Pros
Gratis - so much of it you end up giving it away. Excellent in-the-trenches education for managers. Great environment for networking in the cosmetics industry. Having Sephora on your resume opens doors.
Cons
Compensation is below standard. District and regionals are heavily promoted from within and lack outside experience and formal education. HR policies are inconsistent and lack structure. Support is either nonexistent or micro managed. If you are leading a store in need of turnover to drive success, it will not be supported. Cast members know HR is inconsistent and leverage this weakness to their advantage. Conferences are intensely political and dumbed down. Sephora encourages us to network on LinkedIn, and the result is more managers are leaving because other retailers offer better work life balance and strong compensation packages. The workload is heavy for managers; Sephora is currently conducting an internal survey to determine the balance. They have promised there will be no retribution or performance counseling if we are candid but managers are anxious. The reality is Sephora expects a tremendous amount of back office work to be completed, as well as on stage time, developmental conversations with cast, operations oversight and rolling out their new 2016 objectives while driving a significant comp increase in the underperforming Skin category. I don't know any managers who fully complete their assigned workloads in a 40-50 hour work week. We frequently sign off on tasks and projects that seem unnecessary and are - honestly - never completed. It is difficult to hire and keep good talent because competitors offer better wages and benefits. Most key holding managers are undeveloped and lack any quantifiable skills.
