I was very concerned about the changes that were being made, and the changes that are coming.
Pros
The pay was good for the position compared to many retailers. The store manager in Louisville makes mid 50's to start with a good bonus potential, although the company is changing the way bonus's are earned this year. The schedule was good for retail as well, store manager works 7:30a - 5:00p M-F, with the exception of closing one night per week and every other Saturday from 8:00a to noon (half day). Unlimited sick days are a phenomenal benefit as well (only for the store manager).
Cons
Well, I just stated a few positives, and there are certainly positives to the position, so here goes the not-so-good. The schedule, although I just stated that it was good, does have its flaws. Anytime you are working "5 1/2 days" as some retailers like to claim, you are REALLY working 6 days. When you've got to get dressed and go into work and work a few hours, that's a days work. So, since you have to work every other Saturday, you are really working 6 days a week HALF OF THE YEAR. And then factor in the fact that you have to work 6 days a week from Thanksgiving week thru mid-January, and you can see the downside of the store manager schedule. Also, there is a great divide in the treatment of the store managers versus the rest of the management team. In each store, there is a store manager, then an EXA (executive assistant manager), an MGT (assistant manager), and an STL (newly devised key holder position that elminated one MGT position in every store). The divide I speak of is in how the rest of the management team is treated compared to the store manager. As a store manager, I was fortunate to be on the better end of the treatment. However, as a human being who cares about my fellow management members, it is frustrating to see them treated like peons. The key holder is only allowed (per corporate) to close one night a week, with the store manager "closing" one night a week, but on that night, the store manager only has to stay until 9:00 pm, and either the exa or mgt still stays and closes on that night, so the exa and mgt each close 3 nights a week. It is hard for a exa or mgt to develop into promotable managers when they are spending 3 out of 5 days they work being second shift baby sitters with no teaching from the store manager. Also, last year the company cut the mgt pay from mid-30's to very low-30's per year when they eliminated previously mandatory overtime. The mgt's when they were hired, myself included when I was hired as an mgt, were quoted a $35k per year salary, for a 44 hour work week. When the company eliminated this o.t., it also meant that the mgts (hourly) lost a very significant amount of pay that was QUOTED TO THE MGT when they were offered the job. Again, as a store mgr, it did NOT affect me, but I felt and still feel terrible for the mgts for this. Oh, and they were given NO WARNING WHAT-SO-EVER that this pay cut was coming so that they could adjust their weekly/monthly budgets. It was just "we have an announcement, effective immediately..." Just unfair treatment - at least the company could have said "effective next month" or something. Also, Walgreens eliminated a ton of corporate management last year as part of an initiative called 'Re-wiring for growth'. These were folks with a lot of years with the company, but not folks who were ready to retire. It just shows leaderships level of respect for those who have helped build the company. And, the company created a new 'Community Leader' position, in which already in place store managers were given additional stores to oversee and advise, each community store manager now oversees 3 to 5 stores - stores that still have a store manager - which leads you to ask the question, "why still have a store manager in a store that now has a community store manager too"? This has led to a lot of speculation that many store managers will be eliminated when these community store managers are fully trained. Or that district managers are going away. The company did eliminate over 30 districts last year. Another downside is that Walgreens announced that they will NOT be opening any new stores effective immediately, focusing instead on improving new stores. So between the eliminations at corporate, the eliminations of district offices, the elimination of mgts, and the rumored elimination of store managers, the prospects for advancement are very bleak! One other downside to this company is their out-of-control, power-tripping, under-qualified loss prevention agents. Many of them (not all) treat the employees like criminals first, and then find out the facts later. This is unnecessary and counter-productive and creates an environment where employees avoid going to loss prevention with legitimate issues.