Collective Brands Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Collective Brands full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Flexibility, on-site cafe, on-site gym, good amount of vacation

Cons – Some departments do not have a career path.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Collective Brands full-time for less than a year

Pros – Inexpensive living with a small town feel, college town closeby and Kansas City just 45 mins away.

Cons – If you want to live really close to work you have to live in Topeka which is not the best.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Collective Brands full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – 1. Relatively stable workplace.
2. Remote work opportunities if needed
3. Relatively good starting pay and benefits

Cons – 1. Zero recognition of high performers - do exceptionally well (beyond job requirements) and it's what they pay you for; fall short (even for reasons beyond your control) and your head rolls.

2. Bleak advancement prospects - it's basically a dead-end job environment unless you're looking to go into corporate management, and even then the opportunity to advance only comes up when someone resigns or gets promoted. And even then, some openings are directly given with a pretend advertisement for applicants.

3. Non-existent salary increases - salary gets raised by less than 2% yearly, no matter how long you've been here or how good you are at your job. If it gets raised, that is.

4. Immature managers - a lot of people leave due to a small number of immature managers who were never meant to manage people. Among known issues are pushing for too much output from too few employees, playing yes-person to editorial and expecting high performance from over-worked staff. Until the powers that be deal with this issue, turnover will never drop.

5.Company is in limbo about its new direction

6.Huge problems are simply tolerated and walked around, like the elephant in the room, because managers don't know how to solve problems...they apparently excel at Excel, and little else.

Advice to Senior Management – 1. Recognize that the ones in the trenches matter for more than their output. Consider an advancement policy that's more than a popularity contest. Get rid of the dead wood; there are barely functioning employees with tremendous longevity that are making far more than newer hires who are producing 20x as much. Eradicate the offensive culture of arrogance that permeates the management levels.

2.If it is said that no employee can achieve a 4-Exceeds Expectations on annual reviews -- Why don't you remove that option?

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Collective Brands

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.

Current Employee – been working at Collective Brands

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.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Collective Brands

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.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Collective Brands

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!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Collective Brands

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.

Former Employee – worked at Collective Brands

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

Current Employee – been working at Collective Brands

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.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend