workshop manager

store manager

Build-A-Bear Workshop

My time at this company had many highs, I loved my job, being able to create such an amazing experience with customers of all ages and genders. I made so many genuine connections with people and often went out back to cry due to touching moments I had.

Unfortunately, the lows severely outweighed the highs. I was hired as a Christmas casual in 2021 and only had 3 shifts before everything went quiet until March 2022. Covid hit Perth like a storm during that time and with very minimal training, I was thrown in to the deep end. I was very often the one to open the store and close it alone which wasn't an issue for me at all, as I said in the above paragraph, I loved working here. The problem was the very busy days where I was travelling almost an hour to the other location when fuel prices were at an all time high and then working Saturday with only one person coming in to help for 3 hours. I had to teach myself how to host parties in store by myself while also tending to customers who weren't a part of the party, all alone. 

After being put in many situations like this and working long hard hours, I was told I couldn't close the store for more than half an hour. I would start my shift early morning and then finish at night having not eaten or gone to the bathroom once. I received little to no acknowledgment of my effort and when a new manager was hired, I was given little to no shifts for weeks on end. This new manager was absolutely lovely and none of this was her fault, but upper management didn't even blink in my direction. 

After no shifts for weeks on end, I would be called in multiple times during school holidays and thrown under the bus once again. I ended up quitting and it broke my heart.

Upper management needs to sit down and have a long hard think about the mistreatment of their employees. There were TWO separate occasions where I was severely underpaid due to a mistake in the schedule and it was impossible for me to contact the people in Sydney to get it fixed. I had to wait until the next fortnightly pay to receive what I was owed, the result of that was me living off crackers that I had in the back of my cupboard. There were also occasions where due to improper training, I would be stuck at the till trying to figure out an issue all on my own and when I'd call another branch to speak to someone higher up, I was essentially berrated over the phone for my "incompetence".
The uniform policy was also ridiculous, there was so much emphasis on looking proper and lady like, no bright makeup, no bright hair colours, no fun jewellery. The kids loved my hair, makeup and jewellery.
I also made multiple attempts to reiterate that I'd prefer to be called something other than my given name and wanted to be referred to by different pronouns but no one even tried. 



I absolutely adore my job with build a bear, although it must be mentioned that shifts are not often allocated to those who are older than 16... At my location we have a couple floor leaders who are currently being rostered once, to twice a fortnight. Whilst waiting for my turnover into becoming a floor leader i've found that with my bear builder pay rate, i was earning no more than $100 a fortnight. 

Even though the pay is dreadful at times, the job itself its thoroughly enjoyable and can consist of anything from restocking, stuffing bears and setting up displays. I am extremely lucky to have a fantastic team at my location, but without great people to work alongside, this job just wouldnt be the same. 

The company is also dealing with terrible upper management, lots of errors with numbers on their end and blaming it on staff, which requires staff to be retrained, which is ridiculous and a waste of time. 

It is clear that the company really only prioritises sales figures and not staff. Upper management is currently pressing that we exceed our daily budget otherwise bear builder shifts get cut short as they "cost too much". Which is terrible when as it is, bear builders only get rostered for 3 hour shifts, therefore act as help or relief to floor leaders who are running the store alone.

Summary; beautiful job, lots and lots of fun, variety to every shift, lovely people to work with despite phonecalls from management, doesnt pay fantastically well, very few shifts, pressure to make budget to essentially earn your keep so shifts dont get cut.

Whilst working as a sales associate with the company Build a Bear I have been in contact with the general public regularly. Which in turn has influenced my ability to multi-task as it is often essential that I deal with several customers at once.

As the store is primarily directed at the younger age bracket, it has been a requirement of the job to alter the rapport from customer to customer this has allowed me to refine my communication skills based on the situation and age of the customer. 

As part of the job role, it has been a necessity to work well within a team to meet store targets but, also to be able to use my own initiative to carry out day to day store tasks accordingly. One aspect of the role that has allowed me to grow as an individual, is the leading of group parties this has required me too take leadership of groups; small to large. This often requires me to gain both the trust of the children and that of the parents as I am held responsible for this group for various periods of time.

Other personal requirements of the job are to be able to handle large amounts of money as part of the use of the till system. To be able to operate the till system it has been important to gain IT skills that allow me to work both efficiently and promptly.

