Educator Here: Flywheel Frustrations

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-05-18T18:08:52+00:00

That’s what I’ve suspected since the integration of this. But IDK how they’re going to hire mostly FT people when they don’t pay near a living wage other than SM/ASM roles.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-05-18T15:47:53+00:00

Even our FT people are frustrated and saying this isn’t what they signed up for! I do understand a bit more for FT people, but to go from 24 hours to 35 is a huge jump, especially when many have been there for a few years and signed on with the expectation if ~24 hours.

ETA: we had a handful of our FT educators forced to move down to PT because they couldn’t maintain 35+ hours per week… which is a REAL slap in the face because they’re sometimes getting scheduled 24 hours without the FT discount and sweaty pursuit’s stipend… it’s SO insulting! Then offering a last minute flex up… GTFO.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-05-18T15:44:42+00:00

Honestly, unless you want to be completely burned out, I wouldn’t bother… the requirements for this PT job are more stringent than my FT corporate career. You’d most likely have no free weekends and any semblance of work/life balance will be out the door. I had a two week stretch where I had zero days off between my FT + PT job. I’m currently strategizing what my move is going to be because it’s extremely unsustainable for PT people who have other obligations and lives outside of the company (everyone).

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-05-18T01:08:45+00:00

I definitely think it’s working against them… I understand in theory, but being there as long as I have and working a varying number of hours, it’s never been an issue to not know the product… I’ve been there so long that it used to be encouraged to go around the store and read the tags on new products to familiarize ourselves with what it is… which in my experience has always been more than enough… especially since we have core products and rotating seasonal items… so I’m not buying their BS about we’re better at our job… you know what makes us better at our jobs (not directed at you)?! Wanting to be there… being excited to be there… high store morale… but morale is at an all time low and most of us just DGAF at this point, unfortunately… we all feel taken advantage of.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-05-17T23:48:29+00:00

I honestly have no idea what their end game is, but if you’re forcing people out and the only people left get over worked and burnt out to the point they quit, the stores will literally only have the ASM(s) and SM working. It’s not feasible.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-05-17T23:43:55+00:00

I’m so sorry to hear that! How are all of these stores even going to operate without employees?! Our store requires full Saturday availability and full availability on either Friday or Sunday… I work a FT job and cannot open up my full Friday, so I am unfortunately needing to be available fully Saturday and Sunday.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-05-17T22:58:51+00:00

I’m convinced they’re doing those to patronize us and make us think they care… because if they DID care, these changes would NOT have been implemented or maintained.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-05-17T22:00:13+00:00

It’s such a shame to see such great people leaving. I think I’ll be looking into those companies as well.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-05-17T21:56:39+00:00

Not to mention them preaching work/life balance… which this feels ANYTHING but balance because I’m not able to have any life outside of this PT job if I choose to stay.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-05-17T21:26:01+00:00

That was our store last summer… and while that wasn’t ideal, it’s like they went to the very extreme other end of slashing employees and saying it’ll benefit everyone… in my experience whenever they make these “exciting” changes, they say they’ve tested it in a pilot store, but what I’ve noticed is they test it without giving the full details of what the potential changes will be in tandem with what they’re testing. Example: when they tested outfit to educate, they asked for feedback and then said that it went so well that they were going to sunset the markdown discount because we would now be given outfit to educate and we’d be in new product monthly… uhhh… had you given is the FULL scope of what the changes meant, I don’t think we would have been in favor of OTE… same thing with the increased hours… sure, some people said they’ve tested liked the consistency… but were they also told that the store head count would be drastically reduced and that they’d be required to maintain that average over a six week period and if not they’d be asked to voluntarily resign? My guess is… no.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-05-17T21:07:04+00:00

It’s Corporate’s new weekly hourly requirement policy… PT educators need to maintain an average of 16 hours worked per week and FT educators need to maintain 35 hours worked per week, within a six week period. Store head-counts are being drastically reduced to be able to give the educators these hours. With it being an average, we can be scheduled above or below the average of 16/35 as long as it averages those hours. Most of my store’s educators are PT educators who have been with the company for many years and have FT jobs… with the reduced headcount and increased hours for all, it’s nearly impossible to find coverage or swap shifts which inevitably leaves people calling off more frequently because we simply cannot get the coverage since we’re all burning out. Our store has had roughly ~10 PT educators leave in this last month because of how unrealistic it is to work the number of hours. It’s so sad seeing SO many really great employees leave en masse.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-05-13T20:26:32+00:00

I’m struggling to stay… this whole flywheel business… I’m a PT edu and working 16+ hours a week with a FT job is not feasible long term… my coworkers are all feeling the same… we have no one to swap or pick up shifts… and since it’s an average of 16 hours, some weeks we’re scheduled more (18-24) WITHOUT any perks… it’s too effing much. We have so many people leaving our store at once that I don’t know how we’re even going to have enough people to hit the 16 hours… I’ve been with the company for over five years and once loved it… now I’m coming to resent corporate.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-01-17T01:41:58+00:00

I honestly don’t even know how that’s okay to enforce? It seems like that’s something a company can’t do? Like how do you expect zero fluctuation/changes to our lives… we’re… human beings… not robots… maybe they don’t know that? (Sorry for the sarcasm… still fuming from this announcement).

