Pros
Compensation is well above industry standards; especially for a specialty retailer.
Cons
“If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.” Behind the glitz and glam of dollar signs and visual appeal, exists a toxic culture fueled by lies and deceit. Don’t be fooled by the seductive salary, as the amount does not offset the mental manipulation, emotional oppression, and physical exhaustion required to survive the turbulent working conditions. Its disturbing that a “faith based” company hides behind the protection of a mandatory pre-employment NDA in order to not expose the ugly reality of the corporation. Let’s be honest… They aren’t reinventing the wheel of retail/customer service, nor are they innovating the industry through any of their operational procedures. Employee compliance is obtained solely through a culture that fosters out of fear. Making this public knowledge would reveal the cracked foundation and dysfunction that has remained concealed by mastering the art of gaslighting along with superficial distractions. Its only a matter of time until the romance for the brand is extinguished and unveiled by the masses for being the abusive partner of an institutional relationship. RED FLAG: Policies and Procedures are non-existent. Talk about an HR nightmare. Disciplinary action and/or performance evaluations are delivered at the discretion of upper management with limited (or zero) opportunity to display improvement. Luckily this did not pertain to me (enter fear based perfectionism), but was witnessed first hand throughout my tenure with the brand. The code of conduct consists of a vague bullet pointed list of leadership principles and is left up to interpretation. Ironic that it is displayed in such a way that it undoubtedly resembles The Ten Commandments… CEO Aaron Walters can be observed weekly as he conducts his mandatory leadership call every Friday morning. My initial excitement for these meetings was quickly dissolved when it became clear that these calls served as a platform to express his never ending disappoint with company performance, communicate unabashedly how replaceable each individual is, all while spinning some self-invented parable in which he was the main character. I’m unsure if the purpose of the calls was to hold his leadership team hostage to his sermons or to selfishly serve as a replacement for therapy. Either way, the impact was rarely positive unless you thrive on disparaging statements that reiterates how little value you bring to the table.
