Ocean State Job Lot
Ocean State Job Lot Employee Reviews
Found 455 reviews matching the search See all 458 reviews
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Great co-workers, bad management
Front End Supervisor (Former Employee) – Pawtucket, RI – October 21, 2018
Ocean State Job Lot was a fun place to work most of the time. The management doesn't seem to care about the employees. They don't hire anyone full-time. They don't give enough hours to make a living and there is no opportunity for advancement. They also have a bizarre break policy that I'm not sure is legal. I was told that if I am scheduled for a six hour shift I was not allowed to take a lunch break. For any shift of six or less hours they give you a ten minute break and that's it. I was told that if I clocked out for a lunch then I would only have worked five and a half hours and that's not enough to qualify for a lunch break. If that sounds confusing to you, it's because it makes absolutely no sense.
Pros
Great co-workers
Cons
No breaks, no hours, low wages
Experience varies on location
Sales Associate (Current Employee) – Taunton, MA – October 3, 2018
Definitely not a good job if you have bills to pay. It’s a great part-time job. It’s generally a very easy job and teaches you a lot about retail. However, the pay and hours aren’t great. Customers can be incredibly rude. The 10 minute breaks are a joke. So I definitely don’t recommend this if you’re looking for a full time job. If you want an extra $200 every week, then go for it but don’t expect much more than that. At my store, I’ve made very close friends with my co-workers and our management is very friendly and helpful.
Pros
Good management, coworkers are very friendly, very easy job
Cons
Pay, breaks, customers, sometimes it does get very busy and stressful especially when you’re low on staff
Poor Work Environment
Sales Associate (Former Employee) – Clinton – October 2, 2018
They constantly watch you on camera Pay is very low raises are like 15 cents per yr District Manager is a mess Rm is caught up in his Trailblazers stuff Store Managers are lazy and the owners are cheap
Pros
None
Cons
Poor company
An alright part-time job if you don't plan to advance
Sales Associate (Former Employee) – Hooksett, NH – September 26, 2018
It's not a bad place to work, but honestly there are literally no opportunities to advance if you aren't initially hired for a management position. Benefits are sparce if non-existent aside from a 20% discount
fun place to work
Department Head (Former Employee) – Jewett City, CT – September 18, 2018
Wanted to stay there forever company likes to see new faces throughout the year and only cares about a few,and if you are liked the most then you are all set
Pros
close to home, fun
Cons
unpredictable company
Excellent place to work.
Deptartment Head (Current Employee) – Westfield, MA – September 14, 2018
The management is extremely supportive and helpful. The employees all work as a team. The vibe is always upbeat and happy. If you need help with anything any of the employees would gladly help.
Fun and worth the experience
Front End Supervisor, Customer Service, Cashier (Former Employee) – Westerly, RI – September 10, 2018
I just recently moved to the area and needed a job. It got me on my feet and worked well as I am a full-time student at NEIT. Pay was fair and managers understood when personal life happens.
Free Health Insurance
Various Positions (Former Employee) – Various – September 6, 2018
Free Health Insurance after a year of service was one of the best benefits they offered. 20% employee discount was nice, too. If you take public transit to work, good luck. The attendance policy is ridiculous. Apply to Christmas Tree Shops instead.
It was great
Sales Representative (Former Employee) – Waltham, MA – September 5, 2018
I have a mental iullness byut it doesn't makie me worse, iit makes me better. I can imagine a goood ex[perienve and use my power opf fiocus. The most enjoyable part of the apploication is cleaning. I can focus to make customers happy. That's whazt I learned. OSJL is great.
Pros
Money and busy
Cons
Fast oaced
private company
Store Manager (Former Employee) – Wethersfield, CT – August 26, 2018
the company executive multitasks to cover operations as well as product purchases. store operations and merchandising followed guidelines that drove new customers and kept old ones.
Pros
manager peers were great
Cons
business model was good. people model, not so
Good after school job..
Department Head (Former Employee) – Massachusetts – August 23, 2018
This job is not for people who wants more from a work place, you do not get great raises and there are no perks to this job. It’s a good summer job for young adults and an ok job if your retired and just want to keep busy.
Pros
Flexibility
Cons
Short breaks, pay not great
It's a great place to work for I've been there for 29 years
Cashier (Current Employee) – Providence, RI – August 18, 2018
It's getting stressful for me dealing with people and different managers lot of change it's getting to me the stand up all day at the register I just need to leave I always wanted to be a bus monitor
Pay isn't good for the amount of work done
Sales Associate (Former Employee) – Manchester, CT – August 18, 2018
They will have females lifting furniture to bring out to cars. Running back and fourth to get a sku. The hardest part is trying to complete so many tasks in so little time.
