Strangest employment experience ever. - Anonymous employee McMaster-Carr Employee Review

2.0
Jun 14, 2012
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Excellent pay, good employee discounts, intelligent co-workers. The front-line employees who work there can be inspirational at times.

Cons

Extremely risk-averse and tactical organization. All of the company's facilities are located in low-rent locations that are far away from urban centers. It'll be a challenge for you if you're used to working in large downtown offices. Very little effort is allocated toward training and developing talent. Retirement plan is awful if you spend fewer than 2 years there.

Explore other reviews about McMaster-Carr

5.0
Jun 7, 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
Jun 16, 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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