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Natural Life Collections

Engaged employer

Natural Life Collections Reviews

3.3

59% would recommend to a friend

(38 total reviews)
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Patti Hughes

53% approve of CEO

54% positive business outlook

Natural Life Collections has an employee rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars, based on 38 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Natural Life Collections employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail and wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

38 reviews
1.0
24 Apr 2017

Toxic Environment and Management, complete opposite of Brand Messaging

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Creative environment, great beach location, flexible day to day dependent on position. Product is really cute and fun to work with. Annual bonuses are good, and probably the only thing helping employee retention rate. When things are good at Natural Life, they are good. But unfortunately the problems with this company far outweigh the good and do not seem like they will ever change.

Cons

This is an extremely toxic company that is the opposite of the brand messaging, core values, and overall professional decency you should expect in the workplace. The brand itself is known for being positive and uplifting, and yet the owner and upper management is so opposite of this it's hard to fathom. If you are a big fan of the brand I would absolutely not recommend working here, as it will completely tarnish how you see it. The CEO is truly what all prior reviews have said she is, if not worse. Everything is run on raw emotion, always at the sake of whoever is in her firing range that day, and you absolutely never know what you're going to get. She normalizes her behavior which in turn has most of upper management and her "favorites" acting in the same way, frantic, condescending, and honestly just nasty. This is not the place to work hard and want fair recognition or compensation, and absolutely not the place to be if you are a strong independent thinker. There is no HR department in the typical sense; you will have benefits and things of that nature but there is NO form of management regulation, professionalism, workplace issue reporting/reconciliation, etc. Absolutely no checks and balances system to ensure fair treatment. During my time here I encountered severe overtime abuse and countless HR issues that were never truly resolved (most of which absolutely could have been legally challenged). Things from the outside look wonderful, no doubting that, but I strongly, strongly urge you to do your research and read reviews (although many have been deleted or lost as Natural Life created a new Glassdoor page to erase negative reviews). Also, I know firsthand that the positive reviews you see here were a product of employees being pushed by Management to write positive reviews to try to hide the negative. I know they sound severe, but they are honestly true and not exaggerations. There is absolutely no way any current or former employees could honestly say there are no cons here.

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Natural Life Collections Response
9y
We recognize an entrepreneurial, fast growing environment is not for everyone. Some facts that should be recognized: Turnover: Our current rate is trending at 16%. (Average turnover for most companies is in this industry is 20%.) Our owner didn't ask anyone create a Glassdoor page, HR created it. Previously there was no company page for Glassdoor, so one was initiated by us. No reviews were lost as a result of us creating our company page as this goes against the rules of Glassdoor. Overtime abuse: Each employee has access at all times to the Company handbook which is posted to the company intranet and payroll website. All new hires sign and acknowledge that they have read and understand what is in the handbook. All hourly employees are to clock in and out for all hours worked. If any errors are found on a paycheck, these are corrected immediately. Overtime is paid for FT hourly employees on any hours worked over 40 in a single workweek. For FT salaried positions, the expectation is for employees to work at least 40-50 hours per week. However, there are some periods for certain positions when the workload is greater, such as positions with responsibilities during our peak and tradeshow seasons. We have done an extensive analysis of our positions, and are in compliance with FLSA standards. We handle and investigate HR issues in an immediate and timely manner. We follow up with employees during and after investigating HR issues in an effort to maintain open communication. It is the employee’s responsibility to voice their concerns as we have an open door policy. We have also recently expanded our HR department to assist with the positive growth we are experiencing. Natural Life’s #1 Goal over the last several years has been to create an infrastructure to support our incredible growth. There have been growing pains along the way, normal for any small business with such rapid growth, but we never stop focusing on improving our company. We promote employees who prove themselves as leaders, build teamwork, and have great attitudes. Natural Life and the people who work here are pretty amazing. We are passionate about what we do and we are proud of the success we've worked so hard to achieve. We enjoy nice bonuses, in addition to competitive pay and benefits. We build friendships and relationships that will last a lifetime. The Natural Life brand is making a difference in people’s lives with the products we make and the messages we spread, and we are proud to be part of making such a difference.
1.0
22 Jan 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You will work with some talented and cool people. Dogs are allowed in the office so if you have a dog or are a dog lover, that’s a nice perk. It’s also helpful when the owner has one of her frequent tantrums – you can just go pet a dog to get in a better mood and try not to let her bother you. Another pro is when the owner is traveling or simply not in the office. The spirit in the office is amazing then and everyone is so productive and happy. There’s also a constant revolving staff of talented people working there because outside looking in, this brand can attract top-notch talent. Unfortunately, if you have to work or speak with the owner at all and have any self-worth, it’s impossible to stay.

Cons

First, the owner made several employees create this page to combat the bad reviews on the other Glassdoor page that had a similar company name. Do not believe the fake, positive reviews! My experience was very traumatic and disappointing. The owner of the company is by far the worst person I have ever met. One of the reasons I was initially attracted to the company was because of their give-back efforts in the community. I quickly learned it’s all self-serving so the owner can forward emails to the company about how great she is. In reality, she’s awful. She attempts to be manipulative in every way possible until the outcome starts to go the way she wants, she’s immature, narcissistic yet insecure and micromanages every aspect of the company to the point where it’s demoralizing and everything you do is simply a waste of time because it will never be good enough for her. She will make sure you know that via constant emails and passive aggressive comments too. She thrives on making people feel powerless and arguing.

It doesn’t matter how well the business is doing, she will look for a reason to berate you and make you feel terrible. Just like the other reviewer, I also left on my own, as do most people. If you like your coworkers, don’t get too attached because everyone is miserable and looking for another job. Within a few months of working there, almost everyone I worked with on projects had quit. I found out later that they have 30 percent turnover on average. That’s huge. I was lied to about it in my interviews and later found out once it was too late why there is such high turnover. The owner refuses to believe she’s the problem. I’ve actually heard her say, “Name one person who quit that I didn’t want to quit!” She hires lots of consultants and then lets them go when they don’t tell her what she wants to hear. She plays the victim but she’s the meanest person I have ever met. One of my coworkers commented that we were all so close because we were in an abusive relationship together as the victims.

 If you are still considering Natural Life, please talk to recruiters in the community or former/current employees. Natural Life is quickly gaining a reputation and more recruitment companies are refusing to work with them and place people there.

1.0
28 Dec 2016

Not What You Hope For

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You will meet some really nice people that really love the meaning and values behind natural life.

Cons

So I originally wrote this review and then the company made a new page to get away from them but here it is again...it's important that people read this as the other good reviews were forced to be done by the CEO. This company is owned and run by one of most horrible people I've ever met. If you've ever heard of Natural Life you may find it hard to believe there is even one mean soul at that place, but I hate to be the bearer of bad news, there is ONE mean soul and she is the owner of the company and she is a disease. She hurts people way more then she helps. I'm not writing this review because I'm angry or have some vendetta, I left happily on my own. I'm writing to warn you if you are considering taking a job here. Make sure you ask for WAY more money than you actually want, because you will go through hell. OR if you can take a job somewhere else, do that and don't waste your time here. If you still aren't sure, contact the recruitment companies that have worked with them...they don't even want to place people there anymore, as their reputation throughout the job market in Jacksonville/Ponte Vedra is getting bad.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 38 Reviews

Glassdoor has 40 Natural Life Collections reviews submitted anonymously by Natural Life Collections employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Natural Life Collections is right for you.