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• As much as I love lush and their products, they are a terrible employer. The workplace atmosphere and how the store is run is completely corrupt. There is no district manager or assistant manager, so you have only your boss to report too, also meaning one person is left in charge of all the hiring and firing, what if you're boss is the one gossiping or being rude, who do you talk too then?? That's exactly what happened to me so this should probably be addressed. I was fired/walked out based on the opinion of what one or two people had said about me in a staff of 25+ people. Regardless of the fact that I had made really good connections with other staff, and my boss and I had a great relationship she took another employees word over mine and didn't care to hear what I had to say, her mind was made up by what that one or two people had said.   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 25 October 2014 by Rater #14 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

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• I was a Christmas hire at the Eaton Center location (their busiest North American store, also one of the smallest), and ended up staying on for a little over a year and a half, until my work visa expired. I stand by my opinions for that store specifically, but I met enough of the Queen St staff to be pretty confident that working there is a similarly positive experience.
  
  
  Retail work is by nature stressful (sometimes), but my time at LUSH was largely enjoyable despite that. I felt that feedback on my performance was generally well handled so that I felt valued even while receiving criticism, the coaching was helpful, and the compensation decent for a part time retail gig (and the occasional box of free products was really welcome!). The core staff were all great people, as were the other Christmas hires that stayed on. Scheduling generally respected people's preferences, though all bets are off in the buildup to Christmas. The only times I'd go to work dreading a shift were the days I didn't sleep well, which isn't the company's fault, I generally perked up once I got there. I usually left work feeling a little exhausted but positive in mood.
  
  
  The training was very thorough and focused on customer service and product knowledge as much as sales, which you really appreciate when you have an irate customer interrogating you as to why a product has a preservative in it that the internet has told her is carcinogenic.
  
  
  There are occasional moments when you can tell the company has more hippies and art majors than engineers and business majors (hey, let's make this display piece out of wood, and put dry ice in it. Wood doesn't warp, right?!), but overall I loved it there (despite going into the job as a very non-hippie, meat-eating, non-tree hugging, shirt-tucked-in type), and they seem to be doing pretty well as a business in spite of the occasional glitch.
  
  
  The products themselves are (mostly) great, generally work as well as claimed, and are reasonably priced once you account for where, how and from what they are made. Knowing this meant I didn't feel too bad trying to sell as much as possible; I don't think I'd have been able to bring quite as much genuine enthusiasm to the sales side of things if the products were crud. Some products (fresh face masks, certain massage bars) are all natural, but NOT all products are. One thing that did bug me was the occasional over-enthusiastic colleague accidentally implying otherwise, though this was pretty rare, and it was definitely not policy to intentionally mis-represent anything (the ingredients are listed lots of places pretty clearly, and tell you what is and isn't synthetic).
  
  
  I'm sure there are bad stores and managers out there,it's to big a company for that not to be the case, but overall LUSH seems like a company that cares about it's staff, and about what they stand for. They aren't everyone's cup of tea, and I'm sure there are some perfectly reasonable human beings out there that can't stand the place, or who just aren't interested in what LUSH stands for; but if you aren't the kind of person that gets all cynical reading their "What we believe" statement, and can summon at least some genuine enthusiasm about mostly natural, vegetarian/vegan, handmade cosmetics, then it's a great place to work.
  
  
  I think the biggest compliment I can pay them is to say that a year on from my last LUSH paycheck, I'm still happily recommending their products to people, using them myself, and seeing facebook posts from former co-workers to the effect of "I love my employer". I can only think of a couple of other chains of retail stores where the staff seem that happy.   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 20 August 2014 by Rater #13 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

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• Great company, terrible workplace.
  
  I honestly love this company, the products are lovely to use and work well. They use good quality, fair trade ingredients and raise a lot of money for grassroots charities. I was really excited to work for this company, alas it was not an enjoyable work environment.
  
  The level of micromanaging is ridiculous. I also disagreed with the sales technique. I think the products are so good, they can speak for themselves, I do not think it is necessary to push things on people and focus more on the numbers and sales targets than the needs and desires of the customers.
  
  I also felt like a number at the store I worked at, they didn't seem to care very much for their staff. The micromanaging was an extremely convoluted process, and it seemed to be in place because the managers and key holders were under the impression that everyone working for them were stupid. It made most shifts uncomfortable, most of us hated being patronized but felt unable to bring it up with management.
  
  Another point that made me pause and think was the fact we were all paid minimum wage. I realize this is common for retail jobs, but for a company that purports to care deeply for its people, it would be nice to see them pay their people even slightly above minimum wage, instead of paying them the absolute minimum amount they can legally get away with.
  
  I realize each store is under different management, so perhaps I just lucked out and wound up at a poorly run store, but my experience coupled with the reviews I have read makes me sense a recurring theme, and I don't think I will apply at another Lush. I am much better off now that I have gone back to being a happy customer instead of an unhappy employee.   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 15 December 2013 by Rater #11 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

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• I was at Lush for three years as a senior key holder, and my experiences with the company were mostly positive. I started off at minimum wage, and left the company making 13.00 an hour. Aside from that, there were also great monetary incentives for meeting sales targets. The only complaint I have about Lush is that benefits should not be limited to management positions. Anyone who works full time should be eligible for benefits. I hope that changes!
  
  However, I really do feel that as an employer, Lush truly cares about their workers. Their expectations are high, but the managers, as well as the company trainers dedicate a lot of time and energy into making sure that staff is trained up to par. The products are beautiful. I've also never seen a company stand so firmly behind their ethics.
  
