Pros
I have great flexibility but that varies manager by manager. I do my job pretty well and have a ton of experience so my manager leans on me quite a bit. With that comes my flexibility. There is a great investment in growing your career and education however nothing will come of it. Education reimbursement is $5250 a year but no one will help you move forward or transition your career once you complete it. In retail there is quite a bit of downtime so you can really maximize your time if you aren’t lazy and staring at social media half the day.
Cons
Pay is atrocious. Average raises of 2% a year. Benefits increase 5-10% per year. Commission gets harder and harder to earn since goals are increased based on YoY performance. Employee discount is abysmal at best. 50% off core wireless service. My wife who is a nurse saves the same as a consumer. Stock is one of the worst performing stocks of this decade so your 401k needs to be invested in something other than the company. There is no bonus, no stock options. Benefits are sub par for a fortune 10 company. Paid parental leave is 12 weeks but when you return to work you are most likely transferred locations out of spite for taking so long off. Don’t ask for a raise in the assistant level. You wont get it. And then you will be outcast from promotions “because you only care about money”. Retention raises are reserved for salary employees only. Your loyalty will mean nothing when it comes time for your yearly review. Nor will your performance ever be good enough to score the highest. You can’t trust your leadership no matter what they tell you. If you “suffer in silence” your written up. If you try and talk to some one for help, you are held “accountable” for not meeting performance standards and the CAP will motivate you. It’s a lose - lose. You will have increased work loads when certain divisions are eliminated which means no support but higher expectations and no pay increase for the increased work demand. This is an awful job for anyone with a family. Your salary will only afford a mortgage or daycare. Not both. Your availability will have you missing 75% of your children’s lives. Overall I do not recommend AT&T retail to anyone. I’ve heard good things about corporate though. They will try to tell you once you get into retail management you can transition to corporate but I have never seen anyone in 13 years achieve that. They had to quit and get rehired in to corporate.
