Wayfair (formerly CSN Stores) Reviews

Pros

A lot of opportunity for learning and advancement.
Laid-back atmosphere.
Young coworkers create a fun environment.
Opportunity to take ownership.
Management opportunities.
Great location.

Cons

Salaries aren't the highest in the industry, but other benefits (vacation time, healthcare, equity plan) offset this.

Pros

The company is very entrepreneurial and is well poised to maintain that competitive advantage as it grows. The company culture is great - high energy, great mix of hard work and fun. It is a great place to work with lots of opportunity at all levels. Feels like a small business that has the impact of a much larger company.

Cons

Straight up salary is not necessarily as competitive as other companies. However, they make up for it in equity, benefits, company culture and opportunity to grow.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't lose the entrepreneurial edge as you grow. Don't let the dollar signs cloud your vision for the company. Keep up the great work!

Pros

- Fantastic Benefits
- Great work environment
- The people are generally very nice and very capable
- Easy access to everyone in the company (including upper management)
- Huge amount of responsibility given to new engineers
- If you want to work on something specific and you ask for it, they will make it happen
- Equity in the company
- Excellent pay if you demonstrate that you are worth it
- Your changes will be seen by millions of people each month
- The company/department is always open to better ways of doing things if you suggest them in a respectful way

Overall CSN is an amazing place to work, and your happiness level at the company is completely in your control. In tech they will throw you into the fire right away and expect a lot of you, but if you can deliver then the company will take care of you. The people who succeed here are outgoing, creative, and willing to put in effort to do well. If you just want to punch a clock, slack off on your work, and expect to get raises then you should look elsewhere. CSN truly is a meritocracy, and if you are a valuable asset to the company then you will be rewarded for that.

Cons

Things move so quickly that it can feel a bit out of control at times, and sometimes valuable projects get put onto the back burner because we just don't have time for them. This also means that people at all levels in the organization need to take initiative to get things done, since management doesn't always have time to hold your hand through every project.

There are some other minor growing pains, software is adding a ton of new engineers and so the group is a little bottom heavy. This means less oversight and slightly reduced quality control. This gets better every day though, so not a big concern.

Advice to Senior Management

Do a bit more to recognize individual contributions in the tech group. People in tech are rarely on the recognition wall, and when we are it's usually because someone in another group put us there. People work really hard in general and sometimes it seems like the only time we are praised for it is during reviews.

It would also be nice to get a weekly (or even monthly) email about the major things that are going on in tech and who is working on them. The group is getting large enough that there are big projects happening that some people don't know about.

Pros

CSN Stores is an extremely laid-back environment. T-shirts are probably as common as button-downs. There are no partitions in the workspace, so it's a very friendly atmosphere which promotes friendship and collaboration across organizational boundaries.

Cons

While it's a good place to gain experience in multiple departments of a corporation, don't expect to be compensated financially for increased competence. It's a good place for college graduates to get some work experience on their resumes, but it's not a good place to stick around if you want the money to be able to enjoy Boston.

Pros

- Fast growing company
- Endless opportunities to contribute to the growth
- Heavy expansion creates new jobs and opportunities for internal employees
- Competitive salary, great benefits package, and everyone has equity shares!
- Continual top down communication on strategy and initiatives
- Collaboration on all major projects
- Allows for creative and innovative people to thrive
- Open space office layout, removes barrier to communication and helps contribute to team dynamic
- Great after-work events that allow for networking and further community building
- Great mentor-ship program for new hires
- Everyone seems willing to help in any way they can to help you succeed

Cons

- Elevator situation in Christian Science Center makes getting to work very hectic
- Main office is located in the Back Bay, can be costly to come to work if not living in the city or city outskirts

Advice to Senior Management

The leadership at CSN Stores has done a great job of keeping everyone informed, despite the growing number of employees (now at ~800). It would be great to continue this type of leadership as well as continuing to ask for feedback on how to improve the culture. I believe all the employees welcome these opportunities and are excited to contribute to the overall direction of CSN Stores.

Pros

Culture and Environment
Growth and Personal Development
Benefits and People
Never a dull day
Opportunity to pave your own way

Cons

We are constantly adapting to accomodate our growth and needs, this is tough for those who don't like change

Pros

• Excellent opportunity for advancement in most areas of the company
• Lots of opportunity to move to different groups within the company
• Huge amount of autonomy and delegation of responsibility
• Generous equity package extended to every employee (obviously more generous for higher ranking employees)
• Fantastic benefits
• Great work/life balance
• Great people and culture for the most part

I have had an excellent experience working at CSN for the past 4+ years. I started in an entry level marketing position. I expressed an interest in the advertising side of the business and was given an opportunity to work on an advertising project on a rotation basis. I worked hard during that rotation and was then offered a full time position in the group after just 4 months with the company. Since joining the advertising group I was promoted to Specialist, Assistant Manager, and then Manager. More recently, I interviewed for a Category Management position and will now be moving into that role. In my time at CSN, the leadership has always gone out of their way to put me in a position to utilize my strengths, improve on my weaknesses, and do important work that contributes to the success of the company.

