Mary Kay Reviews

Pros

Pay, benefits, work place is old but well kept, at manufacturing. Corporate facilites very nice. Cafeterias were partially funded by the company, food was good, prices were very good. I believe that the current very top level executive does a great job.

Cons

Stress. They "claim" to practice the Golden Rule, but only in the opposite of what is meant! Work life balance they also preach but there is none in some departments. Everything depends on the VP you work for. If you advance in your career, how much you make, your level of satisfaction working there seems to be determined by who you work for. If you are not extremely well liked, but very competant in your work skills you will not go far. They still live in the 1970's. Too many of management have been there, and only there, too long.

Advice to Senior Management

Get some new people in management positions who have worked somewhere else have have experience outside of Mary Kay.

Pros

I enjoy the flexibility of creating my own schedule rather than being confined to specific working hours. I am naturally quite social, so I enjoy encountering people from different walks of life who are excited about being progressive. I also like having a direct influence over my potential financial earnings. Like any business, some exertion of effort is required for results, but it is worth the experience once things start taking off!

Cons

I would say that you would definately need to become good friends with self-discipline and time management!

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to inspire the millions of women who are committed to creating their ideal life through the Mary Kay opportunity!

Pros

Their cooperate culture is one of the best out there. People are friendly. Recognition is emphasized through out the company. Working time is flexible.

Cons

It is a private company, so you cannot know how the company perform. The traffic around there is bad. It is not a company for an over-achievement individual.

Advice to Senior Management

The leadership is great at Mary Kay. They sometimes spend time with the employees during lunch. Overall, they do a good job.

Pros

They will accept anyone with a credit card

Cons

You will be coerced into buying a large inventory on your credit card. You will definitely not be able to sell this product at these prices. The upper level directors are just trying to get you to make that initial investment. It doesn't work, don't get sucked in.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop pushing inventory and lower your prices

Pros

The Mary Kay environment was very positve place. A great place for other business minded women to come together and support each other. If you get a good leader it is a great place to learn.

Cons

Pushes right away to recruit others. I had my open house and they wanted me to recruit already! I wasn't familar with all their products yet and I wasn't comfortable selling the business yet. They offer to buy back your products if you deciede that the business is not for you, but what they don't tell you is that if you do that you can never sell it again. In your life time. So if I deceided to sell Mary Kay again for example when I retire. I will not be able to.

Advice to Senior Management

Offer more one on one training. Especially for people with no prior sales experience. Offer to allow consultants to sell the product online besides your personal website. Be allowed to sell on e-bay, swap meets etc. Also it would be nice if buy back program when you quit was more forgiving.

Pros

mary kay is a great company to work for. They have the flexibility of setting your own hours. The sky is the limit!

Cons

sometimes the flexibility is too much if you cannot manage your time well. you need to determine if you need structure, then set a schedule for yourself.

Advice to Senior Management

Great leadership from sales directors. Continue to do a great job by inspiring sales associates to be their best and sell more product!

Pros

The benefits are best in class. The facility is exceptional, and, for an older building, surprisingly well maintained. Most salaried employees have walled offices (primarily with windows at the corporate office), which is difficult to achieve prior to VP status at most companies. The culture is overtly positive, and I am generally happy to go to work every day. The salary is definitely comparable, if not better, than the local job market. Average tenure is something like 10 years, which is unheard of in corporate America. Typically, when you see tenure like that, you also see people stuck in the same position until someone leaves. Not the case here. Mary Kay is extremely flexible with promoting an individual based on their work to date, even if there is not technically a new position for them. A balanced work/family life is HIGHLY encouraged for most of the company, and typically modeled by management.

Cons

The pros listed above, when taken to the extreme, can be a bad thing. Where the culture is overtly positive, difficult issues/conversations are often skirted, and underlying problems remain unresolved for years/decades. Where the tenure is lengthy, those who have been with the company for any length of time are typically stuck in the 'Mary Kay Way', whether that be rational or not. In many areas , they have NOT kept up with the times. The dress code is unreasonably stuffy, which often is offputting to young college graduates and those outside salespeople who might want to call upon the company. Along those same lines, those with tenure often assume that everyone understands what's going on, and why it's being done, simply because it's always been that way. Communication is not the company's strong point, and it starts at the executive level. Because the company is primarily women, and work/family life balance highly encouraged, people are often out of the office, and again, progress is impeded. It's not even questioned when/if a mother needs to be out of the office, during core work hours, numerous times during a single week. Nor is it expected that said mother communicate to others that they will be out (per the poor communication comment above).

Advice to Senior Management

Do not assume that because it 'aint broke', it isn't actually broken. Just because it's always worked, doesn't meant that it can't be done better. Listen to those in ALL levels of the company, especially those who recently came from outside the hallowed pink walls. Be open to change, and that starts with the dress code. It's AMAZING what an impact that has on the image of the company, and not in a positive way. It's not encouraging or pleasant to don a suit jacket with a pair of slacks in 110 degree weather. Obviously, the company is doing things right, or they wouldn't have found such lengthy success, but, it's widely discussed, that real change likely will not happen until the majority of tenured upper management retires.

Pros

Benefits are excellent. Culture is "go-give" and they work by the Golden Rule. Promotions are given fairly. Executive management thinks before they act.

Cons

Formal culture - shirts, ties. Women must wear jackets if they wear pants. A little stuffy. They need to update their image.

Advice to Senior Management

Formality in dress and culture is putting off people from working there. Need better communication to the lower levels. Great job at work/life balance.

Pros

It allows for you to make as much money as you want. If you only want to make an extra $100 a month, you can do that with minimum effort. If you really want to make this into a career, it is a possibility as well.

Cons

It is easy to get frustrated when a lot of people tell you no, but you have to expect that when you go into sales

Advice to Senior Management

They do a great job and are there to really help if you want it, but they do not interfere if you are doing it on a hobby level.

Pros

50% off products
Work when you want
You get to meet amazing people
No pressure/stress free environment
Work from home
Opportunies for growth

Cons

It is hard work if you want to make a career out of Mary Kay
If you dont have you min. sales for the quarter you lose you 50% discount
If you have a sales director with a large unit you can get lost in the crowd.

Advice to Senior Management

Sometime I feel like I am just a number and all I am good for in recuiting more independent sales consultants.