the Balm Reviews

2.2

34% would recommend to a friend

(33 total reviews)

Marissa Shipman

18% approve of CEO

21% positive business outlook

the Balm has an employee rating of 2.2 out of 5 stars, based on 33 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The the Balm employee rating is 36% below average for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

33 reviews
1.0
5 Jun 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Pros? Free USED makeup that is either broken or used from trade shows. They won't give you anything new or anything that even looks new. The makeup that you can receive for free will have to be cracked or so used beyond repair that even you don't want to use it.

Cons

When I first worked here, I completely disregarded all of the terrible reviews on glassdoor and now I regret overlooking them. Like everybody says, management here is TERRIBLE. Talking down to others or behind their backs is NOT how you manage a company. The "director" and "operations manager" at the Alameda location will talk behind your back and are overall very unprofessional. They have no idea how a professional business should be run but who can blame them? They're all recent college graduates! When the "director" gets angry, everybody hides because she lashes out at everybody working under her. You can constantly hear the "director" and other people in the office cussing and yelling at people on the phone. Interns are treated like DIRT here. Everything that the people don't want to do in the office like stickering boxes or printing shipping labels, the interns will have to do. As an intern, if you so even TALK or LAUGH with another employee on a quick 5 minute break, you will be talked to or given another task where you will be working by yourself for hours on end. I once worked by myself for 8 whole hours just going through boxes and boxes of makeup to sort through them so that the company can sanitize them to resell again. Oh and breaks? You don't get to take any except for your lunch break. Everybody takes their lunch at their desk as it's looked down upon to leave for lunch. As a previous intern, I had to drive to San Francisco from Alameda to go to the CEO's house to constantly drop and pick things up because nobody else wanted to do it. You will have to run errands that nobody else wants to do such as pick up posters or even dry cleaning. Don't think working here will be glamorous just because it's a cosmetics company. You will be working at a storage warehouse. Since we're on the topic of the warehouse, be warned that this company treats the employees at the bottom of the ladder like dirt as well. The packers who keep this company moving every day are treated very poorly. No benefits of any kind. When the people in the office talk to them, they talk to them like they are the dumbest people on earth. How is that right?? Be PROFESSIONAL and APPRECIATE everybody who works for the company. The turnover rate for interns is very high and that's why job postings for the intern position can be seen on Craigslist regularly. GOOD jobs are hard to find because people never leave them so what does that say about this place? I've seen many interns come and go in just the short time that I was there and I don't blame them as it takes a real trooper to stay here. As an intern, you'll be paid $12/hour and you won't be doing anything different than the packers except that you might be on a computer every so often. Your daily tasks will consist of: printing labels, printing packing slips, and sticking labels on boxes . That's IT. Do not expect to learn anything during your "internship" here. In fact, it's not an internship at all, you'll just be another packer.

1.0
5 Nov 2014

Such a waste of time.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

If you are a student this is an ok place for an internship for three months. If you are working under the supervision of anyone but the CEO you will probably be satisfied.

Cons

The rest of these reviews are pretty spot on. While there are many things I could bring up here, there are a few things that I would like to comment on as I know as soon as this review is posted the girls in the office will gossip about it and spread rumors, so hopefully this will be some things for them to consider and improve upon. First I just want to say that the girls that work in the Alameda office are very nice, supportive and willing to help. While I didn't spend a lot of time getting to know them personally (I was always working, afraid of not leaving my desk because someone would call to check up or whatnot, and no, I never took a lunch). That being said, the issues that I have are with the CEO and the atmosphere of the company. I was hired on as an Intern, and I knew week one that this was going to be a tough job, not because of the workload, but mostly because of the lack of organization, communication, and direction the company has. My boss while I was an intern decided to get herself out of this chaos and I was default promoted. I originally was going to leave at the end of my internship but was guilted into staying with the promise that things would get better, become more organized and be more efficient. The CEO was on vacation and Skyped in with a job offer. She asked me for my salary requirements while I was in a room of 4 plus people. I felt very uncomfortable discussing my salary in front of everyone as that, to me, is a personal conversation but because she was on vacation and couldn't wait, everyone got to hear me negotiate. I found this to be completely inappropriate and very bad business ethics. I was with the company a total of four months. The rest of these reviews can fill you in on what the company atmosphere is like having to call, get things approved micro-managing, etc. on a day-to-day basis. It wasn't until the end of my employment that I started to get irritated when someone posted a review on Glassdoor and they all pointed fingers at me as the anonymous reviewer. (Guess what? THIS is my review!) I found their accusations to be really insulting, and I decided at this time I would put in my resignation. I fortunately was laid off a few days later, not by the CEO or her assistant, but by HR (I guess you'd call them?) When I asked them why I was being laid-off they said Marissa wanted to "restructure" the company. Which means to me, "We really don't have a reason, we just don't like you." This company really does have potential and really could be something, but with the attitude that they carry, their work ethics, and with the direction of the CEO, I don't see more then a flatline for this company. As an aside, watch out for the few spies in the office, you will know who they are, and if they ever say on the phone to your co-worker "check for something in the other room" that means they are talking about you. It looks like my separation with theBalm worked out for both parties...

1.0
25 Sept 2014

Sociopath CEO. Not a good place to work.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Free makeup and that's really it.

Cons

As you can see from the reviews below, the work environment here is hostile at best. Nothing ever gets done because no one can get anything done without first running it by the CEO, who everyone is pretty sure has some form of antisocial personality disorder [Antisocial personality disorder is a mental health condition in which a person has a long-term pattern of manipulating, exploiting, or violating the rights of others]. She's a terrible person and a completely inappropriate boss. None of her employees, and I mean none - even the ones who pretend they do - like her. She's disorganized, emotionally unstable and volatile, making upper management constantly stressed out and overworked, ultimately contributing to a terrible work environment. You might like this brand from a far but trust this. Don't work here.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 33 Reviews

Glassdoor has 42 the Balm reviews submitted anonymously by the Balm employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if the Balm is right for you.