Within the company there is a procedure known as ‘on call', this has often meant that on short notice I have both covered shifts or worked overtime in order to help the store run smoothly.

The job can be fun when you're on the sales floor and it isn't busy because talking to kids and making bears is nice, but more often than not the managers will be overloading you with things to do and then get overly annoyed when you don't have time to finish everything. They're very understaffed and expect workers to make up for it. They play favourites with shifts and a lot of the time people will get few to no hours despite the obvious need for more people in store, yet expect them to drop plans at the last minute to cover when their favourites get sick. They also push upselling massively despite not offering commission, and will blame you for not meeting very high sales goals even if the store has just been quiet. They pretty much encourage you to annoy customers into buying things, and while the store managers are usually okay, you'll have a lot of contact with the upper managers and they are nasty. On the positive side, the customers are mostly really nice and there aren't as many Karens as you'd expect.
It's not the worst place you could work and for some people the pros would outweigh the cons, but unless you get lucky and they love you, you'll probably have to put up with a lot.

The level of miscommunication, or complete lack thereof, is unfathomable. No one knows what is happening, you can ask three different people the same question, and get a new answer every time. After three years, I still had no idea what the refund/exchange policy was, it seemed to change on the day and who you asked.
I was frequently signed up for events without my knowledge, and was offered no support, and very little information for said events, again leading to mass miscommunication. 
This job ruined my mental health to the point I was having panic attacks on the way to/from work, in the backroom, and on the shop floor. Everyone I know that does/has worked there, says they first enjoyed it, and then quickly began to regret and hate it based on burn out, being overworked, and the treatment of employees being horrific. There's a reason that both the head office and store management turnover is so high. No one wants to spend their time there.

Build a Bear was my first ever job and I was super excited to work there. I was hired as a christmas casual and I was asked to stay after the christmas casual period. Build a bear is a great job for people new to the workplace, however if you are in school or under the age of 18, don't expect shifts longer than 3-5 hours (sometimes even 1.5 hour shifts) 1-2 times a week (except for school holidays). However the actual job itself was great most of the time, my manager was so kind and I loved working with the kids, you do need to have a lot of patience to deal with some of them though. Quiet periods can be boring but the pay was decent and it taught me a lot about customer service and retail. The upper management team however can be a little bit frustrating and pushy and often I did not feel appreciated by them for efforts (but my store manager was lovely). 

At my time in Build-A-Build Workshop in Surfers Paradise I have had the warmest of welcomes. All of the staff members at Build-A-Bear are friendly and compassionate about their job. The lovely store manager, is the nicest manager you could ever ask for. When you have a doubt or a question about anything she will always lead you in the right direction!
I love when you watch the children's faces light up when they walk into the store for the first time! It is possibly one of the greatest feelings knowing that you are helping kids create their best friends.
Build-A-Bear bases itself on customer service, so if a customer is unsatisfied with a product I do the best possible job to make sure that they are then satisfied when they leave the store.

A typical day involved a lot of talking with customers, needing to be upbeat all the time and trying to up-sell as much as possible. I learned how to engage with people and make an experience fun and unforgettable. Working with children was also a bonus since that can be a useful skill depending on your long-term career and/or life goals. The managers were pretty friendly and supportive of staff. 

The hardest part of the job was probably how socially draining it was but that is completely subjective and up to one's personality. The most enjoyable - and most rewarding - part was always when children would come in excited and leave with the biggest grin on their face. It's always so rewarding and it happens quite often!

Honestly,  a great company.  I had such a great time until the management started having internal issues  and accusing us of theft in the case of missing stock. You are trained in several  areas, the register, stock management and inventory, merchandising, cleaning and sanitation,  bear building and fluffing, sewing the bear up, learning how to host parties and events. It's great working with kids and families. Our managers were kind people so it was really unfortunate, but internal strife ruined the experience

This job isnt what its made out to be, it was overly stressful being left by yourself only to be  either worried about not making sales goals due to High expectations on slow days or too many customers for one person to handle. The constant hiring and high turnover rates meant either working every single day or never getting a shift with no inbetween. 

Its a okay job if your under 18 as they primarily hire high school students and you get shifts but you will most likely get replaced once you hit 18 or leave school.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Workshop manager 2 salaries reported	$28.50 per hour
Store manager 1 salary reported	$30.50 per hour

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