Toxic and Abusive Workplace - Anonymous employee Urban Outfitters Employee Review

You can tell right away that the management were the type of people who were bullied in high school and now that they have a little bit of power at their middle management retail job they use it to extract revenge on their teenage staff. Gossip, backstabbing, bullying, favouritism, and collusion was very common amongst management - who are supposed to be role models and leaders in the store. If management could find even the smallest reason to dislike you they would victimize you with either bad scheduling or placing you in zones of the store generally considered to be the worst areas (greet, sale), ignoring your pages for customer assistance or giving associates attitude when they ask for something as simple as a bathroom break or a drink of water. Advancement in the store was solely based on how much the ruling class of management liked you - if they saw you as somebody they would want to "get drinks with after work". Numerous incompetent, unprofessional, and vindictive people were promoted throughout my tenure, while loyal, hardworking, and dedicated candidates were passed up - often times an employee interviewing for a promotion would never be told if they got the job or not and would be left in limbo for weeks wondering what was going on. Management turned a blind eye to mental health issues within the store - and often times their callousness and victimization was the cause of people's misery. Having witnessed several breakdowns of associates at the store, these employees were simply told to suck it up and get back to work. Little care was given to the stresses of day to day life and outside issues - employees were scheduled during classes, exams, family visits, vacations - despite providing notice of these obligations - and would be given attitude by management when requesting alternate accommodations. When sales were down you could be sent home from your shift with no notice - your schedule would show you for a 7 hour shift but you'd be sent home after 3 - with no regard given to travel time, transportation costs, life expenses of employees etc. The HR hotline was fake and lead to a voicemail that was never checked. Issues brought to district management were immediately dismissed since these people higher up were buddies with the store management. Any employee complaint was brushed under the rug and any employee that spoke up for themselves was then ostracized and mistreated by management, often times until that person simply broke down and quit.