Overstock.com Reviews

Pros

Laid back environment. Good people to work with

Cons

Company has lost focus of core mission and values and is trying to hard to compete with other companies

Advice to Senior Management

Get back to saving people money and not trying to be amazon.

Pros

You will be overwhelmed with projects so it is a good resume builder company.

Cons

Unless you are in the "in" group you will not go anywhere and you will not be paid for what you are worth.

Advice to Senior Management

Be proactive and the executive team should work as a team and not on their own agendas.

Pros

It is not just a job. It is a community of people that do amazing things like (1) donated 80 thousand pounds of food to 2010 holiday food drive in Salt Lake City, (2) along with our amazing customers, provided Wounded Warrior Project with hundreds of thousands of dollars of support in 2010 and 2011; (3) through Worldstock, have provided about $70 million in funds to aritsans in developing economies over the past 10 years. So I feel like my time at work counts for more than just putting money in my pocket.

Cons

I think communication from management could be better. Changes happen and we dont always get an explanation of why.

Advice to Senior Management

Have more stand ups or figure out a way to have virtual stand ups so everyone can see and hear what is said.

Pros

I have grown very much personally and professionally here. I am constantly challenged and learning new things. If all else fails, it's great experience to place on a resume.

Cons

Communication can be misunderstood, thus tasks may be executed improperly. The aftermath of that is dependent on the results once misunderstood communication has been shared.

Advice to Senior Management

Tough times calls for desperate measures. It's not always easy making the hard decisions. People will always be more willing to offer critism to someone else rather than look to themselves to see how they can better improve. It's always easier to blame the people on top. I believe that management is a strong group of people just trying to do the right thing for the company. Rather than just shooting down ideas because you feel like something won't work, try it first if there is no good reason not to. If it fails, then at least it was tried.

Pros

The people here are great to work with and there is always work to do so sitting around is not an option.

Cons

Senior leadership needs to worry less about suing other companies and more about being profitable. People getting promoted solely for sucking up yet being completely inept at any type of leadership.

Advice to Senior Management

Fire yourselves and take a 1010 course on management.

Pros

It looks good on a resume... OR at least it did when I left. Being able to work at what appears to be a industry leader for a couple year and make contributions looks good for future employers.

Cons

Oh where to begin...

1. Senior Management live in their own world completely oblivious to what is going on in reality. They are completely disconnected from the "worker bees" who really make the magic happen.

2. You might be an expert in your field, but Senior Management DOES NOT CARE. They are the VP's so they know best in their opinion. Despite most having no formal training or experience in the field they are managing.

3. Continuing with the theme, the nepotistic nature of the company, means that if you know someone and suck up enough you might get promoted to a position you hardly deserve. That leaves the rest of us wondering on a daily basis why and how these decision are made.

4. You are expected to be perfect. If you make a small mistake you could be fired so that the senior management can make an example, or appear to be handling the situation. This leads to people working in constant fear, and lying when they do make mistakes to avoid being a target. The irony being that if someone at the lowest level makes a mistake, it can be traced to the very top, and the faults of the management being the ultimate culprit.

5. On the flip side from #4 Senior management can often make mistakes, some costing the company hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, without any consequence.

6. Salaries are far from comparable. Needless to say if you work there or are considering, just look at how much the senior management makes below, and compare that to your salary (that should be a major clue for you): http://bit.ly/pmjWGI

7. I could go on, but you get the idea.

Advice to Senior Management

There is no point in giving advice. The ENTIRE senior management team needs to be replaced with people who understand online retail, and can be fiscally responsible to themselves, and their employees. Until then there isn't a lot of hope here.

Pros

Folks here are friendly.
Folks try very hard to get their jobs done despite a strong culture of micromanagement.

Cons

Nepotism
Poor compensation
Short-sighted planning ans strategy
Middle management does not last long unless they act as "yes men" to their executives
Poor ability to identify and follow best practices
The CEO has a dog he brings into the office and he lets it wander around and sniff people.
Extreme levels of dishonesty from the CEO and his direct reports.

Advice to Senior Management

Go back to "overstock.com", "o.co" has no brand recognition.
Keep the customer service and the marketing departments completely separate.
Start holding vendors accountable for services provided.
Understand that as an internet retailer your core business depends on reliable IT service and your IT department has been gutted by poor wage raises and compensation.
Concentrate on what you are doing good at, not on fads.
An "open" work area environment is counterproductive when the office is so crowded.
The CEO should quit micromanaging.

Pros

Overstock.com is a great company to list on your resume. It will teach you to work in an ever-changing work environment and teach you better time management.

Cons

They will tell you there are pay scales for each job, but that is a complete lie and you will have people below you on the hierarchy making a higher salary than you. This is true across the board in every department. Good people leave because Overstock is not willing to compensate or pay the valuable employees.

Advice to Senior Management

My advice to management is to pay your employees based off their job title and competency. Most managers aren't even qualified to be in their positions and you will constantly lose good employees for lack of pay and poor management.

Pros

Lots of oppertunity for deserving associates.

Cons

Long hours are expected during the holidays.

Pros

O.co has a great culture, however it is a stressful reactive management style

Cons

The upper management is overly reactive. The pay is not up to par with industry standards. They expexpect a lot for the little they compensate. There is a huge delta between salaries. Some regulations employees make more than the people managing them

Advice to Senior Management

I would say consistency is key.