Working at Best Buy — Reviews by Employees

PAY: You are not paid a competitive wage. Customers are always surprised to hear that we aren't paid on commission... which doesn't bother me because this weeds out the sleazy salespeople. However, the hourly pay for sales people is very low compared to fry's(worked there to) and other electronic stores.

RESPECT: In business, you are shown respect by how much you are paid... I'm very disrespected in that regards... however, the supervisors and seniors at my store are all very cool and respect anyone that works hard and is competent.

BENEFITS: The manger bonus, I hear, are awesome. Which actually come from the sales people's hard labor. Sales get a bonus two. It's called Blu-Crew Bucks, if we finish 103% above N.O.P. we get anywhere from 200-800 dollar bonus depending on if you are full-time or part and whether the store and the district you work for gets above the mark to.. But if you dont no bonuses for the sales peeps.

In terms of Benefits if you are full time, benefits are very good. Part time benefits are alright. you can do EPP and get the discount, but that's about it.

JOB SECURITY: I'm working through college as a part timer and even through the economic time the job security is good... now if you are a supervisor or manager. its time to beware

WORK/LIFE BALANCE: This is a joke for example, when I got hired they spoke about how they like to hire college students for obvious reasons and are flexible. However, if you have a hectic school schedule they punish you for not having a good availability (well no BLEEP, I'm trying to graduate to get out of retail, sorry if i need time to study). well anyhow one of the other guys is available all day 4 of 7 days a week and he has been reduced to 8 hr and 4 hr weeks because he has a hard availability to work around.

Career Potential/Growth: couple of guys went up the ladder really quickly, from seasonal cashier to computer senior in a matter of months. So, if you work hard you move up fast. (the following is second hand information, that i find some truth to)In other departments (operations), if you are a good looking girl you get promoted even if you aren't looking to be and other people are trying hard for the position.

LOCATION: Best Buys are everywhere in Portland/Metro area so location is good. But, in this market there are to many. we have 4 ten minutes apart from each other down I-205. Tualatin then 10 minutes is Clackamas, another like 5 mins on a good day is Cascade station, and another 10 mins is Mill Plain across the Bridge and about 15 minutes west from that is Jantzen Beach. Really ridiculous

CO-WORKER COMPETENCE: All the people i regularly talk with are very knowledgeable. Of course there are people here that you wonder how they got the job, but that's the norm at all jobs. The management is another story. We have 6 managers!!!! 3 are very competent, 1 seems slightly competent and 2 are worthless in my opinion... Know wonder Best Buy is changing the business model... Can someone BLEEPing tell me what a Customer Experience Manager is, I had to keep my self from laughing when one of these bogus managers actually tried to explain what that was to a customer. Why do we need to be paying someone excessive amount of money to help the experience for the customers, the GM, Product Process Manager, and Services Manager could handle on their own... OH and did I mention we have two CEM's!!! Then we have the Operations Manager(i think that's the bogus manager title) who oversees the front end... Except it seems and others have agreed that the head customer service senior does all his work. That was kinda a tangent but I need to put that pet peeve about the store somewhere..

Oh and also with the managers, It pisses me off when one of our CEM's always gives in to a irate customers ridiculous demands. At least the Operations Manager is a hard ass and wont give in to stupid customers.

WORK ENVIRONMENT: If it wasn't for a couple of managers and stupid budgets it would be horrible to work at... that said the fellow employees are awesome and they make it better to work there.

The managers though, need to get off their high horses. We could be #1 or #2 in the district and they would still find something to complain about. The budgets are ridiculous, and the branded payments thing is way annoying.... GUESS WHAT OPERATION MANAGER!!!! NOT EVERYONE WANTS A CREDIT CARD IN THIS ECONOMY. I'll gladly let them know about the offers, but i wont overcome objections on credit cards pitches, especially to our Ray and Mary customer base, last thing they need is another credit card bill. it shouldn't be up to me to decide if someone needs a card, but i will. Credit Card = bad in economy for middle America when they are one bad quarter from being laid of at work... They try to say it is a great way for the customer to get something they need. I'm sorry, but none of these items we sell are absolute necessities.

The hours/schedules at the store are ridiculous to because TLC(our schedule maker) will post our availability to the managers but for some reason they don't pay attention and schedule people out of their availability all the time...My favorite is when the schedule is posted on Monday for the next week, so you write it down, then you go home for the weekend cause you have the it off, then they change it and don't call you... then when you show up for your shift and you cant clock in cuase they took hrs away, its your fault for not checking...

Best Buy is the best company I have ever worked for! I started in college and stayed well after graduating as I got promoted and was making good money fresh out of college. In these times where many companies are laying off employees Best Buy stays strong and has stocks that are GROWING! Benefits are GREAT and the company even has a program that develops women's leadership in a male dominated field (technology). They sent me to Chicago and Boston to meet with other women in leadership positions and work on ways to gain more female market share in our stores. All members of leadership that I worked under had a vested interest in my development as well as the development of my (competent) peers. As with any job, there are the occasional coworker that does no pull their weight and stands in the way of your or others' promotions, but for the most part the performance management and expectations were at a very high level and resulted in positive numbers.
Aside from all these things the customers that shop at Best Buy are the best you will find! With all the other amazing things the company has to offer, the customers are still it's biggest perk! Company selling strategies were always centered on the customer and getting them exactly what they need (and not what makes the company money). Non-commission sales allow for easy going interactions and give associates the chance to build relationships with customers instead of try and sell things that make them the most commission.
I could go on and on about the benefits of working for this company. Trust me, with jobs elsewhere dwindling, this is the place to work!