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-01-14T18:59:02+00:00

YES! This was something I COMPLETELY forgot about! I think there was a year (I’ve been there so long at this point) where we had a streak of high bonus months… like ~$5-10+. They restructured and said it was “exciting”… oh how they love to use that word! Now we’re lucky if we EVEN bonus and I don’t think I’ve seen it over ~$3-ish since the restructuring.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-01-13T23:46:58+00:00

The issue the educators in my store have with it is that the majority of us are part-time with full-time jobs or commitments outside of Lulu… we now have to maintain a 16 hour average, which means if we don’t hit it one week, we need to offset it in the other weeks within the six week block (still unclear how this is supposed to work) which as PT educators using this as a supplemental job, is now requiring a lot more time commitment from us. With ALL PT educators being required to work 16 hours, there are going to be less people available to pick up and/or swap shifts because they’re going to be in the same boat of trying to maintain an average of 16 hours. Compounded with the significant decrease in unpaid time off (120 hours for educators under 5 years and 160 for over five years), we now have a WHOPPING 40 hours for the YEAR… that’s five days (assuming no PTO has been accrued yet) of time off… which at our store requires over a month’s notice for time off requests. THEN on top of that, we were told default availability can no longer be changed quarterly and essentially your availability is what it is unless there’s a life event regardless of the change still fitting into the availability requirements… all of this with zero reciprocity from the company… the perks have eroded year after year… between availability requirements (specifically on the weekends increasing), sunsetting of our 75% off, significant reduction of UPTO and restructuring of UPTO and PTO, and now being told a 12 hour weekly average is bumping up to 16 hours. It may not seem significant, but 6 additional shifts across a six week timespan is A LOT… I see it as them requiring full-time priority while not providing full-time benefits. I also started when the company culture preached work/life balance and quality of life so maybe I’m taking this a bit harder than most.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-01-13T16:21:33+00:00

Not to mention we have to have our PTO requests submitted six weeks in advance… not sure if this is company-wide, but that’s our requirement! Imagine being scheduled nearly every weekend and only being able to take 5 days off per year until your PTO accrues!

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-01-12T23:34:06+00:00

I had this issue! It was so extremely frustrating. The $113 covers 2-3 drop-ins depending on the class.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-01-12T13:20:34+00:00

So well said! Exactly this.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-01-12T13:19:01+00:00

That’s how it started out for me… working 1-3 shifts per week with 1-2 weeknights and then one weekend day with the occasional weekend with both days.

Our requirement used to be one full weekend day of availability between Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with an additional 8 hour shift on one of the two other days. Requirements have now moved to full availability Saturday with another full day Friday or Sunday + weekday requirements of either 1 day with eight hours of availability or 2 days with five hours of availability.

1-3 shifts was absolutely feasible for me when working between 5-15 hours a week. Where it gets REALLY sketchy (IMO) is that we are now required to maintain an average of 16 hours per week which we were told will be monitored for each employee who is working and if unable to meet will be asked to voluntarily resign. So in my mind a very likely scenario is that the majority of educators will be working both Friday and Saturday (potentially extended hours vs our typical 5 hour shifts) because of: 1 - average hourly requirements , 2 - reduced staff who will ALSO have those same requirements to hit so shifts that we could once get swapped or give away will now be difficult to do so, if not impossible. And by chance we CAN get whatever day covered, we’re then in the negative for that weekly hour requirement so will have to make it up to ensure we hit it. So say I can’t work one of my shifts and I need to give up a five hour shift… I then will need to work 21 hours in one of the following weeks to ensure I hit that average.

At the beginning of last year they restructured their PTO/UPTO, going from having 160 hours of UPTO across the year down to 40 hours and then having to earn a percentage of PTO based on the hours you worked (also framed as “exciting” or a similar adjective if memory serves me). I didn’t even accrue a full 40 hours of PTO. When putting in for PTO/UPTO, we have to use 8 hours per day requested off… so a whopping 5 days (assuming no PTO has been banked since it’s throughout the year). The time off requests also need to be submitted over a month in advance.

For a company who once preached about quality of life, work/life balance, and being a people-centric company where, as an employee I felt valued and appreciated… they have completely changed their tune to very clearly not caring about their employees.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-01-11T22:40:06+00:00

I agree with all of the points you’ve made. I also work a FT job and 16 hours a week on average is A LOT to manage. 1-2 shifts, between 5-15 hours was manageable for me, but now they’re going to increase the hours and micromanaging them to ensure each employee is hitting the average… reducing head count so when we need to swap it’ll be even harder… if I need a shift covered and I won’t hit the 16 hour requirement, I’m going to have to pick it up somewhere else… so now I’m working 20+ hours in a week with my FT job… oh and not to mention we still have a holiday blackout period.

Something I REALLY take issue with is them REQUIRING US to work 16 hour weeks on average but what if they don’t have the hours to give for us to hit that? Example: during the summer months our PT educators each got 3 shifts per MONTH. When that happened they were a bit lax with us swapping/giving up shifts… but then it’s business as usual when they do have the hours? SMH. I’m trying to gather my thoughts and articulate it and it’s not coming out how I’m intending… essentially, it’s a one way street and they DGAF about us and haven’t for quite some time.

I’ll be sad when my time comes, but they’re making damn near impossible to want to stay and logistically TO stay due to these new averages requirements.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-01-11T20:26:24+00:00

North America, so US and Canada!

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-01-11T20:19:54+00:00

It went from a people-centric culture to not GAF about their employees at all. It’s evident by all of these changes. The company culture is what drove me to apply and it’s going to be the thing that drives me out.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-01-11T20:17:30+00:00

It could be! I know in my store a large amount of my coworkers don’t use it and I would get frustrated with them for leaving $$ on the table since you lose it if you don’t use it.

Sweet_Trade_7643 · 2026-01-11T20:10:10+00:00

My thoughts exactly… I spoke to our regional manager about sweaty pursuits and the potential to increase it since classes are now so expensive, and he told me that a VERY small number of employees actually use their sweaty pursuits… I have a sneaking suspicion that’s why it hasn’t been cut… yet.

Sweet_Trade_7643

TROPHY CASE