Pros
Wayfair was intellectually challenging as my first full-time job, and the people I met there were smart and (mostly) kind. The culture is fast-moving and approaches decisions in the right way. I also want to note that when some employees decided to engage in political activism, Wayfair treated them with respect and allowed everyone to voice their opinions.
Cons
Most of the people I knew and worked with at Wayfair were stressed and confused at best, and miserable at worst, though almost everyone hides it. There's a reason they have such high turnover, especially in the marketing department - This is a fast-moving company that pushes its young employees, often to the limit. Other departments may have good work-life balance, but at least in marketing, the company's profits are put over the mental health of its employees. There is undoubtedly flexibility with work schedules and working from home, but this is used to set unrealistically high expectations for how much you will actually work (I heard the phrase "this is not a 40-hours-a-week job" a lot). Wayfair has lots of newly-promoted management that, while well-meaning, often fail to properly train and empathize with lower-level employees. I was the first person my manager had ever managed, and it was extremely difficult to navigate my role without the proper guidance during the first few months, even though I really liked my manager personally. Wayfair also doesn't respect its non-"quant" employees (at least in my experience). Many who I talked to felt like they were not valued, as intellectual contributors or as people. I sincerely like most of the people I worked with in my time at Wayfair. I hope the company can learn from its growing pains and improve the culture so that employees are not forced to hide their stress and exhaustion - But in the meantime, I got out, and I hope many of the people I know still working there and secretly hating it will be able to find another place to work as well.
