Golden Handcuffs - Business Generalist McMaster-Carr Employee Review

4.0
16 Dec 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Pay and benefits Work life balance Easy work Great colleagues Remote work Excellent treatment of customers Parental leave

Cons

I don’t understand how they do not promote within after 10 years of Glassdoor reviews where every single person mentions they need to promote individual contributors. You can have a PhD and they still will not promote you. You can have an outstanding performance review every year but still not be promoted. You can get a degree from an Ivy League school that they care so much about and still not be promoted. I hold a lot of resentment towards them for that. Additionally, they will provide no feedback or path on how to get promoted. Extremely political in that sense and only likely to happen if you find someone to strongly advocate for you. Even if you are promoted (very low chance and takes years) you won’t be treated or paid equally to other supervisors. Corporate employees get more promotions and money than employees in sales. If you are a top performer, try to move to corporate before trying to become a supervisor. Sadly, I’ve been afraid to leave because the pay is too good for the position and I enjoy the work life balance. However, I am not gaining any skills and constantly feel frustrated for feeling held down in a position.

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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