Good Pay but Extremely Stressful Environment - Text Contact Center Representative McMaster-Carr Employee Review

2.0
2 Feb 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The pay is extraordinary. Not only that, but you get a profit sharing bonus at the end of the year which can be upwards of 10K. The people I worked with (on my level) were nice.

Cons

Micromanaging to an extreme level. If you do not conform to the company's VERY specific standards it WILL be noted and your performance data will suffer. Employees are expected to answer customer inquiries in a way that meets the company's ever changing criteria. You are told to complete each new email within 3 minutes, but if ANY part of your response does not match the company's very high standards, it is marked as 'does not meet expectations' in your monthly dashboard. The dashboard is treated like a report card almost, and if 3 or more emails are marked as 'does not meet' you fail. If your average time to answer emails is too high you fail. If you forwarded too many emails you fail. If you DON'T forward enough emails you fail. Fail enough times and they will fire you. It's extremely stressful, especially to a non-neurotypical brain that has issues quickly processing information. I once went to HR for an accommodation for this, but was basically told there is nothing they can do. The medical benefits aren't great. Some of my co-workers liked them, but I had a lot of trouble. The PTO might be the worst thing about the job. At the start of the year for years 1 through 5 of employment you get about 19 days. That includes vacation, sick days, personal days - everything except holiday and bereavement. And speaking of company holidays, each employee is expected to work at least one a year. It's a volunteer, first come, first serve basis, but if you haven't worked a holiday yet for the year and not enough people volunteer, they will make you work. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years - whenever. Taking unpaid time off, even for emergencies, is incredibly frowned upon. Even doing it once will get you a call from HR. So you better manage your scare PTO well. I was hospitalized for 1 week and in that time took 3 days of unpaid time off and was verbally warned. (This was my first year, and I started late in the year so they only gave me 1 day of PTO until the new year) It's really no mystery why the turnover rate is so high, especially for managers. I think, like, 2 or 3 years is the average. Any complaints and concerns are met with, "Well, this is why we pay you so well," from management or HR. You can bust your butt every day, constantly fearing termination, stressing over making every single email you send PERFECT, because that is what is expected - perfection, but the smallest mistake will get you a warning from management, which really just adds to the stress and the cycle continues.

Explore other reviews about McMaster-Carr

4.0
16 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Pay/benefits are incredibly generous - People are generally easy/nice to work with - Note that the Systems department seems to be fairly isolated from the negative issues discussed in other reviews (e.g. tension between warehouse workers and management) - I haven't experienced any of those issues within the systems department. In my opinion, Systems is a great place to work and develop as an engineer. - Hybrid work style (3 days in office). Personally, I like hybrid more than both fully in-office and fully remote styles. - Great cafeteria with good food and cheap prices. - Good work/life balance (outside of being on call, I can leave work at work).

Cons

- Work is not super interesting to me. I come from a highly technical, but very different (not ecommerce/industrial supplies), background where I was doing work I was much more interested in. No doubt there are folks in Systems who love the domain though. - While I'm not on call a ton (1-2 weeks every few months), I really hate being on call. I like to leave work at work. Note that joining at least one reliability team is expected within your first year or so.

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