Make Ballard Great Again - Anonymous employee Ballard Designs Employee Review

2.0
26 Mar 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You get to wear many hats, if you like that sort of thing. A very self service environment. Sometimes people bring their dogs to work. BENEFITS: Summer hours, work your 40hrs but can leave at noon on Fridays. Matching 401K matches 100% up to first 6% you save. Your own assigned parking space after 10 years. Halloween costume party. Corporate Christmas party. 2 paid Volunteer days. Your birthday off.

Cons

MANAGEMENT: Senior management (VPs and P) consistently fail to share vision and direction for the company. Alarmingly, if feels like the VPs and P don't have either. The past 4 years especially, decisions have felt haphazard, more often resulting in poorer performance than if they had left things as they were going. Teams are stretched beyond capacity. They've spent a TON of money with agencies the past 2 years: FRCH, GRAYSON, FLUID, BRAND CAP . . . these agencies have shared wonderful insights, that were already known by those on the ground getting the work done. BENEFITS: Health insurance premiums are rising quickly, while deductibles and copays keep going up. If you happen to be a smoker, might want to look somewhere else. The entire campus (including the inside of you car) is smoke free. You have to walk to the main road if you want to smoke. PARENT COMPANIES: Part of Cornerstone Brands (CBI) which is owned by HSN (Home Shopping Network). HSN is taking a more active role in managing is subsidiaries. This is causing noticeable discord among the Ballard management team. ATLANTA DEFOOR LOCATION: Frequent vehicle break-ins. Two armed robberies of employees trying to go home at the end of the day. THINKING ABOUT WORKING HERE? Run from any assistant or junior position at this company. They will suck you dry, take credit for any ideas you share and let you rot in the position for which you were hired.

Explore other reviews about Ballard Designs

5.0
16 Jan 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I loved my time at Ballard Designs, where being on the marketing team gave me the opportunity to contribute to a wide variety of projects and grow my skills

Cons

A downside was limited opportunities for advancement, with few options to move up in job titles, and compensation tended to be on the lower side

1.0
31 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You get to work in a field you enjoy with other creative people. The hours worked allow for a great work life balance

Cons

Any update, software change or operations change are poorly planned and executed resulting in a high level of frustration for the retail store teams and for the guest they are trying to serve. Leadership is clueless about how to affect change within the brand. They have ideas, that are never completely thought through or the execution of those ideas is a failure. The company launched a new software system for our POS company wide in May 2025. The team has spent 5 years working on this new system. Day 1 of the launch, the stores couldn't even open due to the new system moving too slowly. The first week the system was used, everything was broken, orders were dropped, functions did not work, product was not in the system and there was no clear way to assist with guest issues.

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