Helzberg Diamonds Employee Review

I have been working at Helzberg Diamonds full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Berkshire Hathaway bragging rights. Almost 100 year history. Moderate brand recognition. AGS membership. Publicized ethical business practices.

Cons – Less than competitive compensation. Lack of opportunities of advancement. Often chaotic business decisions and lack of structure. Disconnection of corporate decisions and store operations.

Advice to Senior Management – The commission and compensation structure is unfair and not competitive. The way the commission structure is set up only the employees at top producing stores and regions make a livable wage. This causes turn over and lack of loyalty from employees when sales/commission goals are unattainable--making it difficult to build a team with tenure and experience. If the commission structure would go back to being pegged to the proposed production of the store it would encourage employees to stay with the company (and stay loyal to the brand for longer). There is little recognition from executive management unless the district/region/store/employee is a "superstar". They seem to have lost sight of the the "true motivators" that the had been part of the Helzberg culture for years...only focusing on recognition and not advancement, or money. Finally, as was evident is corporate decision of 2012, it appears at the store level to the staff and also to customer's that the company is scrambling to KEEP UP with the competition, with the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing many times...and is sifting to making us more like the failing Zale's (but introducing Smart Values, and having sales every few weeks {abandoning the "Truth in pricing" culture that was held so dear for most of our history}. It is causing staff and clients to wonder about the long term future of the company. Although many of the changes Beryl had made upon becoming CEO had made the company profitable at first, it is beginning to seem that she is struggling to maintain the momentum that she so often speaks about. She seems to be looking for another "rabbit to pull of the hat"...and is failing.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company