I see a lot of posts saying it is impossible to move up within CSN or move around within CSN which has not been my experience at all. I’ve never been involved in “clickiness” within the company and that hasn’t stopped me from moving up pretty quickly. Further, I know lots of other people who worked hard, did a great job, and were very quickly rewarded with more responsibility and better compensation. A huge portion of the people in non-customer service roles began in entry level CS positions which shows there really is opportunity for good people to move within the company.

The advertising department in particular has a great culture. Virtually every person in the department of 40+ people is extremely smart, seemingly happy, collaborative and great to work with. The leadership expects quality work but that work is rewarded and individuals are given credit for their ideas and contributions. I couldn’t picture a better work environment.

Cons

• Low salary relative to comparable positions in other companies which makes it tough to afford living in or around Boston
• Seemingly low morale within the customer service group (as evidenced by the glassdoor commentary)

The company has had some growing pains. Strategies and goals do shift quickly but I think that’s more a reflection of the life-cycle and amazing growth rate of the company and that flexibility is necessary.
Salaries in the past were far below market value and I justified that sacrifice because I knew I was getting better experience than I would in almost any other company. However, the salary problem has been improving in the last year or so and current salaries seem to be far closer to parity with the market. The establishment of an equity plan has also helped make CSN a much more financially rewarding place to work.

Advice to Senior Management

Salaries being below market value is clearly a problem area that should be addressed. While the situation has been improving, employees do realize when they are underpaid and that has negative effects on morale and work ethic. I sincerely believe that you get what you pay for. Make people prove themselves but when they do, reward them financially. It’s the only way to truly show an employee that they are valued.

For customer service in particular, I understand that it isn’t economically feasible to pay high salaries. I would recommend relaxing the education requirements for those roles. There are a lot of people without four year degrees from elite schools that would be very happy with a $35K a year desk job with great benefits and hiring more of those people would help with attrition and morale.

Advice to employees - CSN is what you make of it. Having an education doesn't entitle you to a high paying job and instant promotions. Hardwork does that. Put your head down, work hard, make good decisions and the chances are that you'll be rewarded for that over time. For those of you already doing that, you're a pleasure to work with.

Pros

- Amazing benefits
- Relaxed office environment
- Constant opportunities to advance
- Several company outings each year
- Easy commute from anywhere in the city

CSN is a place where hard work does not go unnoticed. Like any great company, you need to go above and beyond to advance.

Cons

The pay is below average but the benefits package is significantly stronger than most companies. The desire to hire recent college grads can often be a bad thing because of the immaturity brought in.

Advice to Senior Management

Too many young people come into CSN with unrealistic expectations. Your job is not always going to be enjoyable, if you continue to promise too much the high turnover will always be a problem.

Pros

CSN Stores is a young and dynamic both in terms of itself as a company and its people. The young culture allows for good times at work and an open fast-paced environment. Most department offer a lot of opportunity for people to take initiative on their own to attack problems on their own. Management is very supportive of people taking charge of their own jobs and developing new strategies and practices. The company's rapid growth offer many opportunities to learn new skills and take on new problems. The average age is 25 or so which makes for a fun environment too although there is more turnover because less people are here for the real long-term because they are right out of school. The job itself is enjoyable, every day is different and there is always something new to learn because the market is constantly changing. Fun if that is your thing.

Cons

In my department things are good, there is high turnover which is tough to adjust too but that wasn't a reflection on the company, most people were happy here and wanted to try something else. Pay is an issue for some but there have been raises recently.
There is a definite difference between departments like Customer Service which are metric based and others. Most of the bad reviews seem like they are from CS and raise legitimate issues but they don't apply to other departments since there is no autonomy in CS and large amounts in other departments, including Ads and Category Management. This is understandable because CS is a different type of job but the difference is stark. CS is a good foot in the door though, there are a lot of promotions out of it, people are usually promoted or leave within a year.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work and growth in most departments and make sure the open culture doesn't change. There aren't any signs that it is but it is the heart of what makes the company work.
Bridge the gap between jobs in CS and other metric based jobs and the rest of the company so that everyone has the same autonomy and buy-in.

Pros

Strong business model in a growing industry

Cons

No collaboration, no perfomance measures that allowed them to differentiate talent, minimal pay and lack of mobility within the organization