Houzz Employee Reviews about "office"

Pros

The free food is the number one best thing about this place. They cater lunch every Friday and breakfast every Monday. The kitchens are fully stocked and I rarely ever had to go out for lunch or bring mine from home. It is in a cool location in downtown Nashville with great views, (but the parking sucks, more about that in the 'cons' section). Fun in-office events and perks. The office is super interesting with themed rooms and most of the people are nice. I met some super great people there. The supervisors I worked under were actually good people, one of which I can safely say was the best manager I have ever had.

Cons

Sheesh, where do I begin. First of all, it pains me to write negative things about this company because it started off as a a pretty good place to work. I mean, it is a call center and the job was customer service but still, it was not terrible and the environment was different and much more relaxed than most. The free food is really nice and they did do a lot of extra small things that made me feel appreciated. Boy did that change quickly. First it was the constant change in bonus structure. When I first started, it was decent but they were constantly changing it and it gradually got smaller and smaller. Eventually they added "adherence" as one of the points of bonus, literally docking you percentage points when you had to step away from your desk to use the bathroom. Forget it if you are sick, you are just out of luck and your adherence and a good portion of your bonus is out the door for the month. This leads me to the shift bidding. How you perform along with adherence to your schedule, (they literally schedule your two ten minute breaks and they are always inconvenient and poorly spaced) will affect what schedule you get and you will be stuck with it for an entire quarter. Then there is the lack of growth. When I first interviewed, it was emphasized how much growth opportunity there would be. That proved to be untrue. There would occasionally be job postings but rarely were they anything that the average CSS would qualify for and even then they were few and far between. Then came the layoffs. This is really the worst part. At one point, earlier in 2018, they began pushing people to go into the Trade department, only to layoff the majority of those who transitioned into that department by the fall. Then again in January, came more layoffs. A ton more and all across the board, nearly all departments, even in the international locations. The thought going around the office was that it was due to the company preparing to go public and wanting to appear more profitable. Some of the cuts made absolutely no sense and a lot of really good and hard working people were unceremoniously let go. I can tell you from then until I left in late February, the morale such as it was, had thoroughly tanked. They even made the customer service managers reapply and interview for their jobs only to let one of the hardest working and dedicated ones go, leaving some other not so great ones still working. Go figure. The parking. In a word, it sucks. You have to park a half mile away from the office in one of the lots at Nissan Stadium. Granted, there are shuttles and the company does provide passes but on cold or rainy days, they fill up fast and some of the drivers need to retake their driving tests. When there were events at the stadium, the lots would be closed for us and we had to rely on finding our own parking and paying for it, which if you know how parking has gotten downtown, it is not cheap. If you were lucky enough to live in town you could Uber/Lyft or commute in with a co-worker. If you were like me and lived quite a distance outside of town, this just meant you got to pay steeply to park your car. Then there was the issue of accountability, or lack thereof. It is very easy, if you are lazy, to ignore a case and just hope that the customer would call in and that someone else would have to take it from you and clean up your mess. The, "touch it, take it" mantra they sing there is not effective and does not hold the not so great reps accountable. You could take the case to your manager and be expected to give a verbal essay on why the rep should have to take the case back, only to be told that you were more than capable of resolving the issue and that they would make the lazy rep's manager aware of it. Yet, the same reps were consistently doing this, causing most to assume that if they were made aware of the issue, they were not held responsible for it, ultimately leaving you with a crappy review which directly affected your bonus. Honestly, I really feel like I was sold a bucket of gold and got a pile of excrement instead. It really isn't my goal to bash this company but it is my goal to be honest about my experience. Essentially, I would NEVER recommend working here. It was not worth the anxiety and unhappiness it caused me for the nearly two years that I worked at Houzz.

Pros

You’ll probably get complimented on your cute shoes. You’ll probably get complimented on your cute outfit. If you the words “ohh myyy gahhdd” and “sooo cuteeee” are in your vocabulary, you’ll fit right in. Every 5-star review is fake and written by the same handful of people using the same verbiage (come on managers/recruiters, step your intellectual writing skills up). Don’t think that’s a pro, just wanted to make sure you saw that. Working at Houzz makes you really ramp up your job search.

