I have encountered many challenges that make me question if this will work long term for me as well as if these challenges will prevent the company from being as successful as planned. First, salary is very non competitive. If you are a retail professional with any sort of degree and pet industry experience, it does not seem that it makes a difference. You are paid pretty much the same level as someone with no pet retail experience or education. The salary is well below national average. Next, things seem to be very cliquish. Although the company is spread throughout the United States, if something happens in a store, even HR issues, somehow the majority of the company knows about the issue. There seems to be a selected few store managers who are "the chosen ones" and can get away with anything, these being the same people who stir the most trouble. For this reason, I consider the company highly unprofessional and disorganized in the way of productive work environment standards, store management expectations, human resources issues and talent acquisition. Finally, the culture. While the culture is a paramount part of the company, they seem to be moving away from it. More and more "the culture" is used as an excuse and "the culture" seems to have picked up many many more unwritten paragraphs. Going back to that original culture instead of a small company pretending to be an empire would be very becoming. These issues are often growing pains of a new company but can also be detrimental, making myself as well as other colleagues worry about the future of the company and if all is going to pan out and be successful.