Pros
Paid weekly
Cons
Only 10 minute breaks
Sale Associate
Front End Supervisor (Former Employee) – North Reading, MA – August 15, 2018
I really loved working at this location. There's a great crew that worked there and you always had a chance to do something different during each shift.
It's a minimum wage job but not too demanding. You'll cashier, you'll help customers, you'll stock, you'll set up displays. You always have a team behind you to help you out with any issues.
Management was a great group of people, supervisors included. Very understanding, laid-back people who love their job and want others to enjoy it too.
The only issue I had with this company was not receiving my increase in pay after getting promoted to a supervisory role. Over the course of three months, the issue was brought up to the store manager, the district manager, the district HR manager and higher but never got resolved. Had I stayed at my sale associate position, I'd probably still be working there!
It's a minimum wage job but not too demanding. You'll cashier, you'll help customers, you'll stock, you'll set up displays. You always have a team behind you to help you out with any issues.
Management was a great group of people, supervisors included. Very understanding, laid-back people who love their job and want others to enjoy it too.
The only issue I had with this company was not receiving my increase in pay after getting promoted to a supervisory role. Over the course of three months, the issue was brought up to the store manager, the district manager, the district HR manager and higher but never got resolved. Had I stayed at my sale associate position, I'd probably still be working there!
Pros
Great people to work with, flexible schedule, employee discount, fun environment
Cons
Pricing and store card system could be improved, low pay
Steer Clear of this company if possible
Field Merchandiser (Former Employee) – Massachusetts – August 15, 2018
This is the type of company that on your first scheduled day they provide you with a list of things you'll get fired for, instead of actually training you. Management is absolutely unable to manage the stores either effectively or ethically. Everything is subjective in this company. One day you are told to do something in a specific way and that is the only way it should be done. A week later you'll be confronted by another manager who will tell you that your work is wrong and their way is absolutely the only way it should be done. Such is a work week at OSJL, bouncing from manager to manager unable to throw your arms around exactly what they will have you do. It's not the managers fault, this company is run like this from the top down and it's never going to change. Co-workers with any tenure at the company move like grey drones because work life is so miserable.
Pros
Pay is good, benefits are good, discount on purchases
Cons
No company vision, no standards, bad ethical behaviors by management, HR is a joke, every work day is a catastrophe, not enough workers, stressful environment. No joy at all in working here.
Overall a charitable company with advancements
Supervisor (Former Employee) – Canton, CT 06019 – August 8, 2018
Although OSJL offers a month long training sessions prior to hire at location selected, after that it's non-existent! Assistant Managers and Supervisors state that our employment is to train and advance us towards Store Manager. However, there's a large turn-over and not enough employees. More Chiefs than Indians. A busy retail store with understaffed employees lead to working all day long- usually missing your break or wait all day to be relieved. Unacceptable.
Pros
Employee Discount
Cons
Understaffed and rough clientele
Fun place to work
Secondary Frontend Supervisor (Former Employee) – Johnston, RI – August 6, 2018
It was a fun place to work, made many new friends with my co-workers, was able to advance in just a short time, was very happy working for them. The company is very charitable and involved with the RI communities.
Pros
friendly co-workers, advancement
Cons
Wasn't able to get a full 40 hour work week.
Toxic Environment
Operations Assistant Manager (Former Employee) – Randolph, MA – July 29, 2018
Incredibly stressful, unbelievable turnover constantly, never given either praise or a simple 'thank you'. It is supposed to be an open door environment when it was the exact opposite.
very laid back stay busy kind of place
Cashier/Stocker/Customer Service (Former Employee) – Gardner, MA – July 29, 2018
typical day at ocean state was doing anything from stocking, organizing inventory, making bales, carrying out customer furniture or product to cashiering. ocean state had no hard part to the job it was a really easy going work place with always something to do but nothing that difficult. systems were well set into place that made every thing easy and kept things fairly organized, customers were great never to difficult on us and management was great might have been to many mangers but wasn't hard to work around. if i had to pick my favorite part of the job it would be the customers love meeting new people and keeping my customers satisfied.
Pros
swing you around positions a lot make for great work experience
Cons
not many hour and scattered throughout 6 days
Overall rating
Based on 458 reviews
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Women's ratings
4.5
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100%would recommend to other women
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