Cons

You might want to grab some popcorn because you’re in for a wild (and very truthful) ride… now, where to begin: Pay: atrocious and downright disrespectful. The pay at Houzz is by far the lowest in the industry. I was lied to about every compensation plan within every role at Houzz (not to mention, it changes on a monthly basis). As soon as they come out with a new compensation plan, they will quickly adjust it, making it nearly impossible to gauge your average pay. You will be given goals that are unattainable even for the “top reps” (even though they have all left by now). So what if a miracle happens and you hit your goals and you happen to make a livable wage for a month? HA, don’t worry, they will change it for you so that never happens again! Don’t even try to consider a pay raise, the pay you are given will always be decreasing and raises for tenure are never given at Houzz. I repeat, if you stay in the same position for two years, you will never receive a raise. Transparency: this word does not exist in Houzz’s vocabulary. There is an unbelievable amount of disconnect between management and employees. Employees do not trust their managers because every single employee knows there is something going on behind the curtains. The managers, directors, and leaders will not tell you anything until it is announced to the public. This makes you feel completely undervalued and not trusted. You are always left wondering “what is the bigger picture behind this?” “I wonder why they are using this strategy instead of another” “why are we doing it this way when there is a much more efficient way of going about this?” Managers: don’t get me wrong, some are fantastic, intelligent, honest and open. Others are the farthest thing from a manager you could possibly imagine. They will be scrolling through their phones, shopping, and g-chatting all day while their reps are literally struggling to pay their bills. Some are just “yes” people that will never voice your concerns, fight for a raise, or bring up new ideas to the directors (I’ll get to them next, don’t worry). So, there is literally nobody to go to besides your peers for help, guidance, or ideas. Directors: like managers, there are some fantastic ones who are personable, smart, caring and dedicated. But man, there is a handful that are downright monsters. Talk about being at the exact right place at the exact right time. They have brought absolutely nothing to the table and have let the sales fall an ungodly amount. These directors are the definition of false promises and lies. They have created a company-wide morale that is so low, it makes San Quentin Penitentiary look like Disneyland at Christmas. These directors completely and utterly abuse their power and only care about their core friends and let the entire company fall beneath them. They are paid an ungodly amount for driving the company to the ground. CEO: where I think all the problems stem from. Houzz’s turnover rate is so bad that it’s comical. My original statement has been flagged too many times, so I will let your imagination do the talking for my thoughts on her. Colleagues: you will meet some fantastic people working here. I have met lifelong friends because when you share the same depression, you become attached easily. But just a heads up, you will be working in a sorority house. The words “like” “omg” “cute” “adorable” “aweeeeee” are among some of the most commonly heard around the office. People will spend countless hours in the kitchen gossiping about the latest Bachelor season (which was fantastic, btw) instead of working. And when these people get back to their desks, the last thing they do is work. If you need help from a different department in completing something, good luck having it done. If it is not on their comp plan, they will not help you one bit and use the saying “sorry that’s not in my goals” over and over again. Goals: this somewhat correlates with the whole transparency section, but Houzz is notorious for going 110% all systems forward on one small section. Then a month or two later, completely drop that section and go 110% all systems forward in something completely different. Then another two months, bam, something else. Which leads to your compensation and goals changing on a monthly basis. Take a deep breath, let’s try to scale in an efficient, cost-effective way that doesn’t completely upset and confuse your employees. Upper management, you have monthly/quarterly/yearly goals in mind, please disclose it with your employees so we can see the big picture behind everything. What you’re currently doing only causes confusion and anger among reps on the floor. HR: probably one of the bigger jokes at this company. Literally, nothing is kept confidential. You see HR reps sitting in the kitchen more often than not gossiping about employee meetings. If you have a confidential meeting with HR, just know the entire office will know within a few hours.

Pros

Houzz Nashville is located downtown in the UBS Tower, and the office views are incredible. Our floors are well-decorated and unique, and it’s the coolest space I’ve ever worked in. It’s also nice that Houzz pays for parking as well as a shuttle pass unless a special event is happening at Nissan Stadium. Easily the best part about this job is the people. It’s easy to bond with your coworkers over escalated customers and shared workplace frustrations. After moving to Nashville, most of the friends I’ve made have been from work. As many reviews have mentioned, the food perks are great! Free breakfast is catered on Monday and free lunch on Friday. The kitchens on each floor are stocked with enough food to make yourself breakfast and lunch even if you don’t bring anything from home. Ops will also sometimes surprise us with treats for different food holidays, and we have quarterly office birthday parties with favorite desserts served. Houzz is great about providing random presents: nice Houzz apparel, Java Hut in the office, exercise classes, standing desks, and team bonding outside the office. The dress code is fairly casual (jeans) for an office setting, and participation in Workout Wednesday (wearing leggings and other athleisure wear) is encouraged.

