Vera Bradley reviews

Leadership is completely disconnected from the loyal customer that made the brand. Quality and integrity is sacrificed in an attempt improve stock price. Talent promotions/career advancement is not earned and is dependent on if you look and dress like a white Barbie cheerleader or are "friends" of leaders. The Human Resource department is not a partner to individuals and assists in the managing out of anyone who has an opinion and is brave enough to speak up for their team. No consistency in policy, procedures or direction. Dress code changes frequently requiring new work appropriate clothing to be purchased without any reimbursement. Frequently receive communication that affects posted schedules and constantly requiring store teams to scramble to accommodate new direction or task. Operates on outdated systems and lacks reports necessary to make educated business decisions.

They do not know how to manage people. They use fear, intimidation and bullying as a tactic to get people to work. I know from experience that doesn't work it actually demotivates. I have never worked at a company where they bully people but I have witnessed it at Vera Bradley. One person was intimidated so much that they quit from the stress of it. They single out people for God knows what reason. They do it slyly though, in a passive aggressive manner, they throw stones then hide their hands so they are cowards also. There is one manager who is good who has years of experience in management though and she is not so bad but she is a "company" person and does what she's told even though she knows it is ridiculous. There is another manager who was good as well but they demoted her, no reason was given but the general consensus is that she was less cooperative with the tactics being used on people, she is a kind person and really wants people to come to work do their jobs and be happy while they are doing it. The other problem is scheduling, they bring all these temps in under the guise that they will be filling in during hours that we may not be staffed properly but then give them prime hours that a full time employee would love to have. They also have this shift bid thing that is supposed to be used to determine if a shift opens up who will get the shift, problem is they don't use it they just pick the person that they like and give them the shift. HR is no help with any of these issues, the person assigned to our department frequently goes out to lunch with management and confidential information is disclosed to management. The other managers are lap dogs to the director they get their management style from her, I don't think any of them have any previous experience managing so she dictates how they should manage and they sit at her feet panting waiting for a crumb from her table. I have worked for men and women and largely hate working for women because of their insecurity, and the person at the top is insecure and it shows.