Out of Touch Management - Anonymous employee Guitar Center Employee Review

2.0
Feb 6, 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Generally good people to work with in store, products you can get behind (due to stellar selection,) large company with steady work.

Cons

Too much emphasis on sub-metrics, too little awareness of in-store happenings by district management and above, product not properly maintained for sale, lack of employee resources, poorly designed website and online checkout, aggressive tone from upper management including regular threats of termination, poor compensation with unethical commission structure, lack of focus on actually getting quality equipment into musician’s hands.

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Guitar Center Response
8y
Thanks for taking the time to write a review. I like the "Undercover Boss" idea!

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5.0
Jul 16, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Management takes good care of you

Cons

No complaints that I can think of

1.0
Apr 21, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Plenty of capable individual contributors doing real work. - The brand and the business itself are legitimate — the problems are organizational.

Cons

- Senior leadership is politically driven rather than outcome-driven. Strategic initiatives stall out, and leaders spend more energy assigning or shifting blame than actually diagnosing and fixing problems. - Some parts of the org operate on deference to the top. Honest assessments get softened into whatever narrative leadership wants to hear, which makes real cross-functional work difficult. - Senior leaders do not consistently advocate for their own teams. When things get political, self-preservation takes precedence over backing the people underneath, and capable managers end up exposed.

2
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