"Toxic company. Negativity permeates the entire company from corporate to store level."
I have been working at Harbor Freight Tools full-time (More than a year)
Pros
Paid time off.
Decent health benefits
Hourly pay and a 40 hour work week for assistant managers
Reasonable hours for the average store manager 45 to 50 hours.
Cons
One of the highest levels of turnover I have ever experienced in retail. Typical store staff consists of 15 to 18 employees. The store has turned over 35 employees in a year.
IT is always a challenge
The company does not promote from within. So if you were not hired on as a position you want to stay in permanently and by permanently I mean 2 to 3 years which is the average tenure for most Harbor freight tools veteran do not be fooled by the talk of growth; Store managers and DM's are almost exclusively external hires.
Company struggles to implement programs that can be expertly executed at the store level especially given the extremely tight labor budget. Name collection and merchandise management standard operating procedures are essential examples where more than 70% of the stores across the company cannot comply with the expectations. There is an apparent disconnect between the corporate and store level. The response to the company-wide failure to execute unrealistic expectations is generally firing threats, fear, and intimidation.
I would have to echo the sentiments about HR written in several other reviews; the HR hotline is far from anonymous.
It is a Commonplace practice to hire store managers from external compani
We are always short staffed so the store manager can make his bonus on saved store hours. We have the people willing to pick up and work the hours. It is tough because my store is fairly busy with theives, phone constantly ringing, everyone bombarding you with questions, high expectations from the daily download checklist without the staff scheduled. Often there is just two people me and one other person included for the entire store to run everything. Long lines forming because you need head cashier credentials. Can't take my half hour lunch or leave the store. What about team lift safety? How when you have 1 person in the stockroom or 1 person outside to load it in a vehicle? Someone must be tending the register right? There's always a customer who needs your help and askes is there anyone on the sales floor to help and it hurts to say no most of the time.
Then you have direct managers who comes in a half hour early every day and rushes you off the clock a half hour earlier so you won't ever get paid the hours you are scheduled. Gets a bigger bonus and his full hours though. There's always something left to do still.
You have Atlas that makes no sense. You get all kind of weird time intervals to come in and leave. 1:15, 1:25, 1:30, 1:45, 2:00. It makes it impossible to just remember the schedule or to have consistecy. At least before Atlas, it made much more sense and you didn't have to adjust it every day to accommodate employees and their availability. You can see t
ProsCommission, employee discount, healthcare
ConsTime, management, work-life balance, parking lot sales
Upon arriving at work I usually tried to get my extra duties out of the way before getting on my register. On days when I was one of the opening cashiers there were always a lot of things to get done before opening the doors. The training lasted a couple of days and was very hands on, via the computer. There is also a tutorial of sorts accessible from your cash register if you need it. The management is very approachable and if you're having any difficulties they do all they can to help resolve them. They also offer access to a computer in the office in the event you want to refresh your training.
I wasn't employed there long enough to get anything other than my initial probationary review, and that went alright.
The other people I worked with on the floor were fun yet professional and took a great deal of pride in the store and what the customers thought of it.
There are several times a year that they have parking lot sales. We all worked hard setting things up and keeping an eye on things during the sale. The one's that happened while I was there were very successful and everyone worked together really well.
I was terminated, but it happened because of a misunderstanding. We had just gotten a new store manager and he didn't know any of us yet so when everything went down the way it did, he did what was company policy and I was let go. The company policy allows for 3 shortages or overages on your drawer in a 6 month period. You receive write-ups for each
ProsLearning about the different tools they carry.
If you work the sales position you are actually working multiple jobs while getting paid for one. While standing at the register with your back to the door you are required to turn and greet customers coming in no matter if your register is farthest from the door, all must join in this ritual that I, as a frequent customer, find insincere and quite patronizing to start with, then even if you are in the middle of a transaction when the phone rings (and it will ring and ring!) you must answer within 2 rings and read from a script about the upcoming sales event before asking the person on phone what they need, if the customer on phone has a product inquiry you must also handle looking that up (mind that you’re still ringing another customer up), at some point in your transaction you are required to try to sale subscriptions to a coupon magazine (that could be found for free online) as well as sale a warranty for each and every single electronic or mechanical device in the customers order (this is a MUST even if the customer refused the previous 20 solicitations in their cart - if a supervisor sees you skip it you will be talked to). All of this must be done while the ear piece you are required to wear is filled with interdepartmental chatter which is often really distracting.
