Costco Wholesale Reviews in Issaquah, WA

Pros

The CEO and CFO and there support of the workers, there beleive in compensating and growing the people from within.

Cons

Some of upper management can loose track of the importance of supporting the worker bees.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate more with the people doing the work when considering a change ask for their advise and really consider it.

Pros

you'll never get fired (comfortable), boss will not breathe down your neck for delivering because culturally expectations are not high with regard to productivity and IT's eagerness to deliver solution faster and better. people are friendly. Fortune 50 company. Good brand name. great work vs life balance. most people work only 40 hrs a week.

Cons

Not challenging environment, management is poor with developing their employees, not many career opportunities, probably 15-25% underpaid by position compared to market, many lifers simply happy to collect a check (meaning people worked there forever and are not go getters), lacks mentorship programs,

Advice to Senior Management

Develop your employees better, actually invest in them and their desired career paths, mentor them, don't be so complacent, create challenging environments.

Pros

Costco promotes from within, so career growth opportunities are available for those that work hard and apply themselves.

Cons

No time off in your first year of employment makes it tough for many.

Pros

Relaxed atmosphere
Casual dress code
Fairly low cost medical benefits (see caveats below)
Job security, at least until the CEO retires
Management will listen to you
Some newer technology if you get assigned to the right projects
Technical Training
Decent desktop
Work life balance is mainly respected
Low amount of administrative "junk" to take care of
Free parking (but it is in the swamp, or back 40 acres depending on assigned building)
Still run like a small company, but that is also a problem because they are huge
Opportunity to fill gaps with utilities as long as it costs 0 to nothing

Cons

Low pay compared to competitors for skilled IT talent
Good people are not accepting offers because of Low pay and benefits
Lousy 401k match $500 max per year...seriously!
No bonuses or stock options
Medical benefits are OK, but you are pushed to use Costco for everything and one hearing aid every four years!
New hires have trouble being listened to
Noisy cramped cube farms, 4 to a cube, and you are surrounded, not efficient or pleasant
Many old-timers that are just dialing it in, but won't leave because they have gotten to the point where benefits are decent/good (10-15 years)
Way behind the times in technology and pushing to upgrade with minimal employees and slow to recognize the need for additional people
Freeze period on vacations and days off (and IT changes) during 11/01-12/15, which makes sense for warehouse, but not for IT.
Vacation days below average, even worse than Wal-mart
No laptops
No cell phone reimbursement
Remote Access from home is primitive
Parking is assigned based on seniority, don't plan on a parking spot for 20 years (literally) and wear comfortable shoes because it is a hike
Decisions and intiative are hard to find here
Pay increases are poor, to the point of not covering inflation (yes it is something, but they are very profitable!)
All employees are treated as replaceable as cart pushers, which isn't bad if you are a cart pusher or cashier, but it is bad if you have 20 years of experience in IT

Advice to Senior Management

Pay good people market rates (IT, not Wal-Mart or Warehouse position rates)
Update your offices and read up on efficiency of cube farms, especially your 4 person per, version
Counsel and/or move people out if they don't perform
Technology Vendor's do not know everything, many times less than your in-house experts, listen to your employees
Ask employees opinions anonymously and work on the lowest scoring areas

Pros

good pay and bonus twice a yr. the hours were good until now working 11yrs they have me closing they dont care about there employees.

Cons

the hours i have been there 11yrs i have good hrs now they are making me close. p/t the benefits are awful.

Advice to Senior Management

care about the employees they dont care about the employees I now have to close and i dont have a car i will have to walk home at nite.

Pros

Great Benefits. Casual work enviorment. Free parking. Located in Issaquah so traffic isnt an issue.

Cons

Horrible starting pay. Even with a college degree and working in the corporate office they think its ok to pay starting wage of $11. Takes 5 years to gain livable wage.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay your employees a livable wage if they have the accredation.

Pros

ethical company committed to providing highest quality product lowest possible price. Great place to build a career

Cons

Some senior management promoted because of technical skills not people management expertise.

Pros

Work/life balance is A-#1. Depends on who you work for, but if you are lucky, it can be great. Very low-key, rarely crazy busy, casual work environment. Hard to get fired, they move people around when it's not working out. You can take on as much or as little responsibility as you want.

Cons

Salaries are very low. Promotion is nonexistent unless you know someone. And then you are golden. Very incestuous...people are all related.

Advice to Senior Management

Promote people based on merit and not because they are your brother/ sister/ cousin/ wife/ husband. If people can't do the job, give them something easier and hire for skill!

Pros

Best health insurance I've ever had
Raises are given annually
The people who work there are very nice
Workload is light

Cons

Culture is EXTREMELY top down
Management is made up of "yes" people
Highly paid consultants are often hired for advice and then are not listened to. Rinse and repeat.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire people from outside into mid-senior management positions. Far too often criticism is met with, "that is just how we do things here"

Pros

They try to treat people well. Work-Life balance is great. Some really nice people there. Warehouse operations are really with it. Even the most clueless among the leadership are trying to do the right thing.

Cons

No encouragement to do a quality job, let alone go above and beyond. Management in IT has no idea what they are doing - they are all "people managers" yet decide all of the strategy and process. Too much process - yet all that process does not yield quality, timeliness, responsiveness, accuracy, or dependability - pretty much the reasons why you would install a process in the first place. No ownership or accountability. I have not noticed any discrimination of minorities, but definitely spotted plenty of nepotism.

Advice to Senior Management

Start with accountability. Educate yourselves in the field in which your managing. Trust those people working for you, and empower them.