What it once was, will probably never be again - Anonymous employee Stericycle Employee Review

1.0
Jan 20, 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The people were great! I loved the comrodery from my coworkers and competitive fun vibes from a rep level. Great benefits and great people.

Cons

No accountability from upper management. There was never an explanation as to how quotas were set or why they drastically changed month to month team to team. There were many different teams all said to sell specific services that Stericyle could offer. However, this was not the case at all and some teams were able to sell everything and other teams were not. This caused a huge discrepancy on quota achievement. Those teams that had the ability to sell different services had a higher chance to achieve quota than someone on a team who was only allowed to sell one specific service. The metrics assigned to the entire sales floor were also unattainable depending on what team you were put on. Some teams had all agreements automatically generated from the CRM used and other teams had most of the agreements they used from a "fill in the blank" word document. This once again caused metric goals to be unattainable since the amount of administration work was so high. When managers and upper management were asked how these metrics were decided on they had no answer. The historical data from the teams can show what teams are able to attain the metrics and teams should have different metrics based on services they were allowed to sell and amount of manual agreements they had to work with day to day. At the end of my years at Stericycle I realized how much they had taken away from their sales reps instead of how much they have been giving back. Sales reps at any other company are viewed as the main drivers in success of the company. The compensation plan is capped and the contests they did were less and less.

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Stericycle Response
10y
Thank you for voicing your thoughts and opinions as a Former Team Member. We appreciate Team Member feedback because it tells us what we're doing right and what we could improve. We're sorry to hear that your experiences did not meet your expectations, but please know that as an employer, Stericycle values all of the hard work our Team Members do. They're the driving force behind our success and we strive to maintain a work environment that fosters Team Member engagement, loyalty, and productivity.

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5.0
Feb 25, 2026
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CEO approval
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Pros

Great teamwork, engagement and collaboration

Cons

None that I can think of right now

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Stericycle Response
4mo
Thank you for taking the time to share this! We’re so glad to hear that your experience here has been a good one. It’s feedback like yours that reminds us why creating a workplace where people feel respected, supported, and proud of what they do is so important. We're grateful to have you on the team.
2.0
May 1, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I worked alongside a team that was consistently supportive and always willing to make time to answer questions, which made a meaningful difference in my day-to-day experience. There was a real sense of collaboration, and having people who were approachable and dependable made it much easier to navigate a fast-paced, high-volume sales environment. It helped create a bit of stability and camaraderie even during more demanding or repetitive parts of the role. Overall, it was a company operating as a leader in the space, which added to the scale and pace of the experience

Cons

This was my experience working at Shred-it, which is a subsidiary of Stericycle.If you’ve ever wondered what zero autonomy feels like, this is your spot. The day was a nonstop loop of cold calls, cold walk-ins, and more cold calls, with a mandatory “smile and dial” every morning. On the Shred-it team selling waste bins, it often felt like creativity and independent thinking were… safely shredded. Management could be extremely hands-on to the point of micromanagement, with frequent check-ins and scripted role-play scenarios that rarely reflected real conversations in the field. Communication style could come across as condescending or patronizing at times, especially on team calls, which made for an uncomfortable environment when feedback felt more critical than constructive.

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Stericycle Response
1mo
We really appreciate you taking a moment to reflect and share your journey with us. I’m sorry things haven’t gone as smoothly as they should, but your feedback is valuable and helps us make the improvements needed to create a better, more supportive place for everyone.
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