Pros
The positives include: -Lots of free and discounted product -Young/fun co-workers -Nice office following the most recent round of renovations -Good mentorship available if you seek it out
Cons
Above everything else, L'Oreal is exceptional at sales - selling the product to customers, selling "opportunities" to new employees, and especially selling a certain type of delusion to everyone who works there. Here are the main difficulties I faced while working at L'Oreal: -3 out of 5 senior and mid-level managers are generally unequipped for the role This means a lack of understanding of what it means to manage in a professional sense (setting objectives, defining role scope and responsibility, removing roadblocks, etc), but what's more concerning, is that a lot of management is unequipped for the role emotionally - with no ability to empathize or understand the needs of the subordinates, they are followed only because the employees have to follow them. -Ego + Politics > Merit + Results I vividly recall my manager obsessing over the most insignificant details on a powerpoint deck, only to ensure that when he or she presents it to upper management, she is seen as a "superstar". I also recall manipulating the data to make a failed launch look "good", just so my manager could have good news to share. There is a general preference for ignoring data-driven decisions in favour of whatever makes the manager in question look good. -Emotional abuse It is a regular occurrence to see co-workers cry. It's even more commonplace to have a vacant role on any given team because the employee is on "sick leave" aka "stress-leave" aka "burn-out". The scary part is that no one is bothered by either of the above because they happen so frequently. -Hardcore cool-aid culture There is a strong expectation that everyone who works at L'Oreal must absolutely love it all the time, never mention anything negative, and ALWAYS show intentions of staying at the company until retirement. If you as much as mention that you might have an interest in perhaps exploring another industry or company way down the line, you will be told to keep quiet as it will damage your career progression. The ironic part is that L'Oreal Canada has by far the highest turnover rate in the industry, and forcing employees to always pretend to be "loving the experience" only makes it more difficult to get to the root cause of the problems. -Lack of ethical backbone I can't disclose any details relating to product development for legal reasons, but there are a lot of very questionable products both from an efficacy stand-point as well as from the consumer positioning standpoint.