For a retail job I really couldn't imagine getting paid more.
You'll never work more than 40 hours, and if you do it won't be by much and you will make overtime which is easy money.
There are best buys everywhere so location is not a problem.
Great place to work, only reason I left is because I got my college degree which best buy does not care about at all.

I've never worked with anyone as motivated and excited about their jobs as Best Buy employees! It's a fun company to work for, has a great comfortable atmosphere, and the job allows you to input your own ideas on making the company better. I wouldn't want to work anywhere else!

I really do like working for Best Buy. It's the best company I have ever worked for. Most of the other comments on here that I have read are probably from employees who are either disgruntled for some reason or another or who got fired. I LOVE BEST BUY AND PLAN ON BEING HERE FOR ANOTHER 15 OR MORE YEARS.

The actual pay and benefits at this company were quite profecient for the work experience in which I had. Though the respect and working conditions were horrible I was overworked and also mistreated by upper management which made me beleive that there was no opportunity to promote within the company.

you have sales goals everyday that are damn near impossiable to hit and when you dont hit them them look down upon you. basically its just like working commision but you dont get paid for it, your a drone, your raises ONLY happen on your review dates and it will never be more than 3 percent, as for the work life balance, they are pretty good about working around your life but you MUST have weekends totally open or they wont even look at your aplication, due to the fact that best buys are poping up everywhere now location is not a problem, the biggest problem i had were the MANAGERS. budget is EVERYTHING to them seeing as they bonus from it, but you the grunts...you might get blue crew once a year which is about $1000 if your full time and lucky. the work enviornment can vary between slow to swomped with people however you have to stay busy constantly. basically if your wanting to work at BB for the discount, dont bother is good but for what you have to go through its not worth it, do i hate best buy? no, i just wont go back

I work for project team for best buy. THe pay is pretty good but could be better. THeres also some other good things with pay i will explain later. On my team i feel highly respected we fool around alot but thats because i work with the same 9 people everyday so you get pretty close. Benifiets and accomidations are redicoulisly good. Best buy wil help you buy a car or get a loan. You also get up to 80 % off of stuff. but some stuff you might get almost nothing. Job security is almost guarenteed unless you steal or use your discount for other people those are the two easist ways to get fired. Project team i travel and work overnights so theres isent really a good balance but im ok wth it. Some people might not be. Carrer potential is good, three months after being there you get a raise if you meet the standars and i also got the promotion to project team after 3 months. So if your a good worker you can move up fast. Location is nt good but its really good also. ill also explaun the other good part about pay. If we travel best buy pays for the airfare the hotel and you get 35 dollars a day for spending money while your away. If you need to drive over 30 miles you get gas money. Also if you fly best buy pays you for an hour and a half before the flight, the whole flight time, and a hour after the flight. Also if there are any delays you get paid. Project team you need to get promoted to and get approved by 2 different managers so all the people on the team are good workers. The work enviorment is fun. overnights we usually have alot of fun. Overall id say best job is the best job ive had so far. Being 18 years old and making 12 dollars an hour is pretty good.

Pay was excellent while employed there, I made $10+ as Customer Serice; read CASHIER. This is an excellent wage in the economically depressed area that is Waco, Tx. In Dallas, TX you can make $35k a year as an hourly Home Theatre salesperson. It is not commisioned, but very much a pressure to make large sales and an extreme pressure not to allow returns. Talking upset customers out of returning product is never fun.
Respect was great at my location, but it all really just depends on the people you work for or with. I would suggest spending some time browsing as a customer and pay attention to how people interact with you.
Benefits for retail are EXCELLENT, recognition is really stressed, Insureance is a very reasonable price, employee discounts are based off cost and you get great accomodations with alot of outside companies. Bonus system for all employees, and online access to policies and benefits, W2, paystubs is very convienient.
Job Security and Growth potential were never an issue for me but I did watch a ton of employees get cycled through. Promotions never seem to come from within and people constantly are being let go for very meanial things other managers may have oerlooked or given you a warning for.
Co-worker Competence is pretty high, I am always impressed with how much these people know about all the products they sell. Where else in retail do your employees actually care?

Pay: I believe the base pay is $7.50 and I got hired at $8.00. It's not great, but it's not bad. I believe I'm worth more than that, but they'll never give me what I deserve. Respect: I always seem to notice how customers looks down on you. I can tell how some of them think you're no better than the scum on there shoe. As for respect within the company, there are alot of people who work in one store. It's a fact that not everyone will get along. It's all about tolerance, which for the most part is ok at my store. the strict hiring process is good, usually no 'bad' people are hired. As for respect within a department. The newer you are... the more 'bitch work' you get. benefits: part timers are the majority of a store's workforce. part timers get no benefits. the discount is pretty good, but that's about it. job security: the job security is pretty good at my store. the employee retention is pretty high in the district. work/life balance: not bad, they are open with the schedule. career potential: staying in school is your best bet if you want to move up within the company. it'll take years to move up the food chain if you don't. Location: We are in pretty upscale area. co-worker competence: everyone is trained pretty good. work environment: your fellow employees will make it fun for you. I personally hate retail because i'm not a fan of customers, but i'll deal with them for the money.