Pros
1 - The people I worked with at the mid and junior levels were fantastic… talented, collaborative, and genuinely supportive. 2 - My immediate team were amazing, we had great camaraderie, which made day-to-day work more bearable despite the many wider issues across the company. 3 - They’re a strong brand externally which looks great on a CV. & can be appealing at face value.
Cons
1 - Senior leadership is dominated by a tight-knit group of friends of the CEO, leading to a boys’ club culture with little accountability. 2- A clear lack of diversity and inclusion at the leadership level, very few efforts made to change this. 3 - Employee development, learning, and progression are not priorities; growth opportunities are limited and often driven by favouritism. 4 - Constructive feedback is unwelcome, and there’s a widespread fear of criticism or making mistakes. 5 - “Executive” Level Leadership within the Retail HQ function was aggressive, inconsistent, and highly unprofessional. Consistently playing favourites while sidelining others without justification. I won’t comment on the consistent character traits that made you one of the “in” crowd. 6 - Constant late-night emails, unreasonable expectations, and a lack of psychological safety created a high-stress, low-trust environment. 7 - Overall culture feels toxic and unsustainable, the strong brand image doesn’t match the internal reality.