There are absolutely no rules, no documentation, and no checks and balances for ANYTHING. I wish all new hires the best of luck, you basically have to bust your rump to get even the basic understanding of what the heck is going on in your department and your role within the business. (On-boarding is a joke.) The lack of guardrails makes it difficult to get basic tasks accomplished without having to get buy-in and feedback from everyone and Moses. There are opportunistic individuals and departments who take advantage of this weak structure by dominating other teams and bullying them into submission.
Victoria's Secret Stores and Victoria's Secret Direct (the dot-com half of the business) are ENTIRELY different companies (Lord, I'm not even throwing PINK or VS Beauty in the mix, that's two more levels of dysfunction.). The fact that they're broken up between 3 separate offices is telling. We're told to think in an omni-channel ("Megabrand") way, but VSS dominates all discussion and process with little to no consideration of VSD. So-called "leaders" make split-second decisions without taking into consideration the actual work it takes to execute the details. It makes for a frustrating work environment and ultimately a broken customer experience because both teams are more concerned with kicking sand in the other's face rather than playing as one, focused brand. It's pathetic.
Individuals are fierce and there are several dominant personalities. You have to be on your A-game each day of the week, as people would rather cut you down than collaborate. Lots of name dropping ("Les wants this," or "Sharen and Bridget asked for that...") as a way of intimidating people into doing what you want.
Communication is poor and strained across all levels. Get used to being the last person to know that your project was cancelled or reassigned to someone else. All decisions are made at the eleventh hour. Some of this comes with the job--you're always bound by the performance of yesterday's sales--but much of the planning stages is more reactionary than proactive. Hush-hush important meetings are held in secret corners of the building without requiring input from anyone relevant to the task. Emails fly through the night, well beyond the normal person's working hours. (I'm guilty of this as well. It's easy to get sucked in.)
There's no clear-cut way to advance or be promoted. I earned a perfect score on my review, but I've had several people leapfrog me for next-level positions. It's easy to be pigeonholed into a certain role or function.
Oh, and if you're in one of those elevated positions, they will put you to work, honey. W-O-R-K. I've spent many a weekend monitoring performance on the website to track inventory and dole out reports. We're told time and time again that we're trying to double our business, but we don't invest the time in increasing our headcount. They'd rather double-up on your workload than spend the money on salary and benefits for others to help spread the load.
Systems and technology are pathetic and old. Everything at VS.com is managed by a 1970s, Atari-looking Mainframe. I KID YOU NOT. There's some serious Konami code magic built into that system (Bonus points for those of you who know what that means. All you non-gamers can Google it.); it hasn't been refreshed since the dawn of mankind. It's rigid, inflexible, and doesn't allow us to compete on the same level with other retailers with a solid online presence. I spend more time doubling back on broken systems and processes than I do ideating. Don't expect new hardware or software. The brand can be scrupulously cheap and conservative on key initiatives.
In summary: Only the strong and belligerent survive here. The turnover rate is ridiculously high, if you make it more than a year and a half, you're either doing something right or oblivious to the struggle.
