Custom Ink reviews

2.9

35% would recommend to a friend

(182 total reviews)
avatar

David Doctorow

33% approve of CEO

21% positive business outlook

Reviews by job title

182 reviews

Reviews about "Culture"

Return to all reviews
5.0
Sep 18, 2014

Family Feel

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Team & leaders really care about one another, it feels like my second family - Huge amount of care and respect for our customers - Honest feedback provided, feedback also asked for and listened to - High expectations, which challenge you and make you feel proud of your accomplishments - Comfortable work environment (and we love food) - Solid benefits - You don't have to wait a year for a raise, performance based earnings plans reward you every period if you perform above expectations, which most of the team does (then raises are also given once certain levels are hit, and expectations are communicated so you know exactly what you have to do)

Cons

- We're experiencing rapid growth, which does present challenges like having many new team members trying to learn at the same time - While we're growing quickly, many new opportunities are in different offices and would require a move (all opportunities are very competitive, since we have a ton of awesome people here) - Because many team members join the team right out of college and don't have a lot of other experience, sometimes the way things are here are really taken for granted - The majority of the team is fantastic and loves to be here. Then, like anywhere probably, sometimes you can experience a lack of professionalism or negative attitudes.

2.0
Sep 15, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Customink has an unrivaled benefits package. The facilities are very nice and well maintained. Every week the company provides a free lunch for everyone, and there are a myriad of little perks that the Team Development department organizes.

Cons

The pay is not very good to begin with considering the specificity of the job position, and there are no time-based raises or cost of living adjustments. Upward mobility is not very good, and positions to which an order operations employee can aspire are becoming fewer and farther between. Becoming a "Lead" or an "AM" is not terribly difficult, but does not result in a significant change in compensation. The pay gained from the Lead promotion is the same as the differential from working a regular weekend shift. Advancement past AM is unlikely. Customink seems oriented toward cultivating a "dazzling" atmosphere and creating pod people, if anyone is familiar with management terminology. Through internal branding and small perks, the company is able to pay less across the board by creating employees with a rabid loyalty; employees who often have never held any other position. Company Surveys are taken fairly often for employees to leave feedback about Customink processes, but these surveys are NOT confidential, and you will be interrogated about every answer. If no successful argument can be made against your criticism, the idea will be "looked at" indefinitely. Pay for order ops employees is set up like a digital factory. Your base pay is barely enough to survive, and the performance based pay you recieve on top of that depends on two factors: "Productivity" - the quantity of orders you can complete daily, and "Quality of Work" - the number of "MODs" recorded on you. The MOD system is basically a big game of tattle. It is a requirement of your job that you "record feedback" whenever you see a mistake in an order, thereby slowing your own productivity and taking money from the pocket of a fellow employee. This of course breeds resentment and irritation in the workplace, which is swept under the rug like everything else. Order Ops employees are "offered" the "opportunity" to undergo interdepartmental training. While this generally is a good thing to understand the processes of neighboring departments, it leads to a very undesirable side-effect: Customink then assigns people on a day-to-day basis to do work in other departments according to where the bulk of orders are in the assembly line. In this way, they are able to keep a fluid workforce and hire fewer employees to do more work. This is most evident in the two annual "busy seasons". Customink will brag about the 25 days per year of vacation, which is indeed wonderful, except you can only take this vacation during "off-season". The result is that all 1000-ish employees clamor to use up their time off (since only 5 days roll over) which causes a backup in the assembly line. Then the company assigns MANDATORY overtime. Undoubtedly someone from upper management will be along shortly to provide counter-examples, and they might even be true. But if you are considering a position here, I would urge you to keep an open mind and look past the initial "WOW factor" of the free snacks and the million dollar patio. Keep an eye on the way you're being treated and the way others are being treated, and decide if that seems right to you.

3.0
Jul 18, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I love my coworkers. I've met some of the nicest, most worthwhile people at this job and it is possible to have a legitimately good time at work. Also, I'm very pleased with the benefits package I receive. My health insurance is great and there are a lot of nice little perks, like a meal provided by the company on Thursdays and a frozen yogurt machine on-site at Fairfax.

Cons

In Order Operations, a significant portion of your work is tied directly to performance. If you aren't able to meet your quotas, your pay will not be what you expect. And it's not as though each order you handle is the same with the same degree of work required. While one order might take 5 minutes, the next might take a few hours. In EPA, the values of the various order difficulties are staggered so it's certainly better than them being of equal value but it's still problematic. Additionally, there is no system set up for annual raises, at least not based on company loyalty or seniority. Instead, there are Stride Increases, which are only available annually and are based on performance and accuracy. These increases can be particularly difficult to achieve and are barely in keeping with inflation. Recently, the company had it's first $1 million dollar day. To celebrate, we're there bonuses? No. Instead, the CEO went around and handed out Hershey's bars with a little printed note thanking us for helping to achieve that milestone. I found it to be insulting and patronizing. CustomInk is a company that is doing incredibly well in a short period. They are not passing that success onto their employees, at least not in my department.

Viewing 169 - 171 of 182 Reviews

Glassdoor has 732 Custom Ink reviews submitted anonymously by Custom Ink employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Custom Ink is right for you.