- At some points a surprisingly juvenile corporate culture. In a morning meeting I observed some behavior that, frankly speaking, grown men should not be doing at work.
- Inexcusably disrespectful to some employees. New hires don’t have a desk or a working computer for days. I had no workspace for weeks and walked around in search of an empty sofa in a corner or a desk of someone out sick. Ridiculous! This is just incredibly rude. I would never treat my employees like this. Inexcusable.
- Years ago someone posted something like "They promote people they like whether they're good for the job or not." I wish I could say I knew this was false.
- Recently a number of people have posted stories about the company's nepotism problem. I wish I could say I knew this was false.
- During my last two years there I witnessed a steady departure from Agile, so if Agile is important to you, keep looking.
- The company is in some ways very disorganized and still immature, so if a more organized and more professional work environment is important to you, keep looking.
- Overstock was no longer a meritocracy by the time I left, so if you want to work in a meritocracy, keep looking.
- The bonus program is an annual exercise in excuse-making, so make sure you are completely content with the base salary offered. What bothers me more than the money is the pattern of excuse-making. I never considered a bonus to be a right. But I expected the leadership above me to have integrity.
- Inconsistent and arbitrary application of its own published policies.
- Overstock hires the best and brightest technology workers anywhere, then forces them onto some ridiculous, harmful projects, then ignores repeated warnings, then blames the wrong people for the outcome.
- Overstock has suffered from self-inflicted wounds. In my years there, I witnessed Overstock bow down to unimportant partners, and say "Gee thank you for telling us how we should run our business." Overstock has no problem firing its own employees at the drop of a hat. But they bow down to these partners, some of them a fraction of Overstock's size, and even when it puts Overstock at risk! Sometimes it seems like they just can't say no to these guys. And sometimes it seems like they don't understand or don't care that some of these relationships are actually contrary to Overstock's interests.
- Warning: Have your own lawyer review the non-compete and advise you before you sign it. Overstock will tell you it's normal. It's way outside industry norms. That Overstock leadership keeps claiming it's normal isn't helping their cause.
- Speaking of the non-compete, Overstock is supposedly, and publicly, committed to the free market, as they should be. Why then does Overstock resort to coercion in the labor market? And it is concerning that a company that supposedly respects its employees must resort to threats and bullying. That's not how respect is shown.
- New hire orientation begins with a moving speech by the CEO in which he tells newbies they'll be fired for lying. Great start. Too bad truth-telling in this company can get you into trouble.
- The physical plant, the workspaces and such, was in desperate need of reinvestment when I left. Broken furniture etc. Slumish. Unprofessional. This was very noticed when I arrived at my new employer, just how much of a dump I had come from. My new employer did ten times more to create an efficient, clean, safe, condusive work environment.
- Despite many statements to the contrary over many years, Overstock remained an English-language, American-centered company. OK. Everybody has to start somewhere. But that’s not a long term winning strategy. And they should just stop talking about international markets if they’re not serious about it.
- Managers are not always empowered to reward their high performers. Worse, managers are in some cases actively blocked when trying to do right by their high performers.
