Overstock.com Employee Reviews about "upper management"

Pros

They are very understanding of family issues for example, I have worked at the Big O for year now and have had a couple of Family Emergencies and my supervisors were always very supportive.

Cons

REQUIRED WEEKENDS FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE- You know Customer Service agents have a family too, and its nice that we can leave early on the day before the holiday, but if it falls before the weekend it would be nice to be given those days off, so we can have the long weekend like the supervisors do or UPPER MANAGEMENT to take a holiday vacation. If we have to come in to work the weekend to work and the holiday was a Friday or Thursday, it kind of ruins our Holiday Plans.

Advice to Management

Most supervisors are so awesome! no complaints except for one but at least I only see her once every blue moon.

Pros

New technology and work is fast paced

Cons

Upper management is the dumbest I have ever seen

Pros

-The building is new -The building is unique -People ask, "Overstock... is that that round building in Midvale? " -Standing and sitting desks -Collaborative environment -Comfy furniture in the office -There are nice people to work with -The view can be great depending on where you are in the building -Subsidized daycare (starting at $860/month for a 6 week old, full time only) -on site gym for free -Subsidized on sight bon appetite cafe food

Cons

Favoritism is big here at Overstock. At first you think its all about performance and how well you do your job, but as you get to know people, become familiar with senior leadership, you start to understand that a lot of people are where they are, because who they are friends with (they hand out VP and Director titles like candy). There is a very tight knit group of senior leadership, they all started at Overstock about the same time and are all high up in the company even though you see them wandering around not doing anything (CMO is a very hardworking guy, the rest are "cool guys"). Senior leadership is a joke here. It's hard to get them all on the same page. No one wants to be the guy to have the final say as to what to do for sure. It's a lot of... well I can see both options, so and so what do you think? Senior leadership doesn't have a backbone. Also, they are terrible at planning. They have a "hire now because we need projects done and lay them off later" mentality. Overstock is trying to get acquired so they decide that because of the CEOs poor ability to plan and blow a whole bunch of spend and how that will affect the company, they decide that layoffs need to happen to make it look like they are a smooth, trimmed, operating machine, then try to cover up the layoff reasoning with problems with SEO and Google. I look around the office and see and hear people that got laid off because of "performance issues" but yet I see people still there, higher management, that all they do is wander around the office and chat to people. Good luck challenging the status quo too. You start to even question and challenge upper management, they will either burn you or make your life very difficult. If you want to work for a company that promotes based on your friends, go for it. Overstock SAYS they promote work life balance, value the employee and the little guys, and care and cherish your hard work, but at the end of the day, there is a forever growing gap of upper management and the average worker. As long as Overstock makes money, senior management will continue to treat themselves well with great pay, but will make sure that the little guys and everyone else that made it possible to get where they are, stay well below them in responsibilities, compensation, and the friend circle. Also senior leadership is grossly overpaid. As I have developed friendships, people share what their compensation is (I personally know people in most of these roles, other roles the people I know have told me) Manager $75- $90k Senior Manger $85-130k Director $120-$170k Senior Director $160-200k VP $180-$250k SVP $230-300k CO $300+k

Advice to Management

- Get on the same page as your peers - Keep actual good talent and don't push away your employees who actually bring value - When you say trim the fat, trim the fat of people who don't do anything and nevermind that they are buddies with certain people - Actually do what you say that you value the little people and encourage work life balance - Get better management

Pros

Nice Campus good benefits and perks

Cons

Nepotism from the upper management in every department

Pros

Your coworkers at the same level as you tend to be very friendly and helpful.

Cons

Upper management is a joke, no communication and they tend to make open ended promises.

Advice to Management

Quit picking favorites, and give people who deserve the promotion a chance.

Pros

Fun environment. New building. Tons of amenities. 401k plan is more generous than most. Cool events.

Cons

Frequent broken promises. e.g. Don't ever rely on getting a bonus. Upper management is always looking at the next big thing and leave other ideas partially implemented and broken.

Advice to Management

Live with the current technology, and instead of integrating everything with old software, redo the backbone systems completely separately. Then once its ready throw the switch and move over to it and leave all those outdated systems behind.

Pros

Amazing corporate culture and coworkers

Cons

Lack of strategy from upper management Too much them/you between departments Depending on your role, there is no real investment in employees looking to further career/education goals

Advice to Management

Invest in the talent you already have, even the entry-level employees Define what a good leader is, hire good leaders, and keep good leaders Continue to build your internship program

Pros

Amazing people to work with, for the most part. I met some of my best friends here. CEO does try to consider the best interests for his employees, even if it is misinterpreted. Decent benefits. Family mentality (in the beginning).

Cons

Family mentality was lost somewhere down the line. Employees (especially CS) became just a number. From my perspective, there was a very poor work/life balance ratio. CS employees are expected to work mandatory OT at a moments notice, sometimes 10-15 hours per week. And good luck trying to even use your earned PTO. Perks/events that used to keep CS agent morale somewhat level slowly dwindled down. For a lot of people, it went from "I love my job" to "Eh. Its just another call center." Their "open door" policy to complaints is absolute BS. Yeah, you can voice a complaint, but don't expect anything to happen or change. At one point, I remember being told CS was warned to NOT voice any concerns- upper management was too busy to hear it. However, I did hear the person responsible for that "rule" was fired after I left, so it may be better. More cliquey than High School. If you didn't fit in with the right group, you were overlooked. Plain and simple. Pay wasn't that great or "competitive." I got an entry level CS job after I left making only 75 cents lower than my PROMOTED position at Overstock.

Advice to Management

Remember what used to make the company great. There used to be a standard of "happy employees make happy customers." We used to hold pride in our jobs. We loved going to work every day. You can move forward without removing all the things that made employee morale the highest of any call center. Overstock used to be unique. Now, they're no different than Discover or Teleperformance.