Marketing in Essilor is extremely hierarchical, with all decisions taken at the very high level, while the rest of the department is asked to execute. Some Marketing VPs show very late to work or to meetings or are never at the office, but employees are judged if they do that.
Evaluation or calibration of employees is anything but transparent. Marketing VPs gather on a closed door meeting where directors present their employees full year performance in a review that can't last more than 3 minutes. Discussions can get very personal, but directors are asked not to reveal anything that was discussed there except the outcome: promotion or not. Performance takes a second place. Personality and school matter more. Some reasons for not promoting someone can include: she's shy or she doesn't have an MBA even if they have worked for years with proven results.
They move Marketing employees around to new positions every year or two based on what they "think is best for the employee". The employee does not have a choice and sometimes you're told that you're moving to a new group the same day they make the public announcement. HR usually supports higher management not the employees.
The company's atmosphere is strict even though they claim to have open communication. Everything is confidential. Due to bad IT, you can't even track your own product's performance. Yet, Marketing activities always have "positive outcomes".
There is little diversity at the director level or above with no minorities represented.
Despite being a global company benefits are subpar, especially medical benefits that have little coverage, according to the insurance company itself!
