-CEO/management:
To be honest, this is the main issue right now. The original founder certainly wasn't perfect, but you definitely got the impression that she really cared about the team and its mission to help women. I'm afraid I can't say the same about the current CEO. It's a shame, because I don't think she was always that way. I understand that a company exists to make money, and I understand that there's a lot of pressure from the board, but you don't have to be so baldfaced about it. You don't have to make it clear that you only value your employees for the dollars you can wring from them. You can listen to their concerns, instead of turning a deaf ear. A particular incident: the CEO told an employee during her promotion meeting that she needed to not be "pissed off and crying" during discussions, but told that same employee when she left that she wasn't aware the employee was stressed to the point of leaving. If you're a leader, shouldn't it be your job to look at those signs you yourself are pointing out and recognize that they might mean something? Or at least to be the kind of leader your employee feels comfortable confiding in?
The CEO also doesn't believe in transparency. I recall instances where she was visibly nervous when team members knew any information she didn't personally tell them. Decisions are made in secrecy, with little to no input from the people they affect the most, and no knowledge until just before the effects take place. They do not set you up for success, unfortunately. For example: moving the warehouse to a different state with two weeks' notice, leaving the warehouse associates to scramble for a new job or suddenly cope with a doubled commute.
The managers work you to death, but I can't fault them as much for that because they're being worked to death as well (their stresses reveal a lot about the attitude coming from the top) and with one or two exceptions they do care. If you worked here, you did what you could because you didn't want to let down your team members, not upper management. So many of the women I worked with there were Wonder Women - smart, kind, loyal - and Journelle didn't deserve them. There are still some of them there who are thriving, whom I'm really happy for, but there are others who are there and having a hard time because only a few of the managers know how to manage people. Still others have been pushed out after all value has been extracted from them. Or they just leave - I've never seen so many people quit without a new job lined up as I have in the last year or two. The CEO doesn't see retention as a problem, though, even though turnover has skyrocketed since she took over. In fact, she seems to think of it as a good thing that "the founder's people" are leaving and more of "her people" are taking over. This has led to changes focused on the bottom line, like dismantling the 2-week intensive sales associate training program, which was one of the reasons the associates were so knowledgeable and prepared.
If you are in the stores or customer care, be aware that this is much like any other retail job: a lot of customers are amazing, but often, they just suck. This is retail, so that's to be expected. The reason this section is here is management support and response to these situations. With a few exceptions, the rule is to let the customer do what they want in the name of customer service. This can really be disheartening when the manager should be stepping in or backing you up, but isn't. You're encouraged to be accommodating even when someone is being abusive or threatening. You also cannot tell a customer that the store is closing when they're there after hours, which leads to a lot of late nights because of course you can't do most of your closing duties when customers are still there. It does a number on associate morale when you see managers bending over backwards for abusive customers while ignoring any concerns you may have.
Culture:
This is a culture where the word "boundaries" doesn't exist, from explicit sex talk from managers to blatant HR violations. I didn't believe everything I heard, and a certain amount of openness is to be expected given that it's a lingerie retailer staffed mostly with women, but when there are power dynamics at play (such as a manager and a store associate), there are lines that shouldn't be crossed. And if you go by the "where there's smoke there's fire" axiom, any HR associate's hair would be on burnt to a crisp from a tenth of what I know about racist comments by certain managers and sales associates being swept under the table. Whenever these incidents were reported to the CEO (because no HR), the CEO would first pretend these incidents hadn't been reported, then ask if there was perhaps a vendetta against the manager who was being reported (by multiple people!), then wonder why these people didn't come forward themselves. If you know you won't be believed and nothing will be done, why would you put yourself at risk of retaliation? Especially since promotions and internships are largely based on your manager's view of your performance (or in reality, how much she likes you).
Work/life balance:
In the stores and customer care, you're expected to work anywhere from half an hour to 2 hours after your shift/closing without complaint, and the corporate office is so understaffed that you're expected to absorb the work of 1-2 people every time someone leaves (which is every couple months). This is what they mean by "stretch opportunities": doing 2 to 3x as much work for the same title and compensation. Most of the people in the corporate office take work home every night, and many title changes are a year or more too late.
Vacations more than a few days don't really exist, because you're required to find your own coverage for the stores and customer care for all absences which can be really difficult because so many people have side commitments outside of work. Also, I know of at least one person who was running off the sales floor to throw up who was not allowed to go home because they didn't have enough people without her. That is neither sanitary nor safe, and while this is the fault of the manager, what does it say about the expectations placed on the manager that she didn't feel she could let a sick employee go home? There's no value placed on your safety or your health: fears of team members working alone in the office late at night went unaddressed, for example, and on one occasion the entire building evacuated but customer care was left working in their room because they couldn't hear the fire alarms and no one knew they were in there.
The nature of the work is such that it sucks up your time and mental health outside the premises as well. I would leave and want to walk in front of a bus just so I wouldn't have to come back the next day. It took awhile after I left to accept that this was actually not normal. If you're still there: this is not normal. This is not okay.
Benefits
-You get what's legally required (pre-tax transit benefits, opportunities to get healthcare insurance with very little employer contribution), and no more. Because there was no HR, pregnant women had to research and demand their own maternity leave policy. The lack of HR is also problematic when trying to navigate insurance.
-The employee discount isn't that much more than the biggest customer discount (30%, or 50% off the in-house brand which has the best margins).
-The biggest benefit by far used to be the employee allowance, but that ended about a year and a half ago, ostensibly for tax reasons (untaxed benefits). I can accept that as legitimate, but telling the employees that the company can't take on the burden of continuing the benefit and paying the taxes for it is quite frankly BS, given how many other companies offer a similar allowance. Why, then, should the associates continue to work at this company vs others with those benefits? How is Journelle competitive?
-Limited opportunities to earn bonuses (tied to store stretch goal performance) and no commission in the stores, while top corporate employees earn bonuses based on revenue on the backs of the store and customer care associates
-The "beautiful office" listed as a benefit really only applies if you're one of the few corporate employees left. Customer care gets to work in a closet.
In summary:
If you want to work at a place where everyone is considered replaceable, work here.
If you want to work under a CEO who doesn't value you or your contributions, work here.
If you want to age prematurely, work here.
If you want to feel undervalued and overworked, work here.
Please don't work here, actually. At least, not unless things change.