Great Pay and Benefits, Close-Minded Management - Anonymous employee McMaster-Carr Employee Review

4.0
Apr 15, 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The pay and benefits (especially the benefits) are unbeatable. Everyone in the Company gets a raise (albeit a small one), even if they are under a job threat. The health plan and profit sharing plans are second to none. The work environment is usually very positive and clean. Roles are clearly defined and there is no "matrixed" reporting structure.

Cons

The management folks that the Company hires come mostly from top-tier public universities. The Company pays a lot of lip service to listening to employees by rarely, if ever, does this in practice. Improvements and changes to the way processes are changed are decided on high levels of the Company, as senior managers are micro-managed by their bosses. This unneeded oversight continues all the way down to the floor employees. Too much time is wasted trying to "nickel-and-dime" employees, rather than allowing them to devise their own novel solutions to operational problems.

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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