Cons

Here’s the thing about Houzz. As many cool perks as we have, there’s growing frustration that Houzz hasn’t covered the “basics.” They’re willing to pay for us to run/walk a 5K but refuse to contribute to our 401K. They surprise us with new stuff in the office but seem reluctant to give tenured employees the raises we deserve. They spoil us with nice Christmas presents then lay off 180 people without sufficient explanation, but I assume it’s in order to put us in a better financial situation to go public. For most of the time I’ve worked here, Houzz has not offered raises unless it’s with a promotion. As you can imagine, the competition for new roles is fierce, and everyone wants out of customer support and/or off the phones as soon as possible. There’s also too much office politics surrounding the internal hiring process, and it’s honestly discouraging to apply and know that it’s not going to get you anywhere. When I started, CSCs made $14 an hour and CSSs made $15 an hour. There were no negotiations and no raise processes in place unless you received the automatic promotion from CSC to CSS or moved to a different role. In the summer of 2018, Houzz hired a new class of CSSs who started at $17 an hour but refused to acknowledge and/or address the wage discrepancy for employees that had been there for over a year. I brought this up to my direct supervisor as well as to his boss, and nothing more was ever said or done about it. It was really great for office morale to find out that new employees are valued at more money per hour than you are. After the results of the 2018 employee survey, we were FINALLY promised an employee review (and a raise IF applicable) in quarter one. We were also promised tuition reimbursement in Q1. With the layoffs that happened, we have been left in the dark about the full raise process, yet the employees lucky enough to keep our jobs have taken on additional work. Currently, we are in the process of doing self-evaluations to receive a raise “if applicable,” but the raises certainly won’t take effect in Q1. It’ll probably be the end of Q2 before we see the raise “if applicable” go into effect. Speaking of the layoffs… I am glad I didn’t submit this review before all this happened. I’ve never worked for a company that’s laid off employees before, but I know it happens for many different reasons. However, it’s not okay to let your employees come to work, call them into a group meeting, then tell them the number of employees you’re laying off and that a manager will follow up with you. I left that meeting angry, not shocked. (The same restructuring happened to Trade in November, so I was just waiting for it to happen to customer support and sales as well.) I had to return to my desk and go back to work, like nothing was wrong, while a manager walked around and took employees into meetings one by one to inform them they were being let go. The rest of us who remained were left waiting anxiously at our desks for three hours before we finally had a team meeting and were informed that the initial cuts were done. Needless to say, there were plenty of tears across the office while we waited to find out our fate, and you did your customers who were helped on this day a real disservice because they received less than stellar customer service.

Pros

- Office is really nice and amazing decorations in each meeting room.

Cons

- Upper management is flawed. - Compensation is below average.

Pros

The company has a phenomenal product that is making a huge difference in the lives of the professionals that it serves. There are now many different components to the company which mean that there is a lot of potential for growth and promotion. The atmosphere is dynamic and perfect for people that like to be challenged with new opportunities and scenarios. There are many different jobs within the office but all are good fits for people that are extremely driven. Compensation is on target and there are many opportunities to exceed target- especially if you're driven.

Cons

Speaking from a sales perspective- the job is a lot of calling. If making lots of calls to build out a pipeline is not something you're comfortable doing, then consider looking into another position. There are plenty of jobs that don't focus on business acquisition at Houzz.

Pros

Concerted and conscious effort to build community within the office while still allowing for healthy work-life balance. General lack of toxic workplace politics. Flat-structured product development team allows for cooperation while empowering team members, allows for increasing levels of responsibility and impact. These factors lead to a very high employee retention rate, especially within engineering department.

Cons

Flat structure means less chance for advancement in terms of title. Compensation & benefits are satisfactory but nothing special for relatively large start-up, and are thereby not main selling-point.

Pros

- Houzz Employees – Nothing but great things to say! You’re surrounded by talented, respectful, smart, and fun people. - The Product – It works! It’s very rewarding selling a product to a business and seeing that business grow. - Kitchen – It’s in every review..it’s free and fully stocked. But, all the free food in the world won’t make up for the Con’s of working for this company. - Benefits - Excellent! Better than any previous employer.

Cons

- Culture – Yes, we still celebrate birthdays and baby's monthly. We still have a Holiday party and company picnic. But sadly, the culture and environment have changed for the worse. - PTO – 15 days, which is decent. The downsides - #1 Taking more than 1-2 days off in a week will actually hurt you because of the way accounts are distributed. #2 - Expect to use PTO if you leave an hour early to pick up children from school, have a doctor appointment, etc. #3 Of course you get Holiday's off, but they also encourage you to work through them. - Compensation – Making good money isn’t sustainable. You won’t make enough to live comfortably in Orange County…. unless you have roommates or live with parents. If you’re 20-something, this is a great 1st or 2nd job. If you have sales experience and are looking for career growth/high earning potential, I wouldn’t recommend this. - Incentives - In the past, there were a few per year. Now they happen multiple times per week. You'd think it was motivating, but I'd rather have a better compensation plan, or higher base. - Upper Management - Poor communication from upper management (which is really only 1 person in the Irvine office) and lacks leadership qualities. There has been a tremendous amount of growth (which was expected) and it seems like management makes quick/rash decisions, which negatively impacts the culture. When I started with Houzz, I thought it would be a long-term career. I’m now seriously considering leaving.

