Zillow Employee Reviews about "upper management"

Pros

-Health, Dental, and Eye Care plans are top of the line -Benefits and perks in general at Zillow lead many larger tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft (more so before COVID-19 and WFH) -Company recognition of the importance of a sensible work-life balance -Sense of community within the company, even while working remotely -Indefinite work-from-home option -Company-wide efforts to improve WFH flexibility outside of typical 9-5 hours, especially for parents -The majority of the individuals that you work with are great people, inside and out of work. There is certainly a Zillow-factor for the type of people that are hired here. -Transparency from senior leadership -Diversity & Inclusion is highly valued and practiced

Cons

-Business roles do not receive the same degree of competitiveness as tech roles when it comes to compensation -As the company grows, most All Company meetings are beginning to feel more and more like stakeholder presentations compared to the exciting and inclusive update meetings held in the prior years -Upper management is largely dialing down on employee events like Holiday/Summer parties and ZG conferences to cut down on expenses, leaving company-wide morale noticeably lower than previous years -The amount of diversity seen in the workforce at Zillow does not match the amount of diversity seen in executive leadership

Pros

- They really have an amazing group of people. I've worked cross-functionally on multiple projects and only rarely have I found people too busy or not willing to help. - There's always something new. You will never be bored working here. Plus, you can pursue what you want with, typically, much encouragement from your peers. - They offer great work-life balance. In fact, they discourage overworking and teams make an effort to adjust if the work gets to be too much.

Cons

- Contractors don't feel valued from the perspective of the company. After talking with a few other contractors/FTE, as a whole, contractors are viewed and feel replaceable. From the perspective of the team, they are essential and necessary but the lack of effort to convert and lack of transparency from upper management on the need (or lack of need) for contractors makes it feel like as a contractor, you have no say at all in your future and have no security at the company. - There's a lack of resources for contractors. The HRBP is a good source of basic HR info and your manager is a good source of info for matters related to your work but there's nothing on how to effectively convert to a FTE or advance your career even while working a contractor role.

Pros

Snacks, good healthcare, diversity and inclusion, LGBT awareness, equity, "unlimited PTO" if your manager likes you.

Cons

There is ZERO career development in the Zillow IT org, most particularly in the Security space. The company claims to take security seriously, but doesn't anywhere anymore except on paper. The team has had massive turn over in the past six months. (Which isn't surprising if you consider the level of management turnover in the IT org as a whole.) The annual review system is broken. You can get zero compensation raise and zero equity without an explanation as to why -even if you met ALL of your performance goals and have good manager and peer review. If you ask for some rationale as to how this happened with an entire year of good feedback from management the only response you'll get is, "Let's just focus on the future." The annual review system seems to be based on how well your manager is liked by their manager. None of it makes any sense. So good luck getting a raise. Ever. Honestly, if you are considering work on the security team at Zillow, you shouldn't. You can easily get hired elsewhere in town where the leadership takes security seriously. You can find somewhere where you won't have multiple managers in one year because of turnover. (literally) You can find a place that takes your career seriously. The security team has seen high management turnover, zero career development, can't get traction with other teams, budget gets approved (verbally) then slashed over and over. Then upper management says asks why security hasn't solved for X problem. It's because we have no budget or headcount!

Pros

Fair pay, lovely benefits, no shortage of snacks.

Cons

Management basically threatened to fire everyone over metrics that are OUT OF OUR CONTROL. Everyone in the Seattle office is FREAKING OUT. I myself have had several panic attacks over this. It baffles me how this company can treat us so different from the rest of the company. Most people got to go home early due to the unsafe snow storm that has started, but everyone in my department was told that their safety isn't their first priority. I don't know how much longer myself, or really anyone else, can take this. Upper management has created an overall feeling of anxiety and depression. Everyone is scared of being fired. Just because they can legally fire people for whatever reason doesn't mean they should use this as a scare tactic to manipulate department metrics. Bottom line: THIS IS NO WAY TO RUN A DEPARTMENT.

Pros

Access to upper management at all levels, Transparency of Sr. Leadership, Core Values taken seriously, Focus on people, Great working spaces

Cons

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

Pros

Some good in-office perks, good healthcare, great peers

Cons

Complete misalignment when it comes to sales career. Management focuses too much on making sellers do administrative work - answering support calls, dealing with cancellations. It takes away time from selling. Monthly quotas are extremely short sighted. All real software companies have annual or quarterly sales goals. You aren’t allowing your sellers to think strategically and grow customer relationships for larger deals. Zillow promotes employees to managers who hit sales quota, most don’t make good managers - they have no experience coaching or advising rather just focus on looking good to upper management.

Pros

The benefits at Zillow are incomparable to any other benefits I have ever been offered. Health is amazing as they have a customized plan at includes low deductible ($250) and low copays of $15 for visits. Referrals are not required so there’s no headache when scheduling appointments. The plan also overs massage therapy, acupuncture, and chiropractor visits. Dental is also very good! Zillow covers half the cost for braces! Commuter benefits are available Vision covers a good amount $75 gym reimbursement Volunteer opportunities Guided career development Paternity leave and baby bucks Work/life balance Fully stocked kitchen that provides more than enough options for breakfast and lunch. Catered lunches twice a month Food trucks daily so you don’t have to run out on break Workout classes during office hours Relaxed dress code

Cons

The Denver office doesn’t have as many departments as other offices do. Therefore, the growth is really hard if you’re not willing to relocate. The entry position is a very easy CES position which is where most begin their Zillow career. However, there isn’t much of a system to monitor employees. You can be a top performer on your team and/or in the department, and the treatment is the same as the guy sitting next to you doing half the work but taking double the breaks. They claim this is monitored, but there doesn’t seem to be much managing of the “slackers”. Top performers are rarely recognized by upper management and receive zero incentive for their hard work and dedication to the company. It sucks. As managers are encouraged to help with career development, the room for growth is sparse and the demand is high. A survey is sent out to employees to provide feedback and every time I fill this out, I voice my opinion about compensating top performers and I never ever hear a word about it. They stress “power to the people” and that they hear us, but this topic continues to go unheard. It’s so un-motivating especially to the people who are actually dedicated. Employees are growing frustrated and morale is way down.

Pros

Great office, snacks, benefits and salary

Cons

Upper management and processes can be improved.