Menards review: Avoid working at menards at all costs!!! 6

Menards is by far the worst job I have ever had! Good place to shop but not to work. Nothing really positive to say. I was glad to get out of there and using my degree for a new and more rewarding career. Good place to work as a student, and they work around your classes. IPS if your store qualifies. Extra 2.50 on weekends. Met some good friends there. Most co-workers are cool though and most hate working there and are plotting there way out for something better. Lots of career opportunities at the store/department management level due to high turnover but hard to advance into corporate from there. Lots of hours during the busy seasons (summer & holiday season) and hardly any in the slow seasons (winter). I won employee of the month and several service hero awards so I worked my butt off for this place despite me not enjoying the job and being treated poorly. The point system does weed out the bad workers but there's many policies that are ridiculous that punish the good hard workers who are reliable. With managers, it's all black and white but no grey with enforcing the point system as stated below. This job is the typical dead end job unless your in corporate. They use IPS and just enough benefits to lure unsuspecting people in, but it doesn't make up for the lack of pay and perks, no work/life balance, and the c***/harassment you have to put up with daily there from rude customers and clueless co-workers/bosses. I felt like I was in high school again. All their money and benefits isn't worth your time and sanity to stay here in the long run. Managers are a joke and most are unqualified for the position. They move anyone into these positions even ones with a lack of knowledge on their department since they don't last long (see below). Most managers are lazy, liars, lack ethics & professionalism, play favoritism, clueless on how to run a business, and don't appreciate & are disrespectable to employees, but they sure are on a power trip and let you know. Get a life, you work at Menards! Few managers have never anything positive to say or acknowledgement for things done right, always point out what's wrong using negative reinforcement. This is likely due to them being forced to be this way by what corporate says to keep their jobs and really think a lot of them are good people. Some managers stepped down because corporate practices got to them and changed them for the worst. Though, some managers are real tools and think their king. It all depends. In general, management has no life since they work 55+ hrs every week, fined for every petty incident, must relocate stores constantly to move up, and follow ridiculous policies & procedures from the General Office (corporate), no thanks! The negative outweigh the positives for moving into management. High turnover due to workers being burnt out/overworked, stressed out, and/or no job security from there write up happy policies & procedures for petty things. Most of the gifted workers have left like me. Corporate runs this place based on fear from them from there crazy policy and procedures which change daily. There is no sense of vision or direction and a lack of accomplishment. Pay is low for the amount of work you do, especially for managers and workers with college degrees. Likewise, benefits for full timers are sub par, such as no personal/sick days, lack of vacation days your first several years, terrible health insurance coverage and high cost to you, no 401K match, employee discount has a limit and out of your paycheck, and any bonus or reward is store credit or clothing instead of money. Working irregular, long hours and no set schedule, a.k.a your life is Menards. Full timers must have an open schedule meaning you must work anytime or any day no matter what. So say goodbye to your family, friends, and hobbies. Your health, both physically & mentally, begins to suffer as a result. Attendance policy is very strict, written up for anything including calling in sick with the flu or a car accident that's not your fault before your shift. Also, I felt like big brother was watching us on the cameras. They use them to spy on employees to see if they do anything wrong or steal anything, not catch thefts. I guess they have trust issues or something. Lack of job training provided, learn as you go and they depend on the In-Home training. In-Home training is a joke and should be paid for doing, just teaches you the basics and what you know already. I could go on, but you get the point. To sum up, Menards is not an employee friendly place and is more like a blend of a Chinese sweatshop and a military lifestyle without the benefits. Avoid at all costs!