Solid Cactus Reviews

Pros

Great, fun atmosphere, talented coworkers, opportunities for growth and learning of new skills, everyone gets along, lots of opportunities to improve your skills in e-commerce.

Cons

Heavy workloads, sometimes management out of touch with expectations

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate better with employees and departments when it comes to setting expectations.

Pros

Relax friendly atmosphere. Fun, challenging and satisfying work. Diversified employee population. Very innovative in the field, ahead of its competitors.

Cons

Long hours, small company, too local when it comes to working locations. Less than exemplary benefits for employees with families.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep it up, going in the right direction. Solid Cactus has the potential to mature into a fortune 500 company.

Pros

I worked in the call center so my experience may be different than those at the technology center:

One of the things I enjoyed about Cactus was the closeness of team members. Everyone was very open and you could always count on having a smiling face to say hello to. Also, I always felt respected by my immediate supervisor.

Working with so many clients who sold a variety of products was good because all of them were different in how they wanted calls handled as well. This will definitely prepare me for working with several personalities in the future.

Cons

One of the biggest things I did not like about the call center was the lack of an appropriate break. Two fifteen minute breaks did not feel like long enough in the day. Plus your other not ready time was watched almost TOO closely. I felt micro managed at times. Not a way to run any company.

Advice to Senior Management

Less micromanagement

Pros

This is a great place to work for someone living in Northeastern Pennsylvania - where career opportunities are few and far between. They've created a great work environment, have a fantastic, cool, upbeat looking building, and a simply wonderful group of friends. Diverse staff of talented people including the rookies right out of school right up to the seasoned veterans. Good place to learn the e-commerce business. They do a great job of finding people who work well together and get along. They've got a few perks that set them apart from other employers in the region, such as the cafe, and free parking. Joe and Scott are very nice people, personally I like the both of them, and respect them very much. I do believe they want everyone to be happy and succeed. You will be recognized for your work, and if you are an honest worker with even a slightly positive attitude you'll do ok here.

Cons

It's very hard to come up with one "downside" blanket comment that describes the whole company. This is because there are so many different departments and job titles at Solid Cactus. While one department may be running like a well-oiled machine and everyone is happy, another department may be quite different. That comes with a fast-paced and ever-changing work environment like Solid Cactus. The economy is really struggling right now, and companies are scratching and clawing to stay alive at all cost. Solid Cactus is not immune to these dire economic conditions, so some decisions that need to be made (or have been) will not be positive. Some mistakes have been made in the way the company has made these decisions.

Overall, some things to point out:

While the building itself is awesome, the desks/workspaces are like a veal farm. Very tight, small and cramped. With the investments in all other areas of the facility this concern was overlooked.

The perception that the more hours you sit at your desk the better employee you are and the more work you are doing. This is outdated corporate philosphy of the 1980's that does not work in today's world, especially for a modern forward-thinking company looking to be a unique leader in the future.

If you stay in the Wilkes-Barre area this is about as good as it gets. It's a great salary for most folks living there, especially the 21 year old living with mom and dad. But it's not the place to expect to support a family, own a home and really thrive and build on your personal assets. You'll probably need a second job or move out of the area if you want to provide truly for your family. Increase in salary would help, if that's even possible right now.

Employees are in fear of speaking up. Several co-workers told me some great ideas, but said they'd be fired if they ever mentioned anything to management because it would be viewed as negativity.

Don't take a position as an E-commerce consultant or account mananger. This is the worst, and most demanding and un-rewarding position at the company. Unless you like being kicked in the head repeatedly seven days a week.

The threats of "write-ups." What is this, grade school? Another outdated practice not in line with a company that is looking to the future. If someone screws up, or violates policy simply fire them. Write-ups don't do anything but create negative attitudes with staff.

With young employees sometimes come childish behaviors and attitudes. The main reason for so many of the policies and watchdog big-brother tactics enforced at SC are because some of the younger employees can't be trusted to behave. That ruins it for everyone. Some of these rookies don't know how good they have it... let them go work for a total psycho like I have and Solid Cactus will look like paradise.

There's not a good work/personal life balance. You feel guilty if you have to leave at 5 or need a day off for personal or family reasons.

Don't sugarcoat. If something sucks, say it sucks. Most people just want to get it straight, even if it comes with some unpleasent words. Reality is not a negative attitude.

Advice to Senior Management

I realize these are some things that Management may not want to hear, but this is only my personal view, and I don't mean to provide anything but some constructive input. I do think it's a great place to work still and am proud I was part of it. I wish SC nothing but the best. Treat the employees with honesty, pay your talent well, and always remember that you have a responsibility to all these people to do your best for them, and they will do thier best for you.

Pros

Maybe a stepping stone for out of college ecommerce, programmers, developers, designers, quality advanced programmers, html stuff, sales and marketing and account management are 2 areas to avoid especially if you want to make any money at all. It is becoming difficult at this time to continue onto 100 words but I will keep going. It seems that the owners spent too much money on the image of the company and not the people who are the company. There are some really cool people who have come and gone and it's going to be tough to hire quality at lower that industry averages.

