H&M reviews

The tension when some members of area team arrive in store can be intense. They are not there day in, day out and don't see how hard things are in current climate with lack of staff hours/ extremely high work load/ more demanding customers. Their feedback can be rude and intimidating and no answer as to why things aren't done 100% is good enough. Shops working with minimum staff still being told to cut hours, forcing people to take holidays but also leaving way too much for the other staff to carry. Definitely an air of favoritism when it comes to higher positions, more about who you know not what you know. Wages are far too low for the work load of Visuals, they pretty much run the shop on less money then the other managers when the other managers can get away with doing very little in some stores. No paid over time and no bonus, or even a thank you most days. Work life balance is not really a thing, long days, long travel and over time all add up to feeling burnt out and demotivated. You can be moved store with no real choice in the matter, saying no is not made feel like an option.

Terrible management and culture. No transparency and very political. When offered a new position threats are often made if you, as an example, want to negotiate you salary. I left the company because of the threats that I experienced at two different departments. Salary is not competitive at all and threats are used to scare employees not to negotiate. If you want to apply for a new job within the company one has to tell ones manager. If you are unlucky your manager might turn against you and lie about you internally. This has happened to two of my old colleagues, both had to leave the company because of this. Managers bullying employees is common and HR are not to trust. Prestige is what drives the management, not the passion for developing people and the company. H&M has a great reputation because of the huge amount of marketing they spend in promoting themselves as employers and many employees are very young and have only worked at H&M so they don't have anything to compare the company with. If you are fine with smiling and saying yes to everything this is the company for you.