You must also process returns while ringing folks up including warranty returns which takes quite a bit of time so this is not a job for those who cant handle the stress because you will be staring dow
ProsHard work at 4am unloading heavy tool laden pallets makes you sweat and feel alive
ConsThe pay, the labor/hours allotted for additional help, no benefits, HR’s fanatical unbending adherence to attendance, no reciprocity for time given vs. time taken
FT employees work 35-40 hours, OT is almost never allowed. PT employees work 15-25 hours, sometimes more if people call in. (which is all the time). Company is designed on point system for disciplinary action. So the more you miss work, come in late, written warnings, etc., count for points against you. When you reach a certain amount, it is refereed to HR, who has the option to terminate. Problem is most store managers do not follow the system and when its not being followed, it's nearly impossible to get terminated. This is not fair for the employees who do follow the guidelines and it does cause tension between employees. There is no set schedule, so work/life balance is hard to maintain. Most schedules do come out a week prior, so you do have some time to plan accordingly. I've been told that the company is working on a computer based tracking system for points and scheduling, but have yet to be told if/when it will be released. I personally have worked for a company that used computer based scheduling, and trust me it DOES NOT WORK very well! So I do not see the work/life balance improving anytime soon. The store is typically divided into two sections, the sales team and warehouse team. The sales side of the job is easy. If you're customer oriented, you will not have any issues. It's a typical retail job, aside from the occasional rude customers, most customers are thankful for helping them out. On the warehouse side, the hardest part is truck day. Which the warehouse te
ProsManagement pay is competitive, Affordable health insurance, flexible schedule
ConsNot career oriented, company point system is outdated, work/life balance
I was hired to work at the new location in Puyallup and in the beginning it was great. We were trained in Tacoma and we got plenty of hours (despite some of them being until 3am).and learned a lot of new things.
Then once the Puyallup store opened our hours in logistics went down from 35 a week to 16 and a couple of times just 8 hours a week. Most people working there were young and still living with parents so that might not have been a problem but others had families and 8 hours a week can't pay the bills.
Those who worked there the longest and hardest were overlooked for a full time promotion in favor for those who were willing to drop everything whenever management wanted them in.
Myself and others were promised on the day that we were hired that they were going to promote two people in logistics to full time and another was going to be a supervisor. By the time I left almost five months later they had only promoted one person to full time. Those who applied for the position (yes, you had to apply online rather than managment look at who was the most qualified) were never even spoken to or acknowledged.
Sometimes you would have 5 straight days off but were afraid to make plans as the managers would regularly phone you up if you could come in without taking family life in consideration.
Despite the fact I got along with management quite well, they never had an answer for the simplest things. If you were scheduled in until midnight there were plenty of occasions wher
They can't be serious. Lack of leadership - lack of concern about associates - it's all about the money.
The hardest part about working for HFT is the complete money-centered attitude that filters down from corporate. Sales are down? Cut the store hours. Don't consider that sales are down because the company doesn't want to pay for insurance benefits for employees so they ruthlessly cut hours to the retail stores, leaving them short-staffed with far too many employees using this as an extra job because they couldn't afford to live on what they take home of their pay if this was their only position.
Of course during the interview process nobody informs you that for the first 90 days they'll work you to death but once you become accustomed to almost being able to pay your bills they'll slash your hours ruthlessly in order to keep you off the "Full Time" list so they don't have to offer you any insurance benefits.
. It is expected that fewer and fewer employees should put out a semi-load of freight each week to a sales floor and warehouse, smile while they sweat, assist customers with questions and concerns, convincingly sell memberships in a "club" that really doesn't benefit the customer all that much over the thousands of other available discount coupons they can get in newspapers, magazines, and even on their free mailing list and web site... all while knowing that they are totally disposable and not valued at all by the company.
Sales continue to go down? Cut hours more. Expect more - but always give the employee less and less as time goes on. They're only peons.
This comp
Prosthey're constantly hiring.
Consinability to live on $8 for less than 20 hours a week for most employees, total lack of concern for employees by all levels of management, forced sales of "insurance" on products and "club memberships" often leads to dismissal.
