Should have listened to these negative reviews - Sales Advocate McMaster-Carr Employee Review

2.0
15 Jan 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great pay and benefits. Day to day is very structured and managed to the minute. 2 hours on the phone, 15 minute break, 90 minutes on, 45 minute lunch, 3 hours on, 15 minute break, 75 minutes on then log out and go home. Most people won't like the regimented schedule, but after I had spent 3 years working nights and weekends, that was a welcome change. Renovated subsidized cafeteria with decent food. Nice coworkers who are all in this together against 'the man'. They have tuition reimbursement and a nice company bonus, but you won't be there long enough to truly benefit from that. Company is well positioned in the market and has more than enough business.

Cons

On the phone (or entering orders, or responding to emails) all day every day. Expectations are almost unreachably high and they WILL find any reason possible to credit you with mistakes and/or fire you. Over the course of 18 months of employment I was credited with 5 total errors out of approximately 50,000 calls I took. That was apparently too many. I received my annual review telling me I was doing fine, and didn't have another monthly call review after that until 4 months later when I was told I was being let go for failing to meet expectations. I was not the only one. If you can manage to last, it can be rewarding, but beware...

Explore other reviews about McMaster-Carr

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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