Assistant Store Manager (Former Employee) – Halifax, NS – 30 March 2018
I had great opportunities with Kent, but worked hard to earn every one. The co-workers are the best part of the job. I really enjoyed the chances I had to meet wonderful people around the Maritimes. The individual store managers are over-stressed and underpaid. The upper management is quite disconnected from the store staff.
The most recent pattern of hiring and promoting only young white men is disconcerting. The opportunities for advancement for women and minorities are almost non-existent. With the recent acquisition of Central Building Supplies, there have been a few more opportunities for women but these are rare.
Pros
great peers and good growth opportunities
Cons
pay scale, DMs, focus on promoting men, lack of diversity
Safe and Reliable work with good staff and customers
Lumberyard Worker (Current Employee) – Mount Pearl, NL – 24 April 2018
Typicals days are reviewing Lumberyard safety practices, sorting and cutting Lumber, assisting customers with products. Learned how to drive a forklift
Pros
Friendly staff and outside work
Cons
long hours, lots of unnecessary garbage being thrown out
Project Desk Associate (Former Employee) – Riverview, NB – 17 April 2018
Great company to work for. Excellent people to work with. excellent training provided to all employees I fully enjoyed working for Kent and would have loved to stay with the company. I would return there anytime.
Yard Worker (Current Employee) – Fredericton, NB – 16 April 2018
Kent Building Supplies is a team based company that very much works along the lines of safety and teamwork. Many oppertunitys for advancement if you desire to do so.
Cons
Hours often cut in winter months, associate to associate conflicts
Front End Department Head (Current Employee) – Halifax, NS – 26 March 2018
Kent is a reliable work environment. It has reliable work hours but very little in the ways of advancement and it runs on a who knows who when it comes to applying for jobs within the company.
Project Desk associate (Former Employee) – Fredericton, NB – 15 March 2018
Working here was pretty good. I worked nights and weekends. They let me have saturdays off because i had another event. They were easy to get along with, they just needed to do some things differently and either hire more people or cut down on the operation hours.
Pros
work with good people, some activities for workers.
Sales Associate (Former Employee) – Mount Pearl, NL – 14 March 2018
I enjoyed the people I worked with but found that management would not be as supportive.
We would be told in certain senarios that credits would not be given which we would tell customer then the management would reverse the decision and I always felt that they made us look idiotic.
Productive environment to work in, help employees and good management. Very accommodating to schedules and very supportive to university students. Overall really enjoyed my summer there.
Flooring Sales, assembly of display units (Former Employee) – Saint John East, NB – 6 March 2018
free iniforms. definetley learning new things daily. great staff. steady customers. not to far a drive to work . also bus goes right by the store. it is in the most poular part of town. very busy in the area its located. all very popular shopping spots amd eateries next door. a definite place with a lot of customers, and private contractors buying there stock also.
I work for Kent Building supplies several times, the only issue was the inability to be able to voice concerns. The opportunity of advancement was difficult.
The work place at kent was ok it semed as if managment was not very caring about the employees. i leearned alot about materials and lumber and gained good experience but i just didnt enjoy working there. seemed like no matter what you did or how long you worked there they didnt want to help with pay or health bennifits.
Project Desk Associate (Current Employee) – Atholville, NB – 31 January 2018
If your looking for a job with great benefits, friendly staff, Job security and a lot of Advancement opportunity working for JDI is just amazing they have so many company that you can transfer to if you're ever looking for another challenge career wise.
Receiver (Former Employee) – St. John's, NL – 28 December 2017
Company had an extensive amount of job security for those willing to work. Management was very unorganized. Too many people employed but not enough work being done on the floor. A lot of miscommunication among management and supervisors, resulting in chaos.
Assistant merchant (Current Employee) – Saint John, NB – 7 November 2017
Working for Kent building supplies gives you lots for opportunities to move up in the company. This is a fast pace company and are growing daily. Kent have a very good medical plan and retirement savings plan.
Customer Service Associate (Former Employee) – St. John's, NL – 5 November 2017
Working with kents has provided me with qualities that builds my people reationship. I have also trained on the job and equipped with qualities that will help me in my next job.
Contractor Sales/New Construction (Current Employee) – Grand Falls-Windsor, NL – 3 November 2017
Very professional workplace and the staff and management were very professional and well trained. I spent most of my day on the phone with contractors and in front of my computer. Quoting business projects was a big part of my day. I was on my own for much of the time with very little contact with management but dealt with other associates in the store on a regular basis. What I enjoyed most about the job was the interaction with customers and the customer service aspect of the job. Large projects became very time consuming and tedious when it came to the actually sourcing and ordering process.
Cashier (Former Employee) – Saint John, NB – 15 October 2017
Not much room for advancements, usually lacking sufficient associates.Products are good, easy to sell. Many customers complain about lack of floor service.
Kent provided excellent training in both job safety and skills development. I was hired for a position that I was not qualified for but they saw potential in me through the interviewing process and capitalized on my skills from previous positions. I learned a great deal while working at Kent.
Kitchens (Current Employee) – St. John's, NL – 12 October 2017
Very productive workplace. Always projects to work on. Never a dull moment. Morale is not the best with a high turn over rate. Work associates are easy to get a long with.
Kent is only for retired people or for people in school or for someone that just wants some extra money . If your trying to raise a family on Kent wages you will have an extremely hard time you will never own a ((nice)) car or a home unless you have a spouse you won't be able to afford much. The wages are really bad. Well kent does have a retirement plan its an rrsp and well thats better than nothing they could do much better for there employees..On the othere's hand most of the staff are friendly and are easy to get along with,the medical plan is good and not expensive,and the employee discount is fantastic.
Pros
Medical plan, employee discount, employees, rrsp
Cons
Low wages, dead end job, no pensions, they make you buy uniforms