Pros
Strong place to get your foot in the door if you're an intern or recent graduate.
Hybrid schedule is a positive.
Most coworkers are hardworking, supportive, and understanding because they're dealing with many of the same challenges.
You will gain experience quickly because teams are often stretched thin and employees wear many hats.
Cons
Compensation is dramatically behind industry standards. This is the single biggest issue facing the company from an employee perspective. For design, merchandising, technical design, and sourcing roles, the pay does not align with workload, expectations, or market rates. Many employees commute from Madison. Between fuel, vehicle wear and tear, and the cost of living in Madison, compensation becomes even harder to justify.
Product teams frequently work far beyond 40 hours per week. Long nights and weekend work are common, especially around major milestones and concept presentations.
During concept season, expect your work-life balance to disappear. Weeks leading up to presentations often involve the design team working until 10 or 11 p.m. and sometimes weekends. Despite these expectations, support for employees during these periods can feel minimal.
There is intense pressure to drive lower costs and higher margins, often at the expense of product quality. Many employees feel products are not as good as they could be because cost targets outweigh almost every other consideration.
Leadership often feels reactive rather than strategic. Decisions can change quickly, priorities shift frequently, and employees are left feeling uncertain about direction and job security.
Employee retention has been a recurring issue. A significant amount of talent has left in recent years, and meaningful compensation adjustments appeared to occur only after turnover became impossible to ignore.
One of the most disappointing aspects of the culture was seeing members of leadership openly discuss and gossip about former employees after they left. When a large group of young, talented team members departed, the reaction from some leaders seemed more focused on talking about those employees rather than understanding the underlying retention issues. Watching managers criticize former team members in front of current employees did not inspire confidence and contributed to a culture where trust in leadership was low.
The reliance on external consultants that are conflicts of interest is unsettling. This can be frustrating when employees feel their expertise is undervalued while outside voices receive greater influence and credit.
Favoritism and conflicts of interest are frequently discussed among employees. Whether intentional or not, there is a perception that personal relationships carry disproportionate influence in certain decisions.
