Collective Brands Reviews

Pros

They treated the interns great with breakfasts and conferences to learn about the company. We also met the president a few times.

Cons

The interns seemed to be treated better then the employees. They give off the idea there are career opportunities and even told me to contact them when I was out of school for a position; I did and never heard back from them.

Pros

Very good place to have your work and personal life balanced. For IT professionals work from home is a great advantage.

Cons

Career advancement is very slow. Favoritism plays a big chunk in getting advanced. Not enough appreciation for hard or good work.

Pros

Good pay and reasonable benefits.
Has a world class cafe to eat at.
Has a nice gym to work out at... trust me you will need it.

Cons

Poor management at levels in IT.
Management has no respect for their employee's
New ideas are NOT welcome and are certainly held against you,

Advice to Senior Management

Non IT Management listen up. You need to clean house in the IT department. They are selling you a bad bill of goods to protect their jobs. The end game will cost you millions. Look what they did to their previous employer... Sprint... One the the worst managed companies in the region.

Pros

I get to make my own hours.

Cons

No room for future growth.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus more on promoting from within and focusing mor on the core qualifications of a true HPO.

Pros

Casual friendly atmosphere
Competitive pay and benefits
Smart dedicated coworkers

Cons

Depending on the brand, the target consumer may be a pitfall.

Advice to Senior Management

Absolutely amazing job to the crew at PLG!

Pros

Very relaxed corporate culture. Friendly employees. Overall very easy-going work atmosphere.

Cons

No loyalty to employees who have worked over 30 years.

Advice to Senior Management

Hold on to your senior level employees despite the harsh economic environment and earn major respect points.

Pros

Very large company with excellent benefits. Very aggressive with growth, reaching new markets here and throughout the world.

Cons

The message which is very positive from the Corporate Level does not seem to filter down to the Division Level. At the division level you find rather old fashioned management that do very poorly at creating a team environment. Reviews, praise were rarely given. Goals were set that were unrealistic and made reaching bonuses impossible. Bonus programs were offered that were never confirmed in writing. Rather unethical. Consulting with the sales group prior to announcing new products or marketing strategies was rarely done.

Advice to Senior Management

Create a team environment where everyone works together to achieve goals. Create a sales newsletter that lets people in the field know what is happening. Put some fun in the job and in sales meetings.

Pros

Large Company; relocation is easy if positions available due to the amount of locations

Cons

Large company networking could be challenging

Advice to Senior Management

rate all employees in job functions on the same criteria

Pros

Great place to get started; most managers and directors are very proactive, the culture promotes a very positive work/life balance. Good compensation, especially for the cost of living in the area.

Cons

You have to enjoy the Mid-West; small town location means it can often be harder to recruit talent to teams.

Advice to Senior Management

Overall, doing a good job. More focus on realistic timelines and project schedules, as well as a clear and consistent message of goals from the business Sr. Execs would be good; tactics change rapidly because there are not clearly defined strategies in some areas.

Pros

Analyst positions are great for a recent college grad. You create a lot of friendships and it's often fun to work with the other analysts. The new cafeteria offers a top-tier university-like setting and you can get great, healthy meals everyday for $5.

Cons

The job is very much Excel-based, so if that's not something that interests you you will be extremely dissatisfied coming into work everyday. The corporation is based in Topeka, KS which won't ever be listed in any magazine as a "hot-spot", and inside the walls you better be prepared to work in cube country.

Advice to Senior Management

The vision of Collective Brands is fairly easy to get on board with and Mr. Rubel & the executive team have shown a great deal of staying relevant in a dynamic marketplace.