Balsam Brands Employee Reviews about "season"

Pros

I worked at Balsam Brands for over a year. Among the great things at BB were my co-workers, in-season perks, WFH Wednesdays (before COVID), opportunities to grow and build the company. The Learning and Development team also did a fantastic job with regards to training team members as it relates to management, and personal development and understanding. I can't stress enough how great most of my collogues were to work with. I worked primarily with our Boise, Dublin, and Manilla teams, and it was wonderful to have an opportunity to work with them. I genuinely miss having the opportunity to work at the office and having lunch with my teammates. Despite the limited PTO, the work life balance was great and I was always able to take time that I needed.

Cons

Among the biggest "cons" would be the disconnected teams and long term vision. All companies have issues and looking back I think these could easily be solved with focus from leadership. With regards to disconnected teams this could have been solved with a better overall understanding across functions/teams of an individual's role, assigned projects, and workload. While there is a PMO, there isn't the coordination or project visibility that I would expect to see when people are juggling operational issues and feature/horizon projects across the enterprise. This leads to ambiguity and self prioritization of work that seems like it may or may not have a place in the value stream. PM's and coordinators do a great job, but having project charters/visions/kickoffs would add some guard rails. As far as the long term vision, the company does a good job of having town halls to communicate what's going on across the company. However, the goals and vision are more abstract than I would have liked to see. This causes ambiguity and leads to interpretation of what is important for the company to move forward.

Pros

- Good health benefits - Shutdown week (one week of company-wide paid time off) - Relatively flexible work hours - Fun activities and perks in season

Cons

- Toxic positivity. The 'fun' culture is forced and there's a lot of pressure to be upbeat and unique, which can be especially difficult if you're generally introverted and/or just having an off day. - Below average pay and lackluster yearly raises. They try to make up for it with 'perks' like coffee, treats, t-shirts. Though those things are nice, they just miss the mark and don't pay the bills. - Long hours, not just during the peak holiday season, but nearly all year long. - Overworked staff makes for strained working relationships and poor mental health. It's difficult to get the help you need hired, and when they do hire, it takes forever. - Poor outlook on job security. - VERY meeting heavy. Makes it difficult to execute on all the work you're being handed when you're in meetings all the time. Contributes to long work hours. - Roles and responsibilities team members are often unclear, and team members often have way more on their plate than they can handle. - Leadership wants to gloss over problems rather than address them, mainly when it comes to pay, WFH benefits and general resource scarcity. Often times they would blame COVID for lowered employee satisfaction scores, and while it likely played a role, it was not a sole factor. Blaming it on such made it feel they were ignoring what employees were saying. - General politics and a lot of gossip culture. Promotions are subjective and poorly handled.

Pros

Easy access to warehouse in Burlingame (parking). That's about it.

Cons

Uncomfortable, regimented environment. Four 'managers' for 10 employees was overwhelming. Management follows you to the restroom if it's not within the break or lunchtime. Company issued lockers are opened and searched while you are on the job without a reason. Management is disorganized with the schedule and daily objectives to stock and prepare the warehouse for the holiday season. No safety training on how to properly use ladders or handle heavy boxes which is a set up for an injury. Never provided gloves or a mask to handle chemically treated artificial Christmas trees and other products. They never tell you in the interview how hard the physical work will entail, including a very hot warehouse environment with sparse ventilation.