  There is room to grow in the company. There are always openings for management positions, specialist roles, and positions in the company as well.   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 29 November 2012 by Rater #8 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

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• I have worked for Lush for three years, I was hired as a key holder. I have never had a raise in three years, my wage is $10.75. Pretty brutal. The managers are supposed to review their staff's performances every few months, yet in three years I have never had a review ... My managers seem to just skip me (and some other employees) over at review time. There is literally no room for growth - with few stores and MITs that remain 'in training' for years and years, how can one hope to move up? Additionally, there are very few hours to be passed around (save for xmas time) - and DONT go into lush expecting full time - you will only get part time hours.
  
  That being said, the product is great and it works. Lush doesn't claim to be all natural, so I dont know why people get so upset when they find out we're not all natural. Lush is extremely open and proud of its ingredients - natural AND synthetic.The products are mostly vegan, all vegetarian, never tested on animals. They have pretty good green practices, and they employ fair trade methods for sourcing most of their ingredients. So if you're passionate about animals and the environment, lush would be a great place for you.
  
  If you work at Lush you will get a ton of free products, you will get a 50% discount, and you WILL make bonus. At my store we hit bonus nearly every month. If you can't make bonus then you're not a very strong sales associate, are you? But keep in mind its a team effort - no individual sales are tracked. I now work with mostly "older" employees (Age 20-30) - and I love everyone. I have also worked with some high-school age employees and I find them to be lazy about learning product knowledge, and not good at sales. I wouldn't want to work with people under age 20.
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  Posted on 15 August 2012 by Rater #7 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

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• I really don't understand people's reviews on Lush. They do hire on many temporary employees for the holidays, but that's because when the hours are. The rest of the year its hard to get hired because no one wants to leave their job. The reviews on here reflect a few angry people and not the company overall. I'll admit the company has some organizational and communication problems. The pay is pretty decent once you get past being a temporary employee and I advanced to a key holder after only a year. Some stores are definately better than others in all regards. At our store we know what stores are good to work for and not to work for because Lush doesn't like to fire people for some reason. Even managers who don't know how to do their job. I love it though, decent pay, and really fun atmosphere! To the person who said harassing customers about products that aren't even natural, you weren't doing your job properly. Lush stresses that they are as natural AS POSSIBLE. Some things nature just doesn't provide. Like an emulsifier? Sure you can use eggs but then the product will go bad in a few weeks.
  
  OVERALL I'm saying don't listen to the few crumb bums on here that are complaining. All the issues raised like not getting bonus, if you told someone higher up in the company they would have rectified it. Many of the issues sound like they came from your own ability not to problem solve. GREAT EMPLOYER, lots of fun. Definitely try it out and see for yourself   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 17 April 2012 by Rater #6 | Comments (1) | Flag as inappropriate

  Was this review helpful? 5 10

• Travailler chez lush avait l'air d'être une bonne job..mais serieux je pensait pas que c'était autant de la vente sous pression! Je m'explique: à chaque heure ont doit calculer le nombre de clients,profits,nombre client versus le nombre de personne a être rentrer dans le magasin calculable grace a un compteur de clients. Puis a chaques semaines on a une fiche devaluation fait par un superviseur avec nos ventes detaillés de la semaine! Les responsables du magasin écoutent tout ce que vous dites aux clients...vous etes toujours surveillé! Impossible de respirer! De plus l'ancien staff a tendance à avoir une attitude de "clique" renfermé...bref travailler chez lush n'est pas du tout ce qui en à l'air!   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 7 February 2012 by Rater #9 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

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• One of the worst jobs i ever had. management what management. Harassing customers to buy products that are not natural. the store was basically a teenage clique. As an adult with many years of cosmetic experience i saw this job as a joke. they hire at a low pay and no i didn't get the promised bonuses either. Hired for Xmas asked to stay on NO WAY   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 2 February 2012 by Rater #5 | Comments (1) | Flag as inappropriate

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• i have had a great time working for this company, i have worked as a keyholder and a manager in training and do see that there is more room to grow in this company.
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  Posted on 27 February 2011 by Rater #4 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

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• If you're looking for something long term, don't bother applying. I wouldn't even use it as a stepping stone. Waste of time.  

  Posted on 13 April 2010 by Rater #3 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

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• I rated Lush as such because of the following:
  
  Staff are constantly under motivated due to micro management, catty cliques and arrogance. There is constant talk behind backs from all levels TO ALL LEVELS, and when asked to explain the lack of motivation it becomes a witch hunt, and scapegoats are found to cover up unprofessional behaviour. If you are up front you are cut down, whether through your hours, or by the blatant disregard of your ideas, opinions or expertise. There is a constant stream of deception with regards to important reports and there is a sense of helplessness because there is no where to go within the company that one would feel their concerns would be dealt with, in a professional manner, and without repercussions. Important Documents and E-Mails, often containing pertinent information such as wage and opinions of staff and their work are left where staff can read them, causing tension, negativity and gossip. The wages are not industry standard, and given the expectations are not considered fair. The mission of the company is somewhat followed, but usually with poor planning and information - subsequently creating unnecessary stress - which in some cases feels like it is created as a mechanism for control.
  
  I feel that if the aspect of the company I work for was run more professionally there would be better results, however at this time that seems unlikely - and so I would strongly advise that research is to be done before accepting employment.   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 10 June 2008 by Rater #2 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

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• People are constantly leaving on their own or being let go. Superiors act like they care about your needs but they really don't care about you. Workload is high. They pay you below or at the low end of market rate because they have a bonus program; however, you'll never receive your maxmium bonus. Also, when you leave the company, they refuse to payout your bonus. I would not recommend this place to friends unless you hate them.   read complete rating Hide complete rating

  Posted on 29 December 2007 by Rater #1 | Add Comment | Flag as inappropriate

  Was this review helpful? 24 0