Pros
The only pro of Von Maur is the fact that it’s retail. It was fun to spend so much time around the product, working with the vendors and the buyers. I very much enjoyed my job for the first few months.
Cons
If your manager likes you, you’re the golden child. If your manager doesn’t like you, then good luck to you! They’ll make mountains out of mohills. One typo and you’ll be threatened with termination, because typos are “embarrassing” to the brand. They truly want robots working at Von Maur — hence the “Kiva” order fulfillment system. From the moment my manager found out I was expecting, I became the enemy. I could do no right. I went from being an excellent employee to number one on her hit list. I was denied a private room to pump in during my first week back from my FMLA maternity leave. I felt targeted and bullied. No one in HR cared. The open door policy and anti-retaliation “polices” they have in place were clearly no existent. During this time, I always found out managers can decide not to give your yearly raise without any reasoning. 98% of managers are promoted above their capacity. It's truly because they do not value the competent members of their management. Ask one question about a directive and you've shown you're not loyal to the Von Maur way! Like I said, only robots are wanted here. If someone has been at this company, in an Executive role, for more than 5 years you can bet they are a personal favorite of Jim von Maur, Melody Wright, Amy Rotert or Joy Place. Once they’re considered a personal favorite, they really can do no wrong. No matter how high that manager’s turnover rates, how many mistakes, or how clearly incompetent they are. They will continue to promote them into a position where they have no day-to-day responsibilities, giving them fewer chances to show their incompetencies. Honestly, being forced to wear a skirt/dress and hosiery every day and not being allowed water or personal items (phone, earbuds, family picture, etc.) at your desk or in your office should have been a red flag for me. These rules are clearly outdated and show, overall, Von Maur is stuck in the past and will never make enough changes to truly become a leading department store. Hourly employees in the E-Commerce building are forced to keep their belongings in a locker and they may only access them during a break. It is terrible for morale, making the employees feel as though they are back in grade school.