When I first started this job, I was quite excited to become a part of this company, as I had enjoyed being an occasional customer for years before. After over 3 years of service, it's beginning to wear a bit thin. You are expected to do the work of several employees at once with a smile on your face, and don't ever dare question how the workload is distributed. I have seen three managers come and go in this short time, and the turnover of staff is so high that I've lost count somewhere around 20+ in the time I have worked at this store. The company sure tries to shove this image of superiority and what a wonderful place to work Indigo is, so that the customers might not notice how much they are being over charged for mass produced, Chinese-made junk that shouldn't be stocked at any self-respecting Dollar store, never mind a "Canadian" retailer. The management makes all the difference to the atmosphere in the small format stores. If you have an involved manager that shares in the work load and manning the sales floor, it helps. Sadly, it seems, Indigo is fine with managers who warm their office chairs all day and have no idea what is really going on around them as long as the sales keep rolling in, it doesn't matter how many part-time students you have to burn out to get them. They tout their policy to accommodate injured or recuperating staff, but their idea of accommodation is to reduce your weekly hours to less than half of your original amount, for "your own safety". Sure. They say that you only need to lift 40 lbs., but be prepared to do much more than that. In a store where staff can be hired, trained and quit within three months semi-regularly, don't expect much in the way of team work. If you just want a part time job to fill in the gaps, you might be just as well off working at somewhere like Bluenotes or Ardene where it's understood that the employees aren't going to give a crap. Expecting store staff to "add joy to customers' lives" for minimum wage is a joke. If you make your increasingly unrealistic sales goals each quarter, the company sends a $25 gift card for each staff member, regardless of their actual level of workplace productivity. This seems great at the get-go, but after a while you realize it's just a write off for the company and actually doesn't really do much for you. You work like a dog come Christmas time, and flog their over-priced blankets, mugs and socks to unsuspecting customers, all the while finding it harder and harder to feel good about what you are doing to your fellow Canadians. Some might say buyer beware, but people have somehow been mislead to expect better from Indigo and considering how many people are disappointed with the company, it's surprising that they are doing as well as they are. Largely they are learning to pander to plugged in millennials who have unlimited credit card limits and nothing better to do than buy overpriced pencil cases and paper clips. They maintain that books are at the "heart of the company and always will be" but the amount of books carried in small stores seems to decrease each year in favor of the aforementioned Chinese-made crap. They view their customer base as "the very best", those who spend crap-tons of money each year, "the best", who spend crap-tons of money a couple times a year, and, my favorite part, "the rest" who might not be able to afford to buy their junk because they are working minimum wage jobs (like at Indigo! surprise!) without much expendable income. It's sad that the book business in Canada has been eaten up and excreted by the billionaire CEO with multiple homes that cost more than several of her employees will make in years of working for this company. Do yourself a favor and order from Amazon. At least they're honest about being a monster company that doesn't care for it's employees.

Posted on 10 October 2016 by Rater #20 | Flag as inappropriate

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