about teamworking and relying upon other team members for aid early on due to specialisations. How to help other colleagues and new members.
Management is too inflexible , it does not allow for creative approaches to selling, instead opting for a broad one-size fits all which does not reflect accurately the local area in which the branch is sited.
Store management does not implement training on a regular basis ( up to 2 months for basic till training) and other essential skill developing techniques into its strategies. However interpretation by local management is very variable.
Co-workers make working a pleasure. The cumulative knowledge and skills of the team can help when asked about countries climate or topography. Reliance on team knowledge can be a great improver for new staff and enhances selling skills.
Hardest part of the job is dealing with the total reliance you have upon distant management decisions and the occasional 'difficult' customer. Trying to make up the same amount of money as a prime location store in london when receiving a fifth of the customers is unrealistic but expected on a routine basis. Difficult customers are rare in most cases but being able to be the 'bigger person' in the situation is definately necessary.
Most enjoyable part of the job are the customers and being able to deal with their concerns and enhance their enjoyment more... of the products. less
I learned about teamworking and relying upon other team members for aid early on due to specialisations. How to help other colleagues and new members.
Management is too inflexible , it does not allow for creative approaches to selling, instead opting for a broad one-size fits all which does not reflect accurately the local area in which the branch is sited.
Store management does not implement training on a regular basis ( up to 2 months for basic till training) and other essential skill developing techniques into its strategies. However interpretation by local management is very variable.
Co-workers make working a pleasure. The cumulative knowledge and skills of the team can help when asked about countries climate or topography. Reliance on team knowledge can be a great improver for new staff and enhances selling skills.
Hardest part of the job is dealing with the total reliance you have upon distant management decisions and the occasional 'difficult' customer. Trying to make up the same amount of money as a prime location store in london when receiving a fifth of the customers is unrealistic but expected on a routine basis. Difficult customers are rare in most cases but being able to be the 'bigger person' in the situation is definately necessary.
Most enjoyable part of the job are the customers and being able to deal with their concerns and enhance their enjoyment more... of the products. less
Pros
Great work colleagues, generous discounts on VF products, great for customer service experience.
Cons
Poor management structure, fixed contract, low loyalty to employees
Long winded
Sales advisor (Former Employee) – London, UK – 13 June 2017
On a typical day, you'd find yourself arriving to work an hour early to help clean the store. Once the store opens, you will cycle through positions on two floors, allowing you to learn and sell from different parts of the store. As well as this, you'll find you'll also work as the security at the main entrance, which is cycled through (with no real time-scale management) most staff members.
Management would push to drive sales, in which each individual will have a randomly generated target to hit. Methods to do this were extremely limiting and strict. Staff members would stand in a single spot until a customer would approach their "Area", where the staff member would approach and attempt to work themselves into a sale. This method made customers feel uncomfortable and was physically uncomfortable for staff members. At quiet times of the day, where you could go hours without a single customer, to stand in a single spot without moving was extremely degrading and uncomfortable.
With Management rarely on the shop floor, rather in the main office watching the CCTV camera's to make sure each staff member is doing exactly as they were told (i.e standing in a single spot) via an in-store radio, which each staff member wore throughout the day.
However, despite management and in-store protocol being so strict, the atmosphere when staff members were on break was great. Each staff member came from all around the world, so the varied cultures grew for some self-developing conversations. On average, everyone was very kind and would do what they could to make the day go as pleasantly more... as they could. Offering to spend lunch with staff members, going out of the store for walks on breaks were among a few activities one would do to show their appreciation of the friendships built within the store, alongside after-hour meet ups and staff-nights out.
Hardest part of the job: Standing in one position, without moving, for hours on end.
Most enjoyable part of the job: Gathering information and learning about a world-wide brand and helping customers develop their knowledge on the products. Alongside this, the friendships made within the store are still strong to this day, even after leaving the store and many staff members doing the same - Some of which leaving the country to go to their home country or to travel. less
Management would push to drive sales, in which each individual will have a randomly generated target to hit. Methods to do this were extremely limiting and strict. Staff members would stand in a single spot until a customer would approach their "Area", where the staff member would approach and attempt to work themselves into a sale. This method made customers feel uncomfortable and was physically uncomfortable for staff members. At quiet times of the day, where you could go hours without a single customer, to stand in a single spot without moving was extremely degrading and uncomfortable.
With Management rarely on the shop floor, rather in the main office watching the CCTV camera's to make sure each staff member is doing exactly as they were told (i.e standing in a single spot) via an in-store radio, which each staff member wore throughout the day.
However, despite management and in-store protocol being so strict, the atmosphere when staff members were on break was great. Each staff member came from all around the world, so the varied cultures grew for some self-developing conversations. On average, everyone was very kind and would do what they could to make the day go as pleasantly more... as they could. Offering to spend lunch with staff members, going out of the store for walks on breaks were among a few activities one would do to show their appreciation of the friendships built within the store, alongside after-hour meet ups and staff-nights out.
Hardest part of the job: Standing in one position, without moving, for hours on end.
Most enjoyable part of the job: Gathering information and learning about a world-wide brand and helping customers develop their knowledge on the products. Alongside this, the friendships made within the store are still strong to this day, even after leaving the store and many staff members doing the same - Some of which leaving the country to go to their home country or to travel. less
Pros
Staff Uniform was all supplied, free, and was a choice of the staff member.
Cons
Low pay, long hours, an excess of standing around.