Pros
Communication from management is direct, positive and personal. Employees are encouraged to attend the daily morning-meetings and announcements made tend to be divided fairly between business and personal (sales figures are discussed alongside birth announcements and so on). Criticism is accepted and responded to, often quickly. I found the atmosphere at IKEA to be highly friendly and welcoming. Large tasks are not dumped on one individual; it was common for each department to send co-workers to help with deliveries, or to help with re-building display items as a department was redesigned. This was mostly reserved for outside store hours for obvious reasons. Management themselves seem to be highly transparent, the management impediment between myself and "The Board" was four deep (department, store, uk, global). Communicating above your direct manager is not discouraged, but also not actively encouraged, you're likely to be told "Great idea, have you talked to your manger about it?" if you do. One of the main benefits I found was the freedom to work without a script. Think X would go better with/in/at Y? Do it. Think a customer needs more help than usual? Go help them. No customers about? Have wheely-chair races if you're bored. You have pretty much full jurisdiction over your own department. The store canteen is worth a mention. Although there are fewer healthy options than might be desired, the food available is good, service is quick and heavily discounted. Not free, but we're talking £1 for a full meal. Much better than any other place I've worked. Health and safety was a major concern, with everyone being briefed properly before being let out onto the shop floor. The uniform mandates a safety knife and steel-toecapped boots for everyone, with roving duty-medics and a dedicated medical room. One of the first things said to me while on the shop-floor was "At IKEA, we don't catch glass. Let it fall then sweep it up. Your hands are worth more". While it was practically unheard of for anyone to suffer abuse in the store, there was also a security team who would respond within two minutes to any call to the emergency number. Although the conscience of IKEA can be called into question with the highly-visible (and low value) charity spending, the environment is highly considered. Recycling is split into glass(separated into clear, broken, frosted and coloured)/plastic(separated into hard, banding and polystyrene)/paper/cardboard/wood/metal/landfill, with landfill being padlocked and requiring authorisation from the loading-bay co-worker. The lighting is also dimmed from spotlights to energy-saving strip lights outside opening hours (lighting is needed for stock deliveries and cleaning). Security is also highly fair. The co-worker entrance hall has a random buzzer that everyone must press when leaving. If it buzzes, they must empty their pockets/bag to make sure they're not stealing. This applies to everyone, unilaterally. The store manager must also submit. There were also dedicated meditation/prayer rooms, two store-funded department parties plus one store-wide party per year, free eyecare and massages available. Not bad for retail.
Cons
Working on a small department, you will spend a lot of time either alone, or dealing with customer requests. There really aught to be at least one person to supervise the department at all times and that can leave you with a queue of customers and furniture left to build. During quiet periods, this does give you a lot of freedom on the department, but can also be terminally boring. The hours available can be very long, 10-12hour shifts being common. There is a lot of flexibility when needed though, such as catering for people with children at school leaving at a specific time, or students working holidays. Breaks are enforced however, if you don't take an hour for your lunch or the full short-break entitlement its expected you'll leave early or take longer next time. There is no real opportunity for advancement. Departments take little managing, and managers will often train co-workers on systems such as stock management (really due for an update guys, lets have a GUI at least!) and paper reporting, but no real pay benefits are given for this management work. Ever found yourself lost in an IKEA store? I totally understand. The store layout at Leeds was particularly odd being a prototype single-storey store. So many customers would ask for help after going around in a circle three times due to the path taking a right-turn at a blank wall, right next to a short-cut backwards. The external-warehouse this layout necessitated also confused customers, who would return to the department after ordering and paying for only half their order. While a customer was never rude to me or anyone in my department, I can completely understand their frustration. The pay also wasn't great.