Green Citizen Reviews

3.3

57% would recommend to a friend

(20 total reviews)

James Kao

58% approve of CEO

53% positive business outlook

Green Citizen has an employee rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars, based on 20 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Green Citizen employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Management and consulting industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

20 reviews
1.0
8 Mar 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Knowing how e-waste was being recycled

Cons

This place operates like a business which is fine but the marketing message makes the company appear like it's some non-profit that is doing some good will to this world when it's not. What I'm about to do is expose Green Citiizen for what they really are: Ebay Seller of stuff that companies don't want when the company assumes that Green Citizen is recycling them. You can search online for : Greencitizen Ebay and you'll see for yourself. They also charge companies to do pickups too to resell them on Ebay. I just noticed that they closed off their 3 other locations with the Burlingame location which is their processing center left open. Good riddance. The CEO is really strange, in one moment he might talk to you like he's like some religious messiah spreading the good word (which of course when you find out later on it's all a sham which their zombie employees don't mind because of the paycheck) In another moment he can come off as a angry dictatorial person. He even makes his own wife and children help the business like free slaves too. He's probably not going to ready this but this review is just serving as a forewarning to those that happen. If you ever wanted to know how fake a job can be, always pay attention to the excessively optimistic marketing message you read from job ads or a list that exceed 10 duties a position has. Because you'll be working for one of those kind of bosses.

1.0
2 Jan 2016

Steer Clear

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Flexible Schedule, nice co-workers, good overall concept.

Cons

Low pay, treatment of employees, unsafe work environment, poor company culture, expectation to work long hours but not being paid for them. The only time anyone was offered more money was when they threatened to leave. Additionally, if you worked more than 40 hours (which many were expected to) they were refused overtime pay. The company got away with this for almost 10 years, now many employees are salaried to continue to overwork and underpay their employees. Every employee starts out as an independent contractor (which as someone else reviewed, is illegal). OSHA, The EPA, Fire Department and any other health / safety organizations would have a field day with the facility. The fire alarms weren't tested until the company tried for e-Stewards certification after two years in the building. And the inside alarms didn't sound. Almost all fire extinguishers are blocked as are almost all safety walking lanes. The individuals tasked with safety over the years were given no real teeth reinforce safety protocol. Also there are tens of thousands of pounds of batteries illegally stored and possibly hidden in the facility. 'Divide and Conquer' is not an effective philosophy to be used on the employee base. Teamwork is discouraged, instead all employees are expected to meet quota (many unrealistic) and quantity over quality is also discouraged. Inventory and e-stores are overstocked with low selling items for the single reason of bragging how many items are in them. Taking time to build and sell higher quality product for better revenue is discouraged since it could mean employees may not meet their quota. Lastly on this subject, proper training and (until VERY recently) quality control on titling, listing items, picture taking was rampant. It became about warm bodies to drone on with the work, rather than properly training employees to monitor their listing. This does not mean employees are not competent, it simply means they were not trained well. Having no Human Resources department, the employees suffer from sexual harassment, a lack of buffer between management and employees and mishandling of employee injury claims. An HR consultant was recently brought in for the sole purpose of making sure everyone's files were up to date with confidentiality documents as well as a document that essentially said the company was not liable for employee injury if hurt on the job.

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Green Citizen Response
10y
We have hired a HR consultant with over 2 dozen years of experience to review and upgrade all practices. It is a startup in saving the environment. Like all startups, everyone is wearing many hats and then to work long hours. Don't know what it means by "Divide and Conquer". All departments have to work as a team other wise no business customers or consumers could have been served.
1.0
29 Oct 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great place to innovate and experiment. Great team, many talented people willing to sacrifice for the vision. Clarification many did sacrifice for the vision.

Cons

CEO = Micro manager "enough said" CEO does not let managers grow to their full potential. He pushes his initiatives even though they don't make any financial sense. Bad CEO decisions has crippled the company. There is no structure, still a small business with big idea. Had many chances to take it to higher level many times but blew it due to CEO direction was not focused on core business.

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Green Citizen Response
10y
Thanks for the feedback. The business has grown double digit from 2011 to 2014. Most employees work for over 5 years in the company. Recycling is a business about details. So a lot of coordination between departments.
Viewing 1 - 3 of 20 Reviews

Glassdoor has 22 Green Citizen reviews submitted anonymously by Green Citizen employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Green Citizen is right for you.