Zillow Reviews

Cons

Compared to other tech companies, you'll spend a lot more time dealing with messy people data. That's not a con for me, but is a con for others

Cons

The first year in PAC was great. People had their complaints but I realized that every company had their office politics. However, as the company grew FAST-- things changed. Management changed and department moral declined. I would go to all hands meetings and Spencer and Amy would deeply inspire me. Then I would go back to a department that felt so separate from the rest of the company. We weren't included in many functions that the rest of the company participated in. I realize that business needs dictate scheduling but there is always balance. Management spent so much time trying to convince us that we were no different than any other department when they could have exercised humility and OWNED IT. WE WERE DIFFERENT and you know what? That is okay. All I ever wanted was for management to admit that. Also, I understand that mistakes are made in corporate environments. That does not frustrate me. What frustrated me was that genuine apologies were never made, only excuses. I'm fairly confident I will receive a response to this assuring me that "management did admit when they were wrong!" An apology is not "well, you know, possibly the messaging was not the most effective and we are looking into maybe changing this. However, the reason this happened is because we were in a time crunch and we were doing the best we could with the resources we had." An apology does not include excuses. It is simply, "We are sorry for our actions and we will strive to do better."
Thankfully, for my last bit of time at ZG-- my team lead kept me engaged. They are the reason I stayed and I am so grateful for their encouragement and effective leadership skills.
Additionally, leadership was constantly asking for honesty and feedback. So, in skip levels, occasionally, I would speak up. I learned quickly that this was not effective. Generally, the response from management was: "Thank you so much for sharing! However, do you realize how good you have it here? Most jobs didn't have free food and top notch benefits." I must have heard 10 different versions of that answer. Again, I understand that you cannot just allow people to sit and complain without bringing up possible resolutions. I am not suggesting that managers should sit and allow people to vent without end. If your employees are venting in a kind and professional way, as a leader, you should listen and do your best to help them problem solve without making them feel like their thoughts and ideas are not valid. PAC had so much potential to be an amazing department (even with scheduling differences and limited access to functions and meetings). Unfortunately, during the time of my recent departure moral was continuing to decline. There are great people in PAC. People who care and who lead with kindness and humility. It is my hope that those people will take action and grab hold of the amazing idea that PAC stemmed from. I genuinely believe that the solution to many of the problems here is honesty and a willingness to be humble when you make a mistake.

Cons

High turnover rate for new SEs. Less than 50% of the SEs hired in my class are still here a year later. However, a lot of them just weren’t doing the work they needed to be successful.

By far the biggest issue facing SEs is lack of good support with sales technology. Consumer facing Zillow tech is awesome and innovative. Consumers love using the website - it’s well designed and accomplishes the company's goals.

I wish I could say the same thing about the tools they give SEs. For a long time we used an old version of Salesforce with an internal tool for prospecting/pipeline management. It lacked common features that would make SEs more successful but at least it worked. Over my first year here though there was really no innovation on any of the tools and communication between sales strategy/operations and sales was non-existent. I reported countless bugs and feature requests - I would try to push ideas up the chain and just reach a dead end.

They’ve recently rolled out a new replacement for a prospecting tool and it’s extremely obvious that they didn’t put enough resources into it. Typos, broken features, bad usability design, etc. It’s not the end of the world - you can still be extremely successful even with the issues but I still find it troubling that we don’t put the same level of care into supporting sales that we do with consumer facing products.

Other small things - way too many pointless morning meetings sapping energy and productivity from SEs. A lot of times it feels like management is holding them to just prove they are working vs. actually providing value. We'll have 45 minute meetings to start our day where we sit there reading an article line-by-line while every SE is zoning out wanting to get back trying to hit quota.

On a daily basis they will have meeting where every SE/BC manager is in a meeting together. When we have a major issue with a customer there is no one to help. Lack of continued training for sales professionals - most of what we learn is self taught or from observing coworkers. The Denver office is also pretty cliquey - most of the mid-management has been here forever is is more focused on climbing the ladder/networking internally vs. rocking the boat and trying to push for innovation.

Cons

Some in middle management, especially in sales and sales support, have not been as committed as some of our executives and individual contributors.

Cons

Nothing outside of any company that goes through the growing pains of maturing.

Cons

First off, I encourage everyone to carefully read the recent PAC feedback provided here from the Denver office. I'm confident that you are seeing a common thread of low morale through those reviews. It’s real and it’s going ignored.

I'm discouraged and disappointed to be writing this review, especially since it's negative towards the company. I've been on the team long enough that I feel my feedback is important. I'm also one of the people that feels that only providing this feedback on a local level isn't helping to bring change to the department. My perception is that the feedback provided to our office doesn't find it's way to the appropriate parties. The reason everyone keeps posting reviews here is because the other sources you provide aren’t effective.

