Not what it used to be - ASM J. Crew Employee Review

2.0
1 Aug 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good people who care and work hard at the store level; OK discount

Cons

Not enough hours to properly schedule the store, so salaried managers are expected to pick up the slack which translates to working 50+ hours per week, so zero quality of life. You are expected to schedule the store from 5 am to 11 pm with no hours to cover. Too often favoritism plays with regard to district managers/store directors. If someone doesn't like you, forget it, you are out or forced out. Brand has lost its way, too much emphasis on being the "cool" brand, which it never was, it was a classic brand with some current trends thrown in, but the pieces were all QUALITY. No longer. Stores are blamed for poor sales when it is the product that is not selling. Feedback that is anything but positive is either ignored for discouraged. Stores are expected to produce regardless of lack of hours, lack of product, non-working air conditioning and management does not want to hear any reasons for any slowdown in sales. no basis in reality. stores are forced to hire too many associates and then are not given any hours, so there's no loyalty, they are just there for the discount. No connection to Corporate. previously, when managers were hired, they were sent to Corporate for training, that went away, and you are just thrown in with no PRACTICAL training, just fluff training. HR people are just clueless and offer no assistance when there are personnel issues, they are clearly there for the company, and are not at all unbiased.

Explore other reviews about J. Crew

5.0
13 Nov 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

great people, good benefits, flexible schedule

Cons

slow, not a lot of hours

3.0
19 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The talent at J.Crew is genuinely exceptional. Direct management and leadership are some of the most capable, committed people I’ve worked with in this industry. They advocate fiercely for their teams and have gone out of their way to create an environment where people feel valued and protected. The brand itself still has real creative soul, and the cross-functional collaboration among people who truly care about the product is something you don’t find everywhere. Many employees have given 10+ years to this company because of exactly that.

Cons

The disconnect between the people running the day-to-day business and the PE ownership making strategic decisions has become impossible to ignore. Policies are being handed down that disproportionately impact specific employee populations (particularly long-tenured corporate associates who built their lives around arrangements the company itself championed not long ago). The most recent example: a return-to-office mandate requiring corporate associates to come in three days a week beginning September 2026 (with four days explicitly signaled as the near-term direction). This comes after years of remote and hybrid work and landing on employees who have built childcare, housing, and their entire daily lives around the flexibility this company once proudly promoted. Leadership once publicly praised hybrid work and work-life balance as cultural pillars, with initiatives like year round half-day Fridays framed as genuine investments in employee wellbeing. The reversal has arrived with no such warmth.. just policy language and HR directives. What’s notably absent is transparency. The stated rationale around culture and collaboration doesn’t hold up to scrutiny and many employees are quietly connecting dots between these policy shifts and a financial picture that points more toward managed attrition than genuine culture-building. When the people closest to you at work are doing everything they can to protect you but are ultimately powerless against board-level directives, that tells you everything about where decisions are actually being made

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