-Blatant favoritism from all levels of management
-No management training program to speak of, only a "Walk in my shoes/sink or swim" mentality
-Commission structure constantly revised to lower "commission expenses"
-Both employees and customers are treated as nothing more than assets or profit margins
-Frontline employees are incredibly disconnected from management levels above store level. Intentionally. In fact, frontline is directly discouraged from communicating with anyone besides their immediate management team.
The worst part is, VZW only really started to go down the tubes in the last 2 years or so. Their "culture" is completely surrounded by profit and nothing else. The phrase "it's all about the numbers" is a mantra often repeated by store, district, and region level management. Sure, results are important, but not at the expense of all else. There is exactly zero chance to maintain a work/life balance. Throughout the interview, orientation, and training process they will often talk about the importance of work/life balance, but the reality is you can only achieve a balance if work IS your life. Working retail hours is expected and par for the course, but things like vacation blackouts for almost 5 months out of the year, limits of 1 employee out on vacation at a time with stores of 30+ people, and blatant scheduling favoritism are just unacceptable.
Incredibly high pressure and micromanagement to hit ever increasing targets will make 90% of people burn out within 18-24 months. Employees can be treated like gold one month, and targeted the next for any deviation in performance. Management has a bit too much leeway in terms of how programs and policies are interpreted and implemented. And they LOVE to remind how replaceable the frontline employees are.
Bottom line, if you're a sales machine with no family, kids, personal life, or ethics regarding the treatment of customers, it's probable a great fit. For the rest of us, go ahead and work there as it is very lucrative, but siphon everything you can out of that company for all their worth and get out fast.
