Pros
There are a lot of wonderful people who really care about giving customers the best possible experience with every visit. There's a great range of personalities and tons of fun people. Lots of opportunities to help with charity and community causes and exciting associate activities.
Cons
"To value our associates . . ." part of the mission statement has seemed to take a backseat to corporate greed and egos in the past couple years. The culture has taken a dramatic shift in the past 10 years or so and not for the better. You say you value associates but so many people are not feeling that lately - no raises or increases in years, passed up for positions, relying heavily on the survey (even though you say it's not a factor), being dropped from growth programs/classes without explanation, saying you can't afford to keep people then hire new positions and take trips out of the country, adding more stores but not more support, etc. A lot of great people will be lost because of the single, but most important, reason of not feeling valued. The cons could easily be remedied with just a simple focus back on what build the success and by following the mission statement.