Kent Building Supplies Employee Reviews

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A typical day at work

Floor Associate (Current Employee) – Truro, NS – 18 September 2018

Waiting on customers and fixing issues that arise. The staff are very knowledgeable and helpful. Lots of team work! The hardest part is being short staffed and having to take on different roles.

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fast paced

sales associate (Current Employee) – Moncton, NB – 9 September 2018

fun place to work, must be willing to work hard, you can get training on a lot of stuff hardest part is having enough time in the day to do everything

Cons

long hours, short staffed all the time

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Friendly place to work, with other employees

Cashier, Warehouse, Project desk (Former Employee) – Corner Brook, NL – 31 August 2018

Clock in walk around to see what might have to be done (store standards).If on cash, get your tray ready bring it out to warehouse and log in, and start serving customers. First customers in the morning when you open are usually contractors. If on project desk, make sure every thing is ready for customers, flooring is filled, and anything associated with it is available. Check molding, window and door isles for shortages.Help customers in any way you can to make their visit a positive one.If you see a customer wondering around go and find out if you can help them in any way.

Pros

Bbq, Free lunches, recognition letter, gift card give away

Cons

short staffed, unfair wages, customers attitudes, argue at times

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Can be fast-paced and enjoyable place to work

Sales Associate (Current Employee) – Mount Pearl, NL – 27 August 2018

I come in and do a walk through of my department, put things away, fill holes. Help customers as needed. Management is nice but often doesn't follow policy when it comes to returns and giving out sale prices after the sales so they usually say yes after you already said no to the customer which sucks. Management changes a lot though, they're all constantly changing stores. The hardest part is the bad customers who come in screaming at you. I've been cursed out by customers before and called down to the dirt all because I wouldn't let them return something they didn't even get at Kent or because I wouldn't put the money they're owed from a return on visa when they bought it on MasterCard (its against our policy to put it back on a different type card then what they paid it on, I'd get wrote up if I did). But the employees are the absolute best part. Everyone is so kind and it really does feel like one big family. And theres a lot you can learn at a place like Kent. A lot of good life skills and work skills. It does sound bad but once you're there you won't want to leave because of the incredible people you meet.

Pros

Great co-workers, nice atmosphere

Cons

frequent hour cuts, no raises for part-timers

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Fast moving and fun business to work for

Customer Service, Head Cashier (Former Employee) – Antigonish, NS – 5 August 2018

Kent Building Supplies is a great company to work for. Specializing in your "everything store under one roof" is a way of saying this store has everything you need for building projects, DIY projects at home, and more! The majority of the staff is highly dedicated, friendly, and passionate about customer service. They always work to approach the customer instead of the customer having to chase down an associate for help. It was a fantastic place to learn, and grow in the customer service sector. Plenty of room for career growth. It is not a place to go and make a lot of money at, but it is a great place to build on your experience in the workforce.

starting is roughly $11, with only a $.25 raise after a year of doing a good job. Managers don't make a lot of money at this place for the responsibilities they hold. Store manager makes less than $50K per year

Pros

free lunches, staff appreciation, fantastic management, clean

Cons

low paying salaries, minimum wage for starters, with low-monetary raises

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great people to work with

Operations Manager (Former Employee) – Dartmouth, NS – 27 July 2018

continuous cross training
great company
customer driven
high standards set by GM to his associates
monthly standards inspections
balanced scorecard per period, quarter, yearly etc.
continuous improvement
safety driven
daily, weekly, monthly meetings

Pros

great people

Cons

staff turnover especially summer months

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Too long since I worked there.

Yard Personnel (Former Employee) – Truro, NS – 8 July 2018

It has been too long since I last worked there so I can't properly review the current situation with the company. They did have a strong emphasis on safety.

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awful soul sucking place

worker (Former Employee) – Nova scotia – 26 June 2018

Kent is easily the worst place to work. The management doesn't care about you, through they claim they do on paper. God forbid you get hurt, they won't support you they will basically force you to quit or fire you if they can. The pay is terrible and you don't get raises

Pros

none

Cons

everything

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Not Worth The Time

Lumber Yard Cashier (Former Employee) – Dartmouth, NS – 22 June 2018

as a cashier, you are expected to come in and count your till before the shift and count your till down at the end of your shift, after you are scheduled to be there. if you're closing you're expected to stay till all the customers leave and then count down your till regardless of how far past your scheduled shift you are and you only get paid what you're scheduled and not what you work. you get an hour lunch but they tell you ahead of time that they will cut it short at any time without warning. you really don't get any training except for what your fellow cashiers tell you and you are expected to memorize the skus for most of the products. if you are the cashier at the lumber yard there are typically only two of you throughout the day so your lunch in the morning doesn't come until nearly 2 or so when the next lumber yard cashier comes in or is relatively early if you're the second shift.

Pros

hour lunches

Cons

high turn over rate, long hours, no training, terrible atmostphere

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Good place to work

Yard Labourer (Former Employee) – Amherst, NS – 18 June 2018

I Liked working there did not mind the work but would prefer not to be out in the weather all the time. Heavey lifting and wet and cold but good people to work with.

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Understaffed, but most employees were nice to work with.

Cashier/Floor Associate (Former Employee) – Gander, NL – 4 June 2018

A typical day consisted of checking in customers and organizing inventory. Most other employees were great to work with, but management was inconsistent and did not seem to understand how to manage the front staff appropriately. It was greatly understaffed most of the time, particularly evenings and weekends. I did learn about the importance of customer service, which was also the hardest part of the job because you can't make everyone happy.

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good experience

yard supervisor (Former Employee) – Grand Falls, NB – 27 May 2018

I loved working with people again outside but the management weren't the very best, we were overworked and shorthanded so it made us kinda hate the job and to add to it we was under paid.

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Enjoyable working environment

Lumber Yard Labourer (Former Employee) – Charlottetown, PE – 16 May 2018

Working at Kent was a good experience given that I had not previously worked and was a good starting ground. Though it took time to discover the whereabouts of products and how to work with customers, I got more comfortable over time. There was never a lack of shifts to work and I was able to get many hours there.

Pros

Getting hours not an issue

Cons

Long day on pavement

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Great working enviroment

Customer Service Rep (Former Employee) – Dartmouth, NS – 25 April 2018

Working at kent you can learn a lot about different trades. Very flexible with hours. Great for part-time work. If trying to figure out which trade you want to get into a great starting point, working in different departments.

Pros

fun enviroment

Cons

no paid lunch

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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

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Great Company

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.

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Busy,customer service friendly company

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

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Great place to learn and grow if you work hard

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

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stable work enviroment

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.

Pros

steady reliable hours

Cons

little to no room for advancement

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good work place

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.

Cons

long hours, low pay

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Work Management Style

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.

Pros

colleagues

Cons

Long hour, minimum wage, shifts

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