3.0
Customer Service Representative | San Antonio, TX | Dec 1, 2014
it was an ok job, if you can get past the customers then it's fine
I would get into work around 5, as soon as i clock in i would ask my manager if there is anything specific he would want me to do, if not then i would go and start to organize the floor, since i was one person this would take up allot of my time since i had to do the whole floor, during this time if the one cashier they had needed help, i would go up and shorten the lines by getting on my cash register, after i would go and continue to organize the floor until they needed me again all while helping out customers and answering the phone, after this i would mop all 4 restrooms and the break room, and empty the trash cans, after this it would be around the time to clock out and go home which would be on good days 10 but on most days 11. specific duties i would do is restock, re tag, or move things in the back inventory. I learned how to multitask and how to be efficient while working, since i usually closed it was best for me to do my job as quick as possible while doing it right so i wouldn't have to go back and do it again. the management and co-workers were the best part about the job for the most part, some co-workers weren't helpful at all but for the most part it was the management were helpful and considerate whenever you made a simple mistake, but only to those who make up for it in their work ethic, the co-workers were nice and most of them knew what to do since they worked there for a while. the hardest part about the job was the customers, you would help them out to t
Was great until new management and change of how the schedule is made
I enjoyed working at Harbor Freight when I first started. It was a great job until they changed the way scheduling was done and management changed at my location. Sales goals are typically unrealistic due to the fact that they base the day’s goal on the prior year’s performance. This wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, but it is when we start losing business to other locations, which means less hours for employees. I’ve had consistent issues when trying to request time off, especially recently. I ended up requesting four days off to visit my boyfriend in Texas, the fourth day was approved, but somehow I still ended up getting scheduled on the fourth day. I went to the interim store manager about it, he had said I scheduled it off incorrectly, which I may have, however, I had taken a screenshot as proof that I was approved for that day off. I showed it to him and he said I should find someone else to take my shift if I wanted it off. Also, if you expected to leave and give two weeks notice, you might have to work a few extra days because they want to schedule you 2 or 3 weeks in advance and expect you to work your scheduled shift even after your two weeks is up or else you will not be in good standing with the company, at least that’s how my current store manager is. Pay is nice if you manage to get decent hours and you’re in sales, because then you can make commission. You have to follow a script to be a cashier and if you don’t follow it, you could get written up for it if
ProsPaid Time Off, 30 minute unpaid lunch if you work over 6 hours, Flexible scheduling, Decent pay, Commission for sales associates (logistics too, but they have to work harder at it)
ConsUpper management can be corrupt, Have to put in time off 3 to 4 weeks in advance, Low hours, Unrealistic sales goals, Difficult to put in 2 weeks notice
Don't Bother if you are Expecting to Earn a Living
Maybe other stores are managed better, but the one I'm at is not well managed. First of all, the Manager only likes to hire people that she has worked with in the past at other retail stores. They expect you to be available 24/7 but only schedule you for 4 hour shifts at a time averaging 12 -16 hours per week. Sometimes if you are lucky, you get 5 hours and then they make you take a 30 minute unpaid lunch break. Once in a great while they will schedule you for 6 hours or something wonky like 4 1/4. If you want time off, good luck! For example I usually work 3 evenings per week, at the 4 - 6 hour shifts, but if I want to take a week off I need to put in for 40 hours or vacation time. The only nice thing about that is you finally get a decent sized check. Not really fair that you have to ask for 24 hours of vacation time because they "might" have scheduled you for 4 hours on those days. They constantly deny days off because of sales. They claim they are "blackout" days, but they don't post them in advance, so don't bother making plans until your days are approved. You can cover shifts and come in early when asked, but they don't care, it means nothing to them that you are reliable, they want to control your life. Only the managers get full time hours, conveniently the good ones. They like to constantly remind you of "California Labor Laws" when in works in their favor. Like the forcing of the unpaid lunch when you are only there for 5 hours. But, when it comes to
Questions And Answers about Harbor Freight Tools USA, Inc.
If you were in charge, what would you do to make Harbor Freight Tools a better place to work?
Asked May 9, 2017
Spend more time understanding what happens at the bottom of your totem pole.
See what really goes on (politically speaking) to your honest, loyal, and hardworking employees.
Be more involved with those who are truly at the heart of your business.....
I feel like this might come back to bite me hard!
Answered Apr 15, 2021
I would be helpful with tool knowledge easy getting along with people and would give my all to help every customers needs
Answered Mar 17, 2021
How are the working hours at Harbor Freight Tools?
Asked Jul 13, 2016
If you're part time, they say you'll work up to 34 hours/week. Don't believe it. Some weeks you'll work half that, but if the store is severely understaffed, management will dump extra hours on you to fulfill payroll. There have been part-time workers who worked 54-55 hours/week, before they decided enough was enough and quit.
Answered Aug 3, 2019
Part-time associates can expect a minimum of 12 hours per week and full-time associates can expect a minimum of 36 hours per week. Hours can vary each day based on the store’s location and state laws. We are happy to answer more of your questions during your interview to help you understand the expectations of the position!
Answered Jul 2, 2019
What questions did they ask during your interview at Harbor Freight Tools?
Asked Jun 29, 2016
Tell me about yourself?
Why should I hire you over the other applicants?
Answered Aug 2, 2020
Typical interview with questions about background experience
Answered Jun 26, 2020
What is the interview process like at Harbor Freight Tools?
Asked Jun 13, 2016
Quick I went through a temp agency and after so many hours you will rollover to harbor freight distribution.The temp agency will hire about anyone
Answered Oct 18, 2020
The lenoir store hires women only. My hisband was sent a denial email 15 after leaving the interview at 530pm on a friday. She stressed the the store was only women
Answered Oct 19, 2019
What is the most stressful part about working at Harbor Freight Tools?
