Pros
The best thing I can say about my time at Macy's is that I was able to work with a lot of really wonderful people in a variety of departments across the Marketing & Advertising umbrella. There are real experts here who truly care about the work that they're doing, and about being great at their jobs, and it's not a stretch to say that these are the people that truly keep the company afloat. Also, the sick day policy on the corporate level is one of the best I've ever encountered; to that effect, there's a renewed focus on work/life balance that provides the ability to work from home once a week. Both of these are pretty great.
Cons
There are some real issues with leadership that have pretty much stayed consistent over the years that new and prospective hires should absolutely be aware of. Even forgiving the near-annual cycle of sweeping corporate layoffs and reorganizations (upwards of five in the last seven years?), there are some real problems with how Macy's treats its people. A couple of years back, the digital and print advertising departments were merged into one larger group (after yet another reorganization), but no integration work was undertaken by leadership; no cross-training whatsoever was applied - we were all just sort of thrown into the deep end of the pool and told to figure it out. The effects of this merge are still being felt today: new hires are finding that the specifics of the digital-vs.-print work are so completely different, they're functionally being brought on to do two jobs for the cost of one. Speaking of training, due to the enormous workload in the creative department, new hires go basically untrained for months, abandoned to figure out the granular details of their positions on the fly while trying desperately to keep their heads above water. To that point, the workload is actually something of a serious issue requiring some discussion: it's extreme to the point of unreasonability, thanks largely in part to a funnel-down style of management (i.e. "What have *you* done today to help your boss work less?"). Additionally, while Macy's has always been beholden to its own internal political structure, recently that has come into even sharper focus. Above, I mentioned that the company is held together by the efforts of a few experts, but these experts are roundly taken advantage of and treated as workhorses, rather than rewarded for their expertise. The corporate culture seems to reward ego and optics over actual talent and dedication. To that effect, at least one VP was recently quoted during the annual review process as saying "It's not enough to be great at your job anymore." I understand that one must strive to stay politic in your job, but when so much focus and attention is given to seeming politically viable, rather than doing a good job at your actual job, only the politicians will rise, while the workers who know how to do their jobs will leave in droves (which, make no mistake, they are). Promotions and raises are so rare that they might as well be non-existent for certain departments; annual reviews are structured in such a way as to minimize the work you do day-to-day and amplify the extra-curricular tasks that look good to leadership.
