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The Vermont Country Store

Engaged Employer

The Vermont Country Store reviews

3.6

64% would recommend to a friend

(60 total reviews)

Eliot Orton

75% approve of CEO

55% positive business outlook

The Vermont Country Store has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 60 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The The Vermont Country Store employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

60 reviews
1.0
Dec 23, 2010

Micromanagement and favoritism

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible schedules, that's about it

Cons

Absolutely no chance of promotion based on the merits of your performance. After working for several years, I lost several responsibilities, instead of gaining as expected. Micromanagement is ridiculous. They'll admonish you to save the company money by using the proper size box to pack an order, yet sometimes you'll stand around for several minutes with no work. They treat you like children. In the busy season, they use regular folks to be 'supervisors' (a money-saving ploy), but these people know no more than regular clerks. You may be told to do one thing by one person and another thing by another person. The people who are year-round managers - Oh my God - ego city. They are also the type to stand there and watch you do something wrong, then get mad because you've done something wrong. Instead, they may try saying "you're doing that wrong." They have eliminated all bonuses, saving themselves thousands upon thousands of dollars every year. These bonuses in the past gave them a great reputation as a wonderful place to work. They no longer enjoy this reputation. They've also made it so that if you work the phones, you now have to sell sell sell to the customers. They brag in daily meetings how much $$ in sales this brings in, and how they've had record munber of sales overall, yet again, all bonuses have been eliminated. I agree with the prior comment about the culture - it's all about money now, not the people who work there. When I started, their little 'buzz' phrase was "We want to be the employer of choice." Funny, haven't heard that for awhile. Having Bill Shouldice enter as CEO in 2005 was their number one biggest mistake. The Ortons need to open their eyes and realize this. Every year they have an employee survey - that you have to do by computer (and put your name so you're easily identified)!! Obviously, they are not interested in keeping their employees happy any more.

1.0
Nov 18, 2010

Reader beware

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The business is located in a beautiful part of the country. Like all comapnies, it has some very nice people sprinkled around the various departments.

Cons

This comapny is the poster child for a disfunctional "family business". All the jokes made about family businesses apply to VCS; i.e. rude/iracible owner, out to lunch family members, they are in it for the money - not the love of the business, have only "yes men" as managers, micro-manage the smallest detail, all employees are taught they are to jump when the family sneezes and the owner is never wrong. The worst IT systems I have encountered in my catalog business career. Getting information you can use is quite hard and very time consuming. The middle managers do not stick up for their employees. It is every person for themselves. The hours can be crazy. Why live in such a beautiful place if you are not able to enjoy it. The company claims they have an appreciation/understanding of work/home life balance, that is a joke. They do not want anybody who will not conform to the companies rigid mold. If you are an intelligent, creative, free thinker; run in the opposite direction. The people that servive at VCS are the ones that just conform completely.

2.0
Oct 4, 2010

North Clarendon

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible schedule for salary positions The people you work with not for.

Cons

Not the same culture as they had with former CEO much less about people and more about profits for the family

Viewing 58 - 60 of 60 Reviews

Glassdoor has 69 The Vermont Country Store reviews submitted anonymously by The Vermont Country Store employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if The Vermont Country Store is right for you.