Careers Business Ownership The Worst Retail Companies to Work for in the US A Look at the Worst Employers According to Surveys Share PINTEREST Email Print Adie Bush/Cultura/Getty Images Business Ownership Industries Retail Small Business Restauranting Real Estate Nonprofit Organizations Landlords Import/Export Business Freelancing & Consulting Franchises Food & Beverage Event Planning eBay E-commerce Construction Operations & Success Becoming an Owner By Barbara Farfan Barbara Farfan University of Georgia Barbara Farfan is a retail industry expert with more than 20 years as a business consultant for the retail and publishing industries. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on 06/25/19 Job hunters considering employment with a retailing company want to know which are the best retail employers to pursue, as well as which retailing companies they should avoid. By researching several different "best" lists, job hunters can easily identify a variety of ways that a retail company would be a best fit retail employer. It's a bit harder to find a list of the worst companies to work for in retail, but prospective employees now have a place to go for this information as well. The Origin of the Worst Places to Work List Few organizations are brave enough to release "worst" lists. We can only imagine the backlash that happens when a multi-billion dollar retailing company is identified as the "worst" in any way. However, Glassdoor.com is one organization that dared to compile and make public a "Worst Companies to Work For" list beginning in 2008 based on voluntary employee surveys that evaluate eight workplace factors: Senior leadershipCommunicationEmployee moraleCareer opportunitiesWork/life balanceCompensation and benefitsRecognition and feedbackFairness and respect Glassdoor stopped publishing its “worst employers” list after 2009, but using the data available on the Glassdoor website, 24/7 Wall St. has been creating its own worst workplaces list since 2012, based on its research and analysis of the ratings, rankings, and comments which are publicly available on Glassdoor.com. More than half of the companies on the 2015 Worst Companies to Work For list are retail companies. While this doesn't speak particularly well for the retail industry as a whole, it is even more damaging to the individual retail companies that are consistently ranked by their employees as a bad place to work. Dillard's has been ranked as one of the worst retail companies to work for in recent years. The same goes for Sears and Kmart, although they have not always landed on the list. Being a multi-year "worst employer" doesn't help the Dillard's or Sears/Kmart recruiting efforts at any level in the retail organization. And it also doesn't help recruiters in the largest U.S. retail chains, which prospective employees tend to consider to be guilty by association of bad employment practices. What follows is a list of retail companies that have been ranked as the worst retail employers in 2019, as well as some past lists. The number in the left column indicates the "worst" ranking that each retail company was assigned according to survey results, compared to all U.S. companies in all industries. The lower the ranking number, the worse the retail employer is, according to current and past employees who voluntarily posted their opinions on Glassdor.com. 2019 Worst Retail Companies to Work For 5. Family Dollar Stores12. The Children’s Place 2015 Worst Retail Companies to Work For 2. Dillard's3. Kmart4. Forever 216. Sears9. Ross Stores10. Dollar General12. CVS 2014 Worst Retail Companies to Work For 1. Books-A-Million4. Jos. A. Bank Clothiers6. Dillard’s8. hhgregg9. Family Dollar10. Children’s Place11. RadioShack 2013 Worst Retail Companies to Work For 3. Dillard’s4. Dollar General5. Radio Shack7. Sears / Kmart 2012 Worst Retail Companies to Work For 2. Dillard’s3. Radio Shack5. OfficeMax6. Sears / Kmart9. Rite Aid10. GameStop 2009 Worst Retail Companies to Work For 4. AutoZone15. Kmart16. RadioShack20. Forever 2123. Sports Authority24. Fastenal25. Bed Bath & Beyond 2008 Worst Retail Companies to Work For 6. Radio Shack18. Chrysler24. Borders25. Rite Aid31. OfficeMax37. Blockbuster41. Macy's46. Circuit City47. eBay More About Retail Jobs and Employers: Best Retail Companies to Work ForApply Online for Current Retail Job Openings