The Zappos Family Reviews

Current Employee – been working at The Zappos Family full-time for more than a year

Pros – People are extremely friendly and genuinely wish to be happy at work. The company does put enormous effort into employee happiness and has some really interesting ideas in that space. Have made many excellent friends and had a lot of fun at work.

Cons – Las Vegas isn't the greatest place in the world. But with the "Downtown Project" coming up things might start to get interesting in this space!

Advice to Senior Management – Get back to the roots of being the best at shoes. Too much distraction

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at The Zappos Family full-time

Pros – Company strives for good intentions; Core Values

Cons – Not applicable in this section

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at The Zappos Family full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Great insurance benefits and free booze

Cons – It's a cult. If you don't drink the kool-aid or get on the wrong person's bad side, you'll be stuck in one place, or on your way out.

Advice to Senior Management – Get rid of the politics and be honest!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at The Zappos Family full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Fun environment, open to other's opinions. If you do well they are great about cross functioning employees and giving people chances they probably normally would have had

Cons – The pay is low for non CLT employees. Long term benefits could be improved. In order for people to stay at a company, they want their financial future to be taken care of.

Advice to Senior Management – Get back to the basics of what zappos is all about and pay people what they are worth,

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at The Zappos Family full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Amazing, laid back, lets you flourish and become the best you are great at, amazing CEO, awesome parties. Didnt feel like I was going to work, felt like I was going to hanf with a bunch of my friends and talk to fun happy people on the phone while taking their orders. Stress free. Loved it!

Cons – I got fat while working there cuz of the free catered lunches everyday haha

Advice to Senior Management – You guys rule

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at The Zappos Family full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – The culture is great and so is the office atmosphere.

Cons – The pay is not that great, and the management system is broken.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at The Zappos Family full-time for less than a year

Pros – Laid back environment, random parades, no dress code, free food and drink.

Cons – The New Hire training program is a novel idea but it waste a lot of resources and money. Ppl. in charge who don't like certain individuals can get rid of ppl as "non-culture fits". Lack of direction and vision by management. I initially respected the message they were sending out to the public of culture but the leadership has his own agenda. He is currently just a figure head whose interest lie in other projects rather than the future of the company. The company is basically running on smoke and mirrors and only a matter of time until Amazon takes over completely.

Advice to Senior Management – Hiring the wrong person in charge can wreck havoc in any office even one that lives and breathes on its culture. Politics in any office is a bad thing but pretending like it doesn't exists is even worse.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at The Zappos Family

Pros – usually good environment, fun people, enjoyable atmosphere, fun work

Cons – they use the culture as a weapon against you when it comes time to make decisions about raises/promotions

Advice to Senior Management – re-examine what the culture means and the intent of the core values, because you are missing the point

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at The Zappos Family full-time for less than a year

Pros – Fun, laid back environment. Free basic lunch, lots of events and parties, free giveaways, great discount on products on the website.

Cons – Very cult-like in the way that they hire, train and operate. From the moment you step in the building on your first day, "they" (the training/management team, other faithful people in the company) are watching you, to see how you interact with other employees to see how loyal you are to the company, I'm assuming. I feel like you really have to drink the Kool-Aid to make it through training, let alone stay with the company for any period of time. Touching on the fact that Zappos wants you to be loyal- I understand that the culture they're trying to build is important to them, but if I am looked down upon for not hanging out with my team for a mandatory amount of time a week when I'd rather spend my free time with framily and friends, isn't really making me a better person, but a better Zapponian (which won't get me too far in the real world). In this company, you can move up fast, if you kiss butt, drink your daily dose of Zappo-Aid and don't stray too far out of line. It's a fun company to work for on the outside, but it comes with a price once you're in the company.

Another messed up thing that I noticed was that when you're in the middle of the long (six month process for me) hiring process, they hype up the company and have a good time with the whole thing, which was cool. but what they DON'T tell you is that once you quit your job and situate your life around Zappos, you first have to complete a month long training program, which has several tests that you have to pass, otherwise they let you go. As in you do not have a job with them anymore. Once you "graduate" the training program, you move on the the Incubation program, which puts you in the call center on the phones while being heavily monitored. Once again, there are more tests to pass, otherwise you'll lose your job there. If I had known that there was a good chance that they'd pull out the "not a good fit" firing card at any time, or that I would fail a test and lose my income, I would've never signed on with Zappos.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't focus so much on culture that you're willing to lose genuinely good employees. Make the hiring process shorter and more honest- tell prospective employees how it really is to live in Zappos Land before they give up their current jobs to sign on with you.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at The Zappos Family full-time for less than a year

Pros – Free food
If you like to drink booze (not the Virgin kind) during working hours this is definitely the place for you!
If you can act like an idiot on the phone for 8 hours a day, again, this is the place for you!

Cons – Horrible management that encourages you to quit and take the money if "they" feel you don't fit their culture.
Everyone is constantly watching every move you make, all calls are being criticized, monitored and recorded.
They put you through hell to get this low paying job and then come to find out there is more and more hurdles then you can even imagine just to keep your job-would have never, and I mean never had accepted the position if I was aware of this.

Advice to Senior Management – Please tell applicants up front how many ridiculous hurdles they will have to even pass after obtaining the job and don't make everything about your fabulous company seem like someone has won the lotto. Tell it like it is................

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company