In my area it's obvious field leadership positions are being filled based on who you know not what you know. Every day there are multiple belittling emails and sometimes phone calls from shockingly inexperienced district general managers demanding instant results in driving the most baffling metrics with a heavily implied "or else". Persistent determination to pretend covid-19 is over and drive more traffic into the stores with no regard to social distancing or safety. Tenured partners aren't just leaving, they're fleeing. I don't know of many other companies who wouldn't look more closely at an area where managers with 5+ years on the job are leaving at a rate of 1 or 2 every month. Policies that result in termination are applied inconsistently depending again on "who you know". Field leadership often gives incomplete or outright wrong information. The demand to lean in without any regard for your personal challenges during the pandemic is par for the course in a large company but still disappointing.
There's absolutely no path to advancement unless you want to move somewhere no one wants to live, all positions are filled by the regional manager's former colleagues or friends. In addition to that, annual pay raises are garbage so you basically stagnate.
It's overall a very stressful and demeaning place to work, for mediocre pay and above average benefits. I can't speak for every area, but in this one that's where we are.