Cons

Owners only truly care for themselves and the home away from home in Florida

Advice to Senior Management

Sell or outsource operations

Pros

This is a VERY professional environment with the most knowledgeable employees for the positions held. Solid Cactus only recruites the most qualified people for the positions held. If a stranger came in off the street, they wouldn't be able to distingish between the owners of Solid Cactus or the actual employees. We all work together (as a family) for the good of our customers and in turn, making the company a better environment for all those who choose to be employed at Solid Cactus.

Cons

I am sure, some people may not be use to being employed by such a dynamic company. Solid Cactus demands their employees be knowledgable and to treat other's the way they would want to be treated. I guess that some people aren't cut out to being treated fairly and that would definitely make it difficult to work for such a company. Solid Cactus is a GREAT place to work... "SHAME ON YOU", Solid Cactus owners for being fair to your employees and honest to a fault.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep your "open door" policy. Give options in order for staff to bring family members in to see our building, our offices and meet our co-workers, as well as, our senior management. Hey, we need an "OPEN HOUSE", some of us can't help but be proud of where we work.

Pros

Feedback from employees is considered. Laid-back working atmosphere. Employees are personally known by name. I have never worked for a company that goes out of its way for employees the way Solid Cactus does. Every company has its pros and cons, but Solid Cactus certainly has a lot of significant advantages as an employer.

Cons

Like many places, healthcare costs continue to rise.

Advice to Senior Management

Stay connected to your employees. Stay true to the mission that makes Solid Cactus a great place to work!

Pros

Solid Cactus is definitely the best place I've ever worked.

There are excellent opportunities for advancement and an open-door policy with management all the way up to the President.

Those coming to management with issues or problems with the company are charged with coming up with ideas to solve the problem encouraging employees to have even more extensive input into the operations process.

The company is also a fun environment where it is not uncommon to see impromptu nerf gun foam dart wars in programming or impromptu frisbee games in Marketing. Management understands that all work and no fun is unhealthy and causes high levels of stress.

The company has recently (within the last few weeks) undergone a total restructuring to improve efficiency.

During the recent economic downturn, regular messages are sent out from the owners about the financial position of the company, just so employees are kept informed. The Profit/Loss reports are available for any employee to view in order to solicit suggestions for increasing revenue and cutting unnecessary expenses.

Cons

If you're looking for an easy job where you come in 9 to 5 every day -- Solid Cactus is not for you.
If you can't survive in an atmosphere of rapid change, you're not going to last long here.
If you must question and challenge every decision that is made that you personally do not agree with, without researched justification of your objection - you'll need to change that. We don't tolerate complainers.

Advice to Senior Management

Employees are expected to adapt to change rapidly. Management should offer a workshop on working in that type of environment.

Pros

Solid Cactus has proven time and again that they are here for their employees. There is an open door policy with regards to management. I always feel free to share ideas and opinions and while they may not always be implemented they are listened to and thought about. Everyone supports each other and the employees are always accepting of one another's success. There are emails that are sent company wide from one employee praising another with a "Great job" or "I couldn't have done this without you."

Cons

While I agree that we work long hours, it's recognized. The higher ups see who puts in the extra 10% to get a job done well.

Advice to Senior Management

I don't have any advice or feedback. I trust them to make decisions that are good for the company and the employees.

Pros

As an industry leader we provide our Clients with quality products and services at competitive prices. We are the worlds largest preferred developer on the Yahoo! platform and have more Internet Retailer 500 Clients than any other developer. To date we have worked on almost 4,000 stores and also provide our clients with alternative solutions such as Amazon and eBay Pro Stores. We provide our employees with many perks and benefits that many other companies do not. In fact we have been voted "one of the best places to work in PA" several years running and been on the INC 500's fastest growing private companies in America list for the past several years also. Our ongoing committment to training and developing our Employees to help them succeed is second to none. Obviously we did not achieve these levels of success by mistreating our Clients or Employees. We believe that the way we treat our emloyees is a mirror of the way we treat our Clients and both are very well taken care of. Of course as such we expect our Employees to perform to the highest standards possible to achieve and sustain these levels of success. Difficult decisions sometimes have to be made and if an Employee does not live up to our standards and deliver excellence then they can not continue to work here. Sometimes those Employees express their lack of skills, knowledge and dedication as frustrating inaccurate comments about the companies shortcomings when in reality there is a valid and legitimate reason they do not work here anymore. Please look at the facts and the success of the company before judging what disgruntled Employees have to say. Solid Cactus - Proven Experience, Reliability, Innovative Products, World Class Service - Your total e-commerce solutions provider and partner in success. BTW, we're also one of the greatest places to work on the planet.

Cons

Dealing with Employees who are not committed to delivering excellence.

Advice to Senior Management

Stay the course you're doing a great job !!!!