Employee's potential pre-determined - Anonymous employee McMaster-Carr Employee Review

3.0
30 May 2009
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The happiest people here are the ones waiting to retire. The best benefits of any company I've ever worked for but you pay for it in boredom.

Cons

An employee’s potential is already determined upon hiring. They seem to be very proud of the caste system they have created and work hard to sustain its existence. There is a very wide division between management and the drones. Competition among the “drones” is fierce and mostly fruitless, which leads to disgruntled feelings among anyone who tries to advance. If a drone attempts any advancement, it is mostly met with confusion. Ambitious underlings (however capable) have no place in their equation. Your voice/opinion will not be heard unless you are in management. It’s true that much is expected of management. There is a revolving door of recent Ivy League graduates trying to find a “project” that will catapult them into permanency. Their jobs are similar to the drones, but MD kids get paid about twice that of a drone.

Explore other reviews about McMaster-Carr

5.0
7 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Salary, benefits, coworkers, work/life balance

Cons

micromanagement at every level and job is boring at times

4.0
16 June 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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