I'll start by mentioning here that my true overall rating would be more like 2.5 stars - but Glassdoor does not allow such a rating. I'd usually opt for rounding up to 3 stars, however, considering that there have been a lot of dubious 5 star reviews lately, I'm going for 2 stars.
Note that even though one can argue that the reviews might in fact be honest reviews from family members in the company - they will be biased and will not truly reflect the prospect of future employees.
- If you are an immigrant skilled worker (such as an engineer), you will still be paid significantly less than you are worth. This is a strategy of the owner of the company: it is possible to have more qualified workers for the same cost if they are new immigrants - a valid strategy in terms of market. There is nothing wrong with doing that - it is the owners prerogative- with the potential downside of losing good employees within months.
- The owner is, as mentioned in other reviews, very concerned with micro-managing and making sure you are working.This is noticeable to the point of making the environment slightly oppressive. Some people become literally afraid of checking their cell phones or opening any website while at work. Obviously, you are being paid to work, but at Zaneen you always feel that you have to be on fight or flight mode.
- Very strict schedule control. This is really one of the worst points of the company in my opinion. You are expected to be working before your starting time (if you start at 8:30 you better be in our seat before that time) and cannot leave early - if you are more than 10 minutes late you have to call in so that this time can be discounted from your paycheck. That is completely fine.
However, when you combine that to the fact that you are also explicitly expected to work overtime without pay, it becomes ridiculous. If you arrive at 8:15 but leave exactly at 5PM, you will receive a verbal complaint by the owner of the company. I was told *on more than one occasion* that my reluctance to work extra hours without pay would reflect negatively in my yearly review. Not exactly with those words, but quite clearly nonetheless.
- CEO is intimidating (sometimes a bit aggressive) when dealing with employees. Shouting was not common, but also not unheard of. This is actually a common trait of CEOs - as free market competition is basically ruled by survival of the fittest - but in larger companies normal employees are usually shielded from the CEO by layers mid-management.
- You do not have only one boss. This a huge logistical problem - in theory you have one direct superior - but you will receive requests from all three VPs and the CEO, and all of them will want their requests to be priority.
- People are unhappy. This is a bit alarming. With the exception of the family who owns the business (and maybe the VPs), I did not meet a single person who was *happy* with their job. And while the VPs never publicly expressed any discontent, they always did seem very tired. Again, if working was super fun, people would not be paid to do it - but if all your employees are dissatisfied, this should be cause for concern.
- Benefits are not very good. This is to be expected considering the size of the company. You have extended health, and that is it. No dental, vision, sick days or anything else. You also have only 10 vacation days per year.
- You will be expected to do many things not necessarily related to your job description. It is not uncommon to have to tasks such as clean-up, moving furniture and office equipment, attending clients in the showroom organizing stock in the warehouse. This is not the end of the world, but when you receive an email saying that certain computers have to be switched around and set-up BEFORE 8:30 (meaning you have to arrive 40 min earlier to do the work) it tends to be a little upsetting.
- As this is a small company and a family business, professional growth is very limited. Nothing wrong with that per se - if you create your own company and work hard to build it during 35 years, you are more than allowed to hire and promote whoever you want - including your family. Also, all three VPs are not from the family - which shows that even though it is hard to grow, it is not impossible.
In all fairness, many of these negative points are shared by other small retail companies. I'd give Zaneen a rating of 5 in 10. It is not a place that will suck the life out of you (mostly), but it is also a job that people will not hesitate too much to leave if offered another opportunity.
Another important point is that although the company does have some good employees, there are some other ones that are terrible, and work very hard to be as unproductive as possible (a couple of names in departments such as Customer Service, Marketing & IT come to mind) . This probably led to higher control and animosity from management - in other words, all people might be paying for the errors of a few.
