Pros
Obviously the Christmas party, duh.
Cons
Nu Skin is absolutely riddled with problems and I don’t believe that they’re heading in the right direction to resolve many of them. I worked at Nu Skin for 10 years in a variety of roles and believe I have a good sense for how the company operates at varying levels and across different teams. It is worth noting that I left of my own accord and was always in good standing at the company. I preface the following with that understanding so it is clear that these statements come from a place of calm retrospect and not a place of spite or revenge. Here is why I would advise caution before accepting a new role at Nu Skin: Poor Leadership - Nu Skin has attempted to adopt a facade of being a young, hip, tech company instead of a mid-level MLM. To do this, Nu Skin has paid millions and millions of dollars to contractors and consultants. The consultants did not understand Nu Skin’s business model or needs, but offered up many suggestions for rebranding and redesign that were ill advised and ill conceived. When results were less than their investment demanded, Nu Skin fired the majority of its technology leadership and replaced them with contractors and consultants. These same people who didn’t understand Nu Skin from the beginning have driven Nu Skin’s technology to a shell of itself. There has been significant turnover from that team, both from layoffs and attrition, because demands are too high and no one seems to be able wrangle them in or meet them. At this point, Nu Skin is left with the broken pieces of failed consultancy that they didn’t ask for. The leadership team that made the call for the consultant work are all still employed, but the management team that was told to make it work are not. I believe Nu Skin will continue to flounder until they rid themselves of the notion that they can or should be some Silicon Slope tech giant. The current CEO appears to be the main promulgator of this plan and I would not return to the company until he’s gone. Layoffs - In the last 5 years, Nu Skin has undergone three significant layoffs. One of the IT leadership group and two others that affected all teams. The tradition of layoffs has infected the culture at Nu Skin. Many of its employees are stressed and scared that they could be next. The trauma of a recent layoff can take years to wear off and, at Nu Skin, it feels like there isn’t time to heal between these ugly events. I don’t know how a management group can, with any sense of pride or decency, lay-off their work forces that many times and still keep their jobs. It is obvious that Nu Skin is struggling and the day-to-day workers suffer for it, not the leaders with the failed vision. MLM - Nu Skin’s products are sold by brand affiliates (distributors). I worked closely with many of these sales leaders for several years and there are many great people that try to make the business work. There are also many unethical, sleazy brand affiliates and, unfortunately, many of them are among the most successful. These sales leaders have a significant impact on the companies decision making. When things do not go their way, they are quick to complain up the management ladder until a concession is made. This is important to know as a potential Nu Skin employee because it means that often times business decisions are not well-informed or given enough thought and consideration. Business decisions are done by the seat of your pants based on the whim of whichever distributor happens to complain the loudest. These sales leaders do not usually have any sort of meaningful business acumen. They are often ex-realtors and boss babes. I don’t point this out to ridicule them, but to highlight the absurdity of allowing them to force their way into meaningful business decisions. While these sales leaders should be heard and considered, unfortunately they are often handed the steering wheel. Pay - Nu Skin is known for subpar pay. I have heard directly from members of Nu Skin’s HR team that working at Nu Skin is a privilege and that the pay is reduced accordingly. I eventually left Nu Skin for nearly double the pay with fewer responsibilities at another company. Work/Life Balance - Nu Skin is known for underpaying and overworking their employees. This is more true for certain teams than others, but I’ve heard many colleagues complain about it. Some workers are bombarded with text messages from Sales Leaders all hours of the day. The go to bed talking to sales leaders and wake up to messages and voicemails from sales leaders. Everything is an emergency and you always run the risk that a sales leader might complain that you’re too slow to your boss, because they have their number too. In the technology group, most team members are on-call to respond to technical emergencies 24/7. Because Nu Skin underpays and overworks, there usually isn’t a back up team to assist in these cases. Keep in mind that since brand affiliates call a lot of the shots, sometimes these aren’t actual emergencies but minor bugs that are made into emergencies by one especially annoyed sales leader. This was the straw that broke my back, eventually. I remember many times working all night or all weekend on a technical emergency. I was then expected to show up for work during normal work hours because nothing could ever wait. I was exhausted at Nu Skin. My team was exhausted. But no true effort was made to fix the underlying issues for Nu Skin’s constant dumpster fires. I know a lot of Nu Skin employees are worn out but because business decisions are guided by either the aspiring tech CEO or sales leaders, the focus has been on features and restyling while mostly ignoring the stability and reliability of its systems. In other words, if you join the Nu Skin technology group, plan on working on features from 8am - 6pm and tech debt anytime from 6pm - 8am. Cheesy - The final con I would point out is that Nu Skin, overall, is very cheesy. It’s a lot of talk about the Nu Skin family and being a force for good, but underneath it’s a lot of ego and incompetence.