Good discount doesn't make up for being exploited and bullied - Department Manager Urban Outfitters Employee Review

Senior management whose regard for the health and wellbeing of their staff is less than minimal, who bully and intimidate staff at a store level. Sickness is met with disdain and guilt-tripping, consequently aggravating stress levels which compounds any original illness. Mental health issues are totally disregarded and handled appallingly, and confidentiality around any level of sickness is non-existent - you can expect everyone to know your business. Staff performance is treated as gossip, and weaponised in a way which fosters a toxic and paranoid environment in which nobody feels comfortable or secure in even the most basic of tasks. Holiday blackout periods over November, December and January, the entire school summer holiday period, and any sale period, means that maintaining any kind of work-life balance is frankly impossible. Outside of blackout periods, senior management treat holiday as an exercise in favouritism, meaning that junior members of management are often left unable to take their entitlement because of 'staffing levels'. Sales associates are regularly not given 4 weeks notice of their rotas and are forbidden from swapping shifts with one another, or from requesting days off. The HR department is inaccessible until the point of leaving the company, at which point only management is offered an exit interview over the phone, which seems wildly moot at that point. Satisfaction surveys are met with a stony silence from the company, even when grievances are made plain.