Seems like a great place to work, but isn't - Anonymous employee Vera Bradley Employee Review

Vera Bradley seems like such a great company from the outside but once you come in, you quickly see that this is not a thriving company with a great culture that people on the outside are led to believe. Please don't make the mistake of moving your family to Fort Wayne to work here. You will be moving your family again very soon once you realize it is not what you signed up for. This company is so poorly run and managed, it is hard to imagine how they have been in business for so long. A lot of time and energy is spent on “Core Values” and living these core values in everyday interactions. Many members of the management team are the worst representatives of these values, especially humility. The company is very cliquey and it is very hard to break into those cliques. It takes a significant amount of time for new employees to feel part of the team. Previously, people were very welcoming and made an effort to help and onboard new people. It used to be a family atmosphere where people cared about each other and made an effort to get to know others. This has changed to a high stress corporate environment where people are out for their own advancement. This is also a very political place where people who are not willing to compromise their values or "play the game" are quickly stomped on. A new CMO was brought on in June of 2015. HR made a great effort to onboard her as company has had trouble keeping someone in this position. After a lot of fanfare and empty promises, CMO has not delivered on the promises she made to the team. Team has quickly turned on her and morale is as low as ever. Employees would feel more valued if she ever bothered to walk through the office and say hello to her team or show her face at all. Executives spend most of their days in meetings and are expected to work at night. Work life balance and workload distribution is very poor. Decisions are made at the executive level and many times these decisions are not cascaded down. People who work on executing plans are frequently left out of the planning and do not have any opportunity to provide feedback into the best way to perform their daily tasks. Efficiency could be increased with realistic goals instead of over promising. Company is dysfunctional as a work place. Poor planning as well as last minute changes lead to poor execution of well-intentioned ideas. Women who are in leadership roles frequently make fun of customers and people who shop at the outlet sale. They only want customers who have a certain look and are working to push away the less desirable customers.