Vantaggi
Pay, only because of commission and spiffs. Good health care and retirement benefits. Learned a lot about the industry.
Svantaggi
Company cut hours for all hourly associates from 45 to 40 hours without adjusting pay, cutting 5 hours of weekly overtime pay. Management lead associates to believe it would be temporary to help keep their coworkers employeed; cutting over time allowed them to prevent some layoffs. (Still layed people off and never gave hours back) Base pay increases are practically unheard of, told to sell more to make more money. Management is promoted into their positions based on office politics and how long they have been there rather than their actual ability to manage effectively. Very small chance of upward mobility as a showroom consultant without changing departments. Little incentive to even want to be a manage as some consultants make more than showroom managers. Work loaded is overwhelming, company always comes up with "solutions" that never work they way they say they will, and generally require you to do more work. Work life balance is nonexistent especially for top performers. Branch manager was gone almost monthly for a vacation or long weekend while associate couldn't afford to take even one vacation a year because they had lost all over time pay.