Urban Outfitters reviews

3.6

61% would recommend to a friend

(6,261 total reviews)

Sheila Harrington

54% approve of CEO

47% positive business outlook

Urban Outfitters has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 6,261 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Urban Outfitters employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail and wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

6K reviews
1.0
May 24, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

40% and 25% discount, which is sometimes extended to family and significant others.

Cons

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.

1.0
Oct 8, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I enjoyed the team environment - other sales associates were all brilliant to work with and it was a very enjoyable and sociable atmosphere for anybody wanting to work in retail on a shop floor. Rota designed so that employees had a varied day and were not stuck in the same position for too long.

Cons

Management were the worst I have ever come across. They were often breathing down our necks, talked down to us, and if you were not a favourite, day-to-day working life there could be made very hard for you. There was a strong culture of nepotism - if you were a close mate of a manager you could get away with anything, such as being late, even missing a day of work without good reason...On the other hand if you weren't seen like that in their eyes, you were vilified for clocking in 2 minutes after your start time. Ridiculous. I got on very well with other members of the team on my level but was routinely purposely ignored and dismissed by managers. Even wrote a letter of complaint to Head Office after I left the company (which was unanswered) as managers actually broke the terms of my contract. Their behaviour was so immoral I was compelled to give this rating. We were all on zero hours contracts.The hours were long and we were never given rewards or praise. This is a disgraceful company which does not value its employees at all.

2.0
Dec 1, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

International buying experience, flexible and fun.

Cons

Poor management, unprofessional, HR unsupportive, teams can be rude and catty (playground behavior) and this is not challenged by HR. People are openly bullied, put down and forced to work long hours because Managers never turn up to work on time. .

Viewing 1 - 3 of 6,261 Reviews

Glassdoor has 6,566 Urban Outfitters reviews submitted anonymously by Urban Outfitters employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Urban Outfitters is right for you.