Pros
Training team is absolutely awesome. They really took the time to teach us about Philz culture and the technique. They also hire, for the most part, great people and preach great principles and ideals of open feedback. Shifts are great when they're busy and everyone is working together as a team. Leadership is key. It can make or break the store. Our first store leader is amazing and doing amazing things at the store she is at.
Cons
There is just a total lack of consistency in what they practice. They preach about feedback and caring about the people they hire but then when you hire bad leadership, your store and the leadership team start to tank. Morale was so low amongst the team when I separated from Philz. I had numerous reports of disrespect and misconduct from a leader and a barista from multiple team members and myself, which I constantly kept communicating to my upper leadership team. There never was an attempt to reach any type of solutions when team members presented a problem and everything was so secretive that the principle that Philz has no hierarchy just got shot out the window. Things got so mishandled or not handled at all that I started to hate working there. Scheduling was also ridiculous, at one point while having to administer breaks, I only had 2 people on the shift and was still expected to have the entire store cleaned, restocked and ready for the PM shift (which began in one hour). I also rarely was able to take lunch breaks because of how short staffed we were in order to make sure my team were able to take their breaks. There is no expression of gratitude towards the work that team members put in to decorate, clean and manage the store and our customers. When we have store meetings we talk about things that do not matter and can be sent over an email. There is just something missing from the leadership team at Philz.