Houzz Reviews

If you're looking for a job of substance, a challenge, an opportunity for professional growth, something fun that varies from day to day, or a career, you just won't find it here. I came in highly qualified and ready to put those qualifications to use. I realized the position was entry level, but I never expected to feel my job was better suited for a young college student's first internship. Most of the positions here are repetitive, goal/numbers-driven, mentally un-stimulating, micromanaged, and very, very unlikely to change anytime soon. If this was the only negative, I'd say take this job temporarily and then move on shortly, but unfortunately there's a lot more going on here. The pay is inexcusable. You cannot expect employees to feel valued or "lucky" (this word is used a lot here) when most of us can't afford to move of our parents' house (unless we have 2-3 roommates or a spouse who earns a lot more than we do – a common occurrence here). They'll offer you a job that pays 30-50% less than what similar companies pay. They'll tell you a 1% annual raise is "standard," and a 1-5% raise for a lower-level promotion here is the norm. Needless to say, it's more than disheartening to hear senior management continually boast about the astronomical revenue of Houzz while our paychecks look like they do. Benefits are decent but misleading. The "unlimited" vacation policy they pride themselves on is 15 days, including sick pay. Health insurance is fully paid, a nice plus. But alongside astoundingly low salary and tanking employee morale, this feels like a pretty small crumb of cheese. They'll tell you that they pay $1 million+ per year on food and that you should consider it part of your salary. I think I speak for hundreds of others when I say I'd have opted for livable wages in lieu of overpriced food. Management is ultimately funneled through 1 or 2 people in an office of over 500. Mid- and lower-level management is, though usually emotionally supportive and kind, bogged down at best. Progress is slow to nonexistant. A company of this size needs real management training (there is none offered) so managers who are young and inexperienced are trained to manage rather than trained to funnel anything and everything through those high above them. It's essentially an illusion of multi-tiered management. Lastly, it's baffling to know that when this review is read, it will be written off by senior management as the complaints of someone ungrateful (and promptly followed up with some eerily similar 5-star reviews). I've seen the reactions to criticisms about the company, and they are almost never taken seriously or respected by those with true authority. I wish I had the magic words to make it all click to them. All of the above is why turnover rates have exploded in this past year, especially in recent months. Valuable, capable, and dedicated employees are leaving by the boatload for careers that offer a challenge, growth, fair compensation, and a future. These aren't the selfish rantings of an entitled millennial; they're realities that are causing serious distress beneath the protein bar- and dollar sign-laden surface of the company. I've loved my team and some of my experiences here, and it's my sincere hope that things change here fast. If they don't, I can't foresee Houzz having a happy or loyal employee base anytime soon.

Despite all the incredible reviews about how much people love their jobs, a change is definitely needed within the organization. It is widely known throughout the office that employees are asked to leave raving reviews on Glassdoor to offset the negative. You’ll probably notice that for every bad review almost immediately there are 4-5 raving reviews that sound nearly identical. It’s nearly impossible to get an accurate response to a question from management, seeing that every decision has to go through one head manager. While things seem logical or obvious no changes will ever be made without the approval of one key person in charge who has no idea how some of the departments are actually ran. The Marketplace department is often referred to as a “startup within a startup” but the only real reason for that is management is so far removed from what actually happens that growth is unobtainable. Upper management is so focused on hitting unrealistic goals set from the CEO who spends nearly no time with the teams that they end up not just micromanaging, but putting their efforts towards growing a large site with no quality content. Selling products on Houzz is pitched as an incredible opportunity for a new online platform, when in reality the company puts zero focus on actually growing the business or sales; their only priority is to get as many products as possible so they are worth more…not actually building anything of value. If you can deal with all of the micromanagement and secrecy within the company, you should probably know that you can’t expect consistent pay either. Many employees were “promoted” into the new Marketplace department being told there would be lots of room for growth and expansion, when in reality even management doesn’t know the path for many positions & you will receive a pay cut. Shortly after I moved into a position within MP and realized commission structures not just changed but were significantly less than what had ever been before. I reached out to management with confusion on how I could be given a promotion, yet not have the opportunity to even make as much as I did in an entry level position and I was told “are you here for the money, or the opportunity to work for a company like Houzz”….I’m here to make money, if I wanted great opportunities I would be traveling the world, not sitting in a lime green call center. They also said things such as "You were never supposed to make that much money in that role." due to the teams ability to over exceed goals.