As you walk from class to class or around campus, have you ever encountered girls wearing the same military-like jacket, perhaps in a green or darker colour? Or identical jackets with the same triple hoop-like logo? The answer is probably yes and if you’re from Canada, you probably know where these articles of clothing originate from. Aritzia, that’s right.
Aritzia is a Canadian brand that was founded by Brian Hill in 1984 in my hometown Vancouver, British Columbia. Since then, the retailer can be found in cities across Canada and even in limited parts of the United States of America. In a later month of 2012, Aritzia exposed its customer base to an online store which may have caused some heart attacks in their sales associates.
Why?
An analogy of the sales associates would be panthers clawing away at each other for the last scrap of meat, or in Aritzia’s case, the sale.
According to an article from Hushmagazine, the sales associates are expected to sell at least $500 worth of merchandise every hour in order to keep their jobs and perhaps be promoted. They receive no commission whatsoever and the sales performance of each girl is put on display for other employees to see. This creates a competitive atmosphere among the employees and this is why every time you pick up an item, a girl (more likely a few) decked out in Aritzia clothing will come rushing over to you. Don’t worry though as they’re not trying to rip off your head; they’re only trying to persuade you to pay for the item(s) as soon as possible.
If you’ve taken Comm 101, you probably read the article about Zappos just like me. From the article, we are informed that Zappos partially maintains its positive and relaxing corporate culture by affording free food its employees. Doesn`t that spark an idea in your head? Maybe Aritzia should offer its employees free food as way of enhancing its working environment.
Aritzia already provides that service to its employees typically around the Christmas season time. However, free food “on boxing day… [requires]… work, and most of the time it is upwards of 14 hours without a break” (Hushmagazine, 2013). It is a no brainer that the environment in Aritzia is often catty and always competitive.
With all of that being said, Aritzia is flourishing with profit though, hence the number of new stores opening up. However, is making profit more important than the wellbeing and stress level of employees, humans?
References:
http://hushmagazine.ca/culture/5-worst-things-about-working-at-aritzia/
http://www.ratemyemployer.ca/Employers/AR/Aritzia
http://www.complaints.com/2010/october/7/Snobby_Aritzia_Sales_Associate_243527.htm