We are advised that both Turn on the Lights and Act With Integrity are very important value to the company, but there are several specific examples I will provide here where it isn't happening in our department. There's a general feeling from management that we may not be able to handle SOP or office changes maturely, so we’re provided information using a very soft approach instead of honesty and frankness. Act With Integrity is changing to Do the Right Thing. For who? Will you Do the Right Thing and keep this department open manned by ZG employees instead of outsourced call centers? Can you effectively reassure us that we are secure in our jobs as long as we Act With Integrity?

We recently received an email showing the holiday schedule that people volunteered for. The majority of the floor thought that meant the schedule was clear and there were enough volunteers, only to be pulled aside from team leads to be told what holiday and what schedule we had to work. As a tenured team member, I would have thought by now that it wouldn't be mandatory to work a holiday as a way a company shows appreciation for long term employees, but I was incorrect. While making sure your department is appropriately staffed for 363 days/year, you should also make sure to show employees that their dedication matters to you. At most companies, less tenured employees expect to have the less favorable schedule including working holidays, and as you move up within your time with the company, your schedule becomes better and you work less holidays. I'm unsure how we don't have the same benefit. We can’t request time off now for any holiday, it’s a blacked out period. So if you work in PAC, don’t plan any vacations around those times. There’s a difference between staffing appropriately for holidays and just disappointing people who came to this company with the promise of a good work/life balance.

The team has been told that agents LOVE the new changes that have taken place and that our department is connecting over 90% of contacts. Showing us the actual data behind those statements would be valuable to us. Right now I don't believe you. I've done some personal research online to look up agent feedback on the changes and I can see a lot of negativity. The largest change that has been made to our process has been removing a question that we used to ask. To me, it's the most important question that we ask to ensure we are providing quality contacts. There was a 48 hour "pilot" done before being told that it was so massively successful and we received the best feedback from agents so we rolled it out nationwide. We should be shown that information and feedback as well. It seems like there's a lack from leadership in trusting employees to be able to read and interpret information on our own. Do I think everyone in the department will pay attention to the information? Not necessarily, but we should at least have the option and the ways to see it.

I believe that any change made to policy and procedures either in our work system or to our workplace should be put in writing. I understand that you want to have leads provide the information verbally, but the messaging isn't consistent that way. There's always been an issue in Denver with hearing different information depending on who you speak with about it. I do not mean peer to peer. I mean if a CES goes to one lead and then another, we do not hear the same thing. Putting everything in writing, either before or after it's in writing, is the only way to solve for this.

As things become more and more automated in the system, I also fear that our jobs are going to become unnecessary, or the people that you use to make those connections will not be ZG employees. I know that you can't be honest regarding the direction the department may take in that regard, but you need to know that if it does happen, you will lose a lot of people who have put everything they could into making sure that we stay true to the company. Those same people have gone through nearly a year of one disappointment after another. The reason I still work for the company is because I believe that it's a company that knows when a change happens that negatively affects people to this degree, they revert back to either the old way or a change is made that makes more sense. I'm losing hope in this happening with the department, and that brings me so much stress and sadness. You haven’t opened any positions in Denver for PAC in months. A Sr manager recently left and that position hasn’t been posted. You say that it’s important that there’s human contact with some of the work that we do. You’ve started calling us a contact center and you haven’t said that the human contact will be done by ZG employees. One of the most disappointing things I saw was the majority of the company was flown to Seattle for the annual company meeting and our CEO
mentioned several times on social media that all the employees were there. That was really hurtful to see. You’ll mention business needs again, but there could have been a lot more effort put into the roadshow that came to Denver. My session made me leave thinking that we were highly encouraged to pursue ZG jobs in other departments in other states. Not everyone wants to move and uproot their entire lives, we would like the opportunity to be here!!

Cons

Every industry is facing change. Zillow is not afraid to embrace change for the long term mission. This requires adaptability and willingness to be uncomfortable which is not for everyone.

Cons

The only con is I wish we can get more notice for changes in the SOPs due to I feel like people feel rushed and more errors occur.

Cons

I just got here and have never felt so insecure about my job, ever. Working in PAC, I always feel unequal to the rest of the company. One of the biggest factors on why i took this role was the promise of growth, opportunities to meet like minded career folk and expand my skill set. I also took this position for the opportunity to attend events like ZG18. What a disappointment. I looked forward to something that was so highly spoken of. I was crushed when no one from our department was permitted to go for more than just the all-hands meeting. There was the option to go before our shifts but what sessions take place at 4:30am or 10:30pm? It makes everyone in the department feel like they are far less important than everyone else. There is such a large emphasis on equity and belonging, as well as promoting general equality in the office. You receive messages telling you to look forward to the future at ZG and the work you're doing is important. Though a kind word is appreciated, I'd like this department to keep to the core values and grow us to be valuable influencer's and developers in this company.

Cons

The "start up" feel is not for everyone, and if you do not like constant change this is not a role for you. Travel can be extensive at times, but it is necessary and you are largely in control of when/where you travel which helps prevent burning out.