Pluspunten
The ethics around ingredients, the overall enthusiasm, and the desire to strive to do the right thing. I have a lot of lovely memories with some lovely people. There was definitely a golden age many years ago when things felt a lot different to how they do now. The Buying stories were an endless source of hope and encouragement when it came to understanding values. Staff events were always lots of fun.
Minpunten
A complete mess behind the scenes from the top down, with no recognisable desire to tidy it up, or any willingness to acknowledge low employee morale. Beyond making/selling products, it feels like the company has grown too big, in too many directions. Leadership are now in too deep with things they aren't savvy enough to steer, and aren't humble enough to hand over to actual experts, due to the belief that they themselves are pioneers despite making it up as they go along. It started as a company based on values and innovation. It is now a company based on ego and privilege. People with the right connections/friendships (but not the right expertise) end up in positions of power, which works to the detriment of those with the real skill set. This results in superb employees either quitting, burning out, or staying put while carrying a lot of resentment. It seems like the company would rather do a bad job delivering on a project as long as the popular people are running it and getting the praise, rather than doing a great job by listening to the people who know what they're talking about, and taking the right amount of time to execute a job properly. Really sloppy communication around pay from leadership, and very unfair standards of who gets a pay rise/bonus and who doesn't. Certain people with the right connections will always be looked after, but the people who actually deserve a boost or have been waiting years for a pay review are marked as "difficult" for bringing it up. Promotions don't always come with the pay rises promised, and there is toxic competitiveness around climbing the ladder which feels very 'high school'. Over the years, the company has normalised frequent periods of toxic unrest, with several emotionally unintelligent managers attempting to gloss over it by hyping up the whole "we're a family" thing. They talk about "promoting talent from within", which sounds like they're interested in your career development, but when put into action, it just means that in exchange for your loyalty, they'll let you have a bash at pretty much anything if it means saving money on hiring an expert. And no, you won't be adequately trained or set up for success. Instead, Lush will glamourise throwing you in the deep end. Will you walk away with experience? Yes, kinda. But actual transferable skills that are recognised industry-wide? Not so much. And if you arrive fresh in the company with the correct industry-relevant skills, they're usually trampled on and you'll leave in a hurry. Gaslighting, micro-aggressions and bullying are rife in all departments, in ways where you don't know how to address it and can't completely prove it. When you try to, you're pushed out because for some reason, Lush is more interested in protecting the baddies and acting like everything's fine. Finally, the highest of higher-ups do not believe that mental health is a thing.