High turnover. From what I have seen, and from what other people have commented, there has been a lot of turnover; and I completely agree that this is concerning, but it is not constant. There have been some growing adjustments and people have left, but it is not more than a regular company. The difference here is that you can see everything that happens. We all sit next to each other, if someone leaves it’s very noticeable. Also, it’s not like there is a fire-lottery at the end of every week; the people that were let go, for the most part, were people you might have guessed were on their way out anyway.
Shoe-in hiring. This is completely incorrect. I can attest to this because I have placed four highly qualified resumes in HR and management's hands and these people were not hired. These decisions are based individually on need and are not given special merit.
There is a conflict between I.T. and marketing. I work in I.T. and YES! We have nerf guns and we shoot them at marketing. It is public knowledge that our CIO was changed and I can say, having been here prior to the current CIO, that things have changed for the better. Our new CIO is incredibly personable (as was our old CIO) and sharp as a knife, although he is intentionally playful to be disarming. Whatever imagined conflict is no more; we work very closely with everyone in the company as we are always helping in any way that we can. We love what we do and I can attest to the fact that from helpdesk to the CIO, everyone will help you. We will crawl under your desk and fix your PC with a smile and a joke. It is an incredibly friendly environment both in I.T., and in Marketing; we get along extremely well. This is one of the factors that I most like about working at Vitacost. I can speak to the CEO, the director of HR, and the maintenance man all with the same casual confidence. Everyone is down to earth at Vitacost.
I.T. is clueless and will be outsourced soon. I wish I knew how many times I have heard this threat. I cannot comment too much on this but I can say that this is not true. We have a highly qualified and thorough I.T. staff that is not going anywhere. These are some of the best people I have worked with and I have worked in a lot of places. The seniors are always willing to teach the juniors, directors are even tempered and polite, development is always willing to be pulled aside for a question, and our apps support and QA teams are amazing. There are problems, people are people, but we get it done and it is exciting in the process.
This is a company that offers opportunity for those that are willing to bust their ass to get it. Within the first six months I was promoted and I am constantly being given more responsibility. I did not know anyone here prior to being employed, I am not particularly friendly with the management, and I do not belong to a religious majority. I am a person who worked and earned. Not to make this all sunshine and roses, there are times that I am scared of losing my job. But I think that this is because the market is still bouncing back, and I have been laid off before; that combined with a visible hiring/firing process has unnerved me, but fear is all that has come from it. I am very happy working for Vitacost and I would highly recommend it to anyone that is driven.
