Pros
- You get complete ownership of projects you manage. When your project succeeds, YOU get credit for it (not your boss)
- Paid Time Off can be used whenever and however you want (within reason). No mandatory vacations, no accrual limits or expiration. You can even choose to just take home its value in extra pay if you'd rather work (extremely nice during COVID)
- Industry is thriving, despite COVID-19 (they continued to hire new employees last year and saw double-digit sales growth; lay-offs weren't even a passing thought)
- CEO is transparent and extremely loyal. He would probably sell his left kidney before endangering the livelihoods of his employees. There are many nights where he's at the office until 6, 7, 8 o'clock at night to help an employee find a solution to some various problem. Everyone is on a first-name basis.
- Phenomenal compensation, including variable pay based on your mastery of the role and unique skill-sets (i.e. speak a foreign language) and quarterly profit-sharing based on your contributions to the company's bottom line
For potential applicants wondering why the reviews are so mixed, I feel like it should be noted that a lot of the recent departures were employees who were hired for the Supply Chain Manager position before it was completely revamped. In about a year's time, that position evolved from mostly transactional work (follow up on late orders, ask Bob why we didn't write us a credit yet for a return), to that of warehouse process engineer. I absolutely LOVE all of the amazing, intelligent, and caring colleagues who have remained with the company or have been hired on since then. The CEO had the foresight to realize that the company simply wouldn't have survived in an increasingly-competitive online marketplace had it not pivoted towards a focus on innovation. Some people are better at that type of work than others (I'm certainly not!), but I'm not aware of a single SCM who was laid-off (as what happens in most other companies when a position is eliminated), and were instead all offered positions in other departments and/or given unique projects suited to their strengths.
I am also perturbed by other reviewers' accusations of an unfair work environment. RockAuto is quite literally the fairest place I've ever worked. If you do what is expected of you (assessed both objectively with performance metrics and qualitatively in quarterly in-person reviews), you are rewarded by the profit-sharing program. If you make a mistake, you are understandably expected to take accountability for it. As of the time of writing, there are an equal number of men and women in the top-paying and/or leadership positions. It is true that certain genders tend to navigate towards certain departments (for some reason IT for men, Product Management/Marketing for women) but that dichotomy reflects the interests of my colleagues, not a business practice. My guess is that other reviewers perceived women as having an advantage only because women in top-paying positions is, quite sadly, so unusual anywhere else.
Cons
- I'm not a fan of the company-supplied coffee blend (but good pay means you can afford to buy yourself whatever over-priced coffee brand your heart desires)
- Planned vacations do have to coordinate with seasonal retail demand (low in winter, high in summer). However, if you plan in advance, you'll be fine
- Fast-paced retail environment means sometimes you'll have to adjust your workflow to attend to whatever new challenge pops us that week (this should only be a concern if you are someone who hates deviating from a set schedule)
- You might have to work a holiday every 1-2 years (excluding Thanksgiving/Christmas, for which RockAuto is closed), depending on which department you work in
In my opinion, Pros vastly outweigh the Cons. I love working here!