Pros
There are (at least) three good reasons to work at CSN Stores: First, communication within this company is amazing. Coming from a previous environment where senior management was cautious about sharing even the basic information needed to perform my job, the transparency of everything from metrics to tactical decisions to business strategy is refreshing. I have spoken with family members and friends, and they have all been astonished by the amount and quality of information everyone at CSN can access. Moreover, the CEO proactively provides business and strategy updates in emails and company meetings, and given the open floor plan (i.e. no offices) he (and everyone else) is available to chat any time an employee has a question or point they would like to discuss. Second, the amount of responsibility given to young employees is staggering. CSN is an ecommerce company, so some skew toward a younger employee demographic is to be expected. But it is remarkable that the vast majority of management positions within the company are held by employees no older than 26 or 27. Senior management takes time to educate employees on sound business practices and then gives them as much responsibility as they can handle. And third, CSN has a tight-knit employee base. It's not unusual for employees to go out together after work, participate in company intramural teams, attend sports games with company-provided tickets, etc. Also, CSN holds semiannual company outings that are actually fun to attend--a sea change from the obligatory company picnics.
Cons
Like most of the rest of the retail world, CSN is not immune to the recent economic downturn. For a company whose culture was formed when rampant growth was the norm, the change in focus--from growth at all costs to profitable, measured growth--has been jarring for some employees. Promotions aren't coming as quickly as they used to, productivity is being measured more closely, and all decisions (marketing, merchandising, product selection, etc.) are required to be supported by solid business justification. All of these changes will ultimately benefit the company; however, since many of the employees at CSN have been with the company for their entire career, there is a sense of hesitation about the direction the business is heading. Additionally, it can be frustrating to see how many different areas for improvement CSN has. During the faster growth of previous years, it made sense to focus on keeping up with the market and with demand. Now that the market has softened and focus has shifted to data-driven decision-making, it has become clear that there are significant opportunities for optimization. Unfortunately, there aren't enough hours in the day (or tech resources in the company) to keep pace with all the changes that could be made, so it boils down to a question of priorities. This problem is not unique to CSN, but it feels exacerbated here due to the fact that the company recently increased scrutiny of all business decisions.
