Pros
Many of the things that you hear about working at VSP are true; it is (or was while I was there) a good place to be. The company spends a lot of time (possibly too much!) wondering about how employees are feeling about EVERYTHING and what the company can do to make them happy. Work-life balance was great; benefits were strong; and there are plenty of people to do the work. Lots of creative employee-centric features not seen at other companies outside of the Silicon Valley tech world. Company has great recruiting reach, so manages to hire mostly quality folks...just doesn't hold on to those who could become the future leaders very well. I enjoyed rapid promotion during my first few years there, and reached the point of manager. Then things stalled out and I noticed a big difference between those superior to me, and those who reported to me. I would describe it thusly: You reach a point in your career path at VSP where you either are "in" or "out". "In" means you drink the Kool Aid and will be a yes-man (or woman) to your boss and chain of command. If you challenge the status quo too much, you will be branded "out" and then it is just a matter of time before you realize your career has stalled and you need to leave.
Cons
Very much the old boy network (using the term generically; VSP has many women in management and leadership which is great). The same people get promoted to higher and higher roles; many of them have never worked anywhere else other than VSP so having outside perspectives among senior leadership is difficult to impossible. Re-orgs are pretty common, but barely anyone ever gets let go in these processes. They just change the job titles and shuffle people around to give the impression of innovation and response to market change. Meanwhile, business never changes. Your job will likely be to work on larger scale projects that are well-funded and staffed, completed competently, and then recommendations passed up the chain to senior management, never to be heard from again. After I began to notice the most talented employees get promoted to mid-level management but no further, and then take what they had learned and move into REAL health care/insurance (i.e. away from ancillary benefits), I realized this is the path for the worthy. Anyone who can do better does. As many have mentioned, VSP uses a measure of "total compensation" to make you believe you are paid a market wage. Here's what I'd say about that: Look, you're not killing yourself here. Most folks are EASILY working their job on less than 40 hrs per week. So, look at your salary according to how much you are there, and realize all the stress you are avoiding by working here. Many folks love the culture and will stay forever. If you want to get paid more and innovate a product or service, probably best to look elsewhere.