- Absoloutely zero progression within the company. They have got rid of Senior Sales Consultants, leaving just Sales Consulatants, Assistant Managers and Store Managers. It is very unlikely you will progress from SC straight to ASM. Some stores have 'crystal experts' or 'stylists' but these are just the very big stores like Oxford Street - mine did not have these roles. Also, these roles are still just SC with a few extra training modules. There are 'keyholder' responsibilities for some SC but no change in job title, so this is meaningless to other businesses if you decide to leave Swarovski.
- Bonus scheme is a joke. Targets were unachievable and not adjusted to reflect changing customer habits, COVID-19 pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis. People have more important things to buy than jewellery right now, but the company has not acknowledged this. It is impossible for my store to hit the targets set by Swarovski and we rarely came close to the bonus threshold, which was so frustrating because we had worked a lot harder to secure each sale. Some months I was given less than £2 as a bonus which frankly felt like an insult.
- The company recently rebranded to become "attainable luxury" and with this came promises of real luxury pay, maternity pay and a jewellery allowance. None of this has materialised 2.5 years after the rebrand was announced in the start of 2020. Instead, they have given each store a small monthly budget to buy snacks for staff, but this does not make up for the lack of pay. For context, you will earn significantly more working at a budget supermarket, even though Swarovski compares themselves to the likes of Chanel and Tiffany and Co.
- No work/life balance. I never had a full weekend off throughout the entire time I worked at Swarovksi unless I had specifically booked holiday or I became sick. Once in a blue moon I would have a Saturday or a Sunday off but this was rare. Fine for me as a student away from home but would not be good for someone who has children or wants to be with family.
- Rotas would not be released until sometimes 2-3 days before the shift, they are supposed to be released 4 weeks in advance but this was never the case. Made it hard to plan anything outside of work as I never knew what days/times I would be working. Even when rotas were released they were very frequently changed last minute, sometimes without me being asked. I was expected to drop everything and be at work if the rota was changed.
- Hardly any notice given by senior management about the dates for promotions and sales, making prep for store VM moves very difficult. The company frequently made very last minute changes to scheduling of promotions which meant rotas had to be changed again with no regard for staff availability. These VM moves often meant I was working 10-12 hour shifts because there were not enough staff to swap over halfway through the day.
- Company is very disorganised despite being around for 125+ years. Decisions are made very last minute and are expected to be actioned immediately despite no warning.
- Swarovski is very stingy with breaks. Other retail comapnies give 1.5 hour breaks if your shift is 9+ hours long but Swarovski still only gives an hour which is inadequate when doing a 10+ hour shift. Breaks are also unpaid which I know is standard but this is not really luxury.
- I was at university completing a very demanding degree while working at Swarovski. I was expected to work way above my contracted hours (I was contracted 12 hours and typically worked at least 25 hours during term time and full time during holidays) due to short staffing. During my final year I had a 20 hour University week, 25 hours at Swarovski and coursework to complete. I had to take 2 weeks sick because I was so burnt out.
- Quality of jewellery is extremely poor. Constantly had to deal with customers with plating wearing off, clasps breaking, crystals falling out and snapped bracelets. Some customers had been given multiple replacements and the same issues kept happening. Does not keep up with the 'luxury' image that Swarovski is desperately trying to portray.
- District mangers are very aggressive and rude. They threaten to visit stores which are not performing to their ridiculous standards, then fail to show up on the day with absoloutely no notice. One district manager tried to throw away a member of staff's blazer because they did not like it. The same district manager has banned the use of words 'slow', 'difficult', 'quiet', etc. on the Teams chat because they do not want to hear any negativity about why targets are not being met.
- Uniform expectations and standards were changed 3 times while I worked there. I purchased many clothes that I now cannot wear to work and I wasted SO much money because a lot of these clothes are not a style I could wear daily. We were not compensated for money spent on uniform that we only wore for a few months.
- Some of the Swarovski customers are extremely rude. I have never experienced this level of rudeness from customers at any other retailer I've worked for. I've been shouted at and had racial comments made to me by customers. A lot of customers want you to bend over backwards to make things go their way, like exchanging jewellery that was bought over 10 years ago for brand new stock and keeping multiple items on hold indefinitely for 'loyal' customers when these could have been sold in the meantime.
There is so much more I could list in the cons section but it's already long enough. I am so glad to be done with this useless company.
