Wayfair Operations Associate reviews

Wayfair pays well below the industry. This is definitely something that is hard to ignore no matter what your experience at the company is. Wayfair does not treat their employees—particularly those in entry level jobs—well. The employee retention is horrible with the average tenure being around a year (it seems). As with most big companies there is a culture that revolves around the hierarchy. It is hard to get anything done without multiple levels of approval. In my experience, managers were not encouraging of thinking outside the box. It’s very clear that it is the Wayfair way or nothing. If you are well liked and your manager likes you then you will be promoted. There isn’t a ton of variation in terms of responsibilities by level. There is little transparency around anything including pay bands, promotions, company news or anything. Even the data is largely restricted access (which is comical because one of their core values is “data is our thermostat”). The PTO is average, but it can be tough with only 6 company holidays. Levels 4+ have unlimited PTO which adds to the hierarchy culture. WFH largely depends on your manager and is very inconsistent throughout the company. Most managers have little to no experience managing. Some have very little interest in being a manager leaving their direct reports to find their own way. This is especially difficult for entry level employees who need the guidance of a strong manager. The company brags about “pod outings” but in reality many teams fail to organize them or they are poorly attended. The company recently has been obsessed with being “WayThrifty” to basically restrict things that are able to be expensed. They made clear that managers are not to expense new hires lunches leaving them to foot the cost themselves or ask their new hire to pay. The office has a cliquey and gossipy nature that I couldn’t wait to get out of.

- Unreasonably low pay - Mixed quality of employees: Some employees are clearly lacking training, and some managers obviously don't have management skills. Some managers ask you to report every time you're not at your desk for more than 5 min (excuse me?) - Increasingly hierarchical structure: You might still be fooled by its self-proclaimed "startup" culture, but the truth is, the structure has much changed. Remember, this company has 10 levels for its employees. - Shifting structure: A lot of changes are constantly happening - structure of each team, team names, personnel, etc. Confusing. - Unclear/non-transparent communication: The company doesn't have the proclaimed the transparency. Managers don't necessarily let you know what is going on here in the company, and some of them don't even care either (for instance, they don't themselves attend company quarterly meetings, etc.) People have different standards, for instance, some managers don't even allow coffee breaks except for lunch break (excuse me?). You might think that people here are mostly open-minded because of the open floorplans, self-proclaimed start-up, fast-growing environment, but this is certainly not the case with certain departments.