I'm glad for what they gave me, but it is probably the worst place to work if you have some sort of ambition in life! - Operations Generalist McMaster-Carr Employee Review

2.0
23 Mar 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The benefits, compensation, 100 % tuition reimbursement. The pay is unparallel to anything you will find in the market and they bring alot of talented people into the company on this premise. I had to ability to start my graduate work, pay off schools loans because of the pay and the year end bonus. Also, you never have to think about doing work outside of work. They have a good work/life balance.

Cons

No career advancement. The organization is flat, with only two levels, generalists and managers. Don't be fooled by the managers, they are kids straight out of ivy leagues, who may have had awesome grades, but come from non-business backgrounds. Anotherwords, they have no idea what they are doing, yet they are taken alot more seriously than anyone else, who may have had management experience. They get placed to manage people and criticize their work, when they actually haven't spent time in the positions themselves to understand their work. The company lies when recruiting to get people into the door, you may be placed in dept you hate only to be told you can't be moved because they have a plan for you. They don't, they move people around or keep people in the same positions for long periods of time, just because. You have no say or flexibility where you want to go within the company. Also, there are no promotions ever to upper management. The atmosphere is extremely negative, they never have good feedback for you. You always feel like you are walking on eggshells, never knowing if you may be let go next. They fire people with years of experience within the company for no reason at all.

Explore other reviews about McMaster-Carr

5.0
14 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

At least in the Systems department, it’s a helpful and collaborative environment.

Cons

3 days in office and potentially long commute from the city

4.0
16 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Pay/benefits are incredibly generous - People are generally easy/nice to work with - Note that the Systems department seems to be fairly isolated from the negative issues discussed in other reviews (e.g. tension between warehouse workers and management) - I haven't experienced any of those issues within the systems department. In my opinion, Systems is a great place to work and develop as an engineer. - Hybrid work style (3 days in office). Personally, I like hybrid more than both fully in-office and fully remote styles. - Great cafeteria with good food and cheap prices. - Good work/life balance (outside of being on call, I can leave work at work).

Cons

- Work is not super interesting to me. I come from a highly technical, but very different (not ecommerce/industrial supplies), background where I was doing work I was much more interested in. No doubt there are folks in Systems who love the domain though. - While I'm not on call a ton (1-2 weeks every few months), I really hate being on call. I like to leave work at work. Note that joining at least one reliability team is expected within your first year or so.

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