Pros

Great team members, catered breakfast and lunch on Mondays and Fridays, nice office and good parking.

Cons

At first, Houzz seemed like a dream come true. Coming from a sales background, I was looking forward to working with strong leaders and growing internally. That was not the case at all. They hire managers internally after they succeeded in their sales role for five or six months. Just because someone did well as a sales rep for a short period of time does not mean they will be a good leader. There are a lot of politics in the office and it can be very cliquey. This job was honestly really detrimental to my mental health. I had never felt so stressed out at a job until I worked for Houzz. It is dead end phone sales with dead end leads. During the interviews, they will promise the world to you but it is all a facade. My advice to you...run!!

Pros

At face value, Houzz is a millennial's dream. Big, open office, catered lunches, team outings, reward systems, and all the bells and whistles of a Silicon Valley-esque startup. Underneath, however, is a rapidly growing sense of tension, dissatisfaction, and frustration. It's a rubber band just waiting to snap. I'll start with the positives: -Bright, fun team members -Successful company -A nice line on the resume

Cons

If you're looking for a job of substance, a challenge, an opportunity for professional growth, something fun that varies from day to day, or a career, you just won't find it here. I came in highly qualified and ready to put those qualifications to use. I realized the position was entry level, but I never expected to feel my job was better suited for a young college student's first internship. Most of the positions here are repetitive, goal/numbers-driven, mentally un-stimulating, micromanaged, and very, very unlikely to change anytime soon. If this was the only negative, I'd say take this job temporarily and then move on shortly, but unfortunately there's a lot more going on here. The pay is inexcusable. You cannot expect employees to feel valued or 'lucky' (this word is used a lot here) when most of us can't afford to move of our parents' house (unless we have 2-3 roommates or a spouse who earns a lot more than we do – a common occurrence here). They'll offer you a job that pays 30-50% less than what similar companies pay. They'll tell you a 1% annual raise is 'standard,' and a 1-5% raise for a lower-level promotion here is the norm. Needless to say, it's more than disheartening to hear senior management continually boast about the astronomical revenue of Houzz while our paychecks look like they do. Benefits are decent but misleading. The 'unlimited' vacation policy they pride themselves on is 15 days, including sick pay. Health insurance is fully paid, a nice plus. But alongside astoundingly low salary and tanking employee morale, this feels like a pretty small crumb of cheese. They'll tell you that they pay $1 million+ per year on food and that you should consider it part of your salary. I think I speak for hundreds of others when I say I'd have opted for livable wages in lieu of overpriced food. Management is ultimately funneled through 1 or 2 people in an office of over 500. Mid- and lower-level management is, though usually emotionally supportive and kind, bogged down at best. Progress is slow to nonexistant. A company of this size needs real management training (there is none offered) so managers who are young and inexperienced are trained to manage rather than trained to funnel anything and everything through those high above them. It's essentially an illusion of multi-tiered management. Lastly, it's baffling to know that when this review is read, it will be written off by senior management as the complaints of someone ungrateful (and promptly followed up with some eerily similar 5-star reviews). I've seen the reactions to criticisms about the company, and they are almost never taken seriously or respected by those with true authority. I wish I had the magic words to make it all click to them. All of the above is why turnover rates have exploded in this past year, especially in recent months. Valuable, capable, and dedicated employees are leaving by the boatload for careers that offer a challenge, growth, fair compensation, and a future. These aren't the selfish rantings of an entitled millennial; they're realities that are causing serious distress beneath the protein bar- and dollar sign-laden surface of the company. I've loved my team and some of my experiences here, and it's my sincere hope that things change here fast. If they don't, I can't foresee Houzz having a happy or loyal employee base anytime soon.

Pros

Free lunch and snacks. Unlimited PTO

Cons

Projects specs are outlined poorly with unclear expectations and results. Conflicting decisions from higher ups about what to do/how to carry out specific tasks due to poor communication. Poor documentation leads to lots of questions being asked over slack with limited number of people who know how to answer them. Most of the time your question will be lost in the waterfall of other questions/posts in the channel and you are left to your own devices to figure out a process that was put in place by someone else Engineers are focused on their own tasks and do not care much about working as a team to bring a project to completion. Lots of meaningless drivel across the office which lacks professionalism and sometimes leans towards borderline harassment. Expensive product with no real innovation. Looks like they are copying Wayfair and Laurel & Wolf. Work has diluted down to creating static pages that basically say “buy our product”.