Pros
The culture and core values of the company were the reasons I wanted to work at Vera over any other company.Very good pay scale compared to other retailers. Benefit package was great until last year when health insurance took a nose dive and got very invasive. Sales associates were wonderful girls but some groups tended to be like high school and very cliquey. There was the in-crowd and then the others. The product was fun and easy to sell. They guests were so nice for the most part.
Cons
The biggest challenges are definitely the upper management. Store managers only look out for themselves. They create a divide and conquer atmosphere in order to feel like they have control. They encourage the team to "report" on each other. They play favorites with both associates and management team - keeping some out of the information loop. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing at corporate. Too many differing directives that totally contradict and waste time. Too many last minute emergency desperate decisions for floor changes to try to grab sales. Stores know best what's selling but are not given any leeway to act on it. It should not be a one size fits all strategy - we're not all the same. Unsafe working conditions both in backroom and offsite - accidents waiting to happen. Definitely not a "girl's best friend" atmosphere or policy any more. New regime is only focused on the $$$ bottom line. Employees are leaving with a bad taste in their mouths. Recent ASM job eliminations created way too much stress for whole team and was handled very very poorly by HR. Sales plans are unrealistic when every specialty store, online and outlet returns go against the daily numbers.