Marchex Reviews

Pros

The HR (People Services) department is one of the best I have ever seen.
Senior management is really trying to do a good job, although you might not agree with them.

Cons

Promotion from an entry level CM position to a regular professional position is not really possible, even though they say it is.
Very high turnover.

Pros

Solid benefits
Pay is comparable with others in industry
Free snacks and drinks

Cons

Level of favoritism swirls through office
Lack of investing in top talent
Focus changes on week to week basis. Chaotic leadership

Advice to Senior Management

Put stock in folks on board who work hard. Make sure there's a level playing field.

Pros

Learning is encouraged.
If things come up and you can't make a deadline for a sane reason, no one's going to bust your ass over it.
Good work life balance.
Everyone's got a pretty good attitude.

Cons

Meh, I like it well enough.

Advice to Senior Management

The business end of things seems to be managed a little bit weird, but I certainly don't have all the information there, as a software engineer.

Pros

-Big push to make it a great place to work by Sr. Mngt.
-Lots of fun HR activities
-Great snacks all day long
-Some areas of the company doing some really cutting edge work
-Lots of communication about company initiatives

Cons

-Where you are in the company really dictates how good of a job you have. Some areas are very interesting and work is cutting edge -- others not so much.

Advice to Senior Management

-None really

Pros

Marchex is one of the few companies left that treats their employees like a non-expendable resource. They want you to be happy and to have healthy work-life balance - they feel it makes you more productive, and helps with employee retention.

Cons

They pay less than the big software boys in the area, and have fewer perks than Google or Microsoft (but more than Amazon).

Advice to Senior Management

Good job so far - keep it up. The kind of growth we are seeing in the calls sector makes me proud to be part of the team.

Pros

At Marchex you can work with great developers/people, learn a lot, and work on technically interesting projects. The management from top to bottom is responsive and treats people as the company's most important assets. Marchex is in a leadership position in the market in the call advertising space, and is growing ...

Cons

Other than being in downtown Seattle -- which many people see as a big plus -- there's not many cons to working here. The benefits are very good, having recently improved significantly, but not as good as some big companies.

As with all organizations, it's sometimes a struggle to get everything flowing in the right direction, but Marchex has good people in place to make things happen.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep moving forward, hiring great people, and pushing the products. The temps who post on glass door seem to be disgruntled; I agree there is segregation, but I don't know how much of a problem that is, but low morale certainly could be a problem to address.

Pros

Get to work with top engineers, and are allowed to solve problems using latest technologies.

Cons

Direction provided by program management skew towards short term which eventually account for more work in the long term.

Advice to Senior Management

Allow engineering to shore up systems to account for expected growth.

Pros

- Seasoned management team from Google and Infospace
- Creating the biggest most innovative calls advertising platform in the world
- Up or out culture; the "strong survive"
- Colleagues are the smartest I've ever met and have the "juice"
- Competing with Amazon, Facebook, and Google for sustainable talent
- Growth through acquisition (technology and people) is a competitive advantage
- Bonus: amazing views of Puget Sound and Seattle skyline from downtown
- Never a dull moment

Cons

- Challenge the status quo and be ready to defend your case
- Tinge of Internet boiler room culture but changing over time
- Acquisition integration is an after thought
- Politics are important at all companies but more so to get ahead here; have an exec "sponsor" before you join
- Cash paycut but equity upside is substantial
- Benefits feel like start up benefits

Advice to Senior Management

Onward and upward

Pros

Decent benefits
Nice location
Good morale events
Most people are nice

Cons

VERY politicial
Lack of leadership, especially in technial areas
Execs are always chasig the next $$$ deal (aka interested in pumping up stock price)
"Rock star" culture rewards show off behavior vs really getting things done
Basic IT systems do not work and very few people understand them

Advice to Senior Management

You cannot build a great products / company on foundation of sand

Pros

Free refreshments including chips, nuts, fruit, pop and juice.
The health benefits package is really good.
For the most part, the co-workers are nice and fun to work with.
You can get in with little experience and learn the ins and outs of online advertising.

Cons

Segregation between temp workers and full time workers.
Very low compensation compared to industry standards. Not liveable wages for Seattle.
Management is terrible at communicating and policies change constantly.
Overall atmosphere is tense and disgruntled.
Hard to respect a company that doesn't respect it's employees.

Advice to Senior Management

More communication.
They really need to learn how to treat people with respect.
Instead of keeping temp workers for over 6-8 months or more, just hire them.