Pros
ESL truly does care about its customers and the community, and I believe they are sincere about wanting to make the right decisions. The majority of employees are wonderful - smart, caring and very hard working.
Cons
ESL's focus on "best company to work for" has become more about the publicity then it is a reflection of how they treat employees. The vast majority of employees are stressed out and overworked, and once you get to a certain level, opportunity for career growth is minimal. Too much of the power and responsibility lies with a fairly small senior management group. They say they want to empower employees to make decisions, but senior management is always involved and often overturns the recommendations of staff. Senior managers are paid ridiculous sums of money and they will do anything to hold on to their jobs, even if it means throwing their employees under the bus. Everyone is terrified of the CEO (the new CEO) and will do anything he says, even if its not what's in the company's best interest. As many of the other reviews have said, the turnover is high and employees - even some of the best employees - "disappear" without explanation or understanding. A few years ago, they let go one of the best managers, someone who everyone really liked and respected. She seemed to be the epitome of their core values but obviously she was threatening to the status quo. I'm sure there are two sides to every story but after so many layoffs of great people, you wonder what is really going on.
