AVOID AT ALL COSTS - Anonymous employee McMaster-Carr Employee Review

1.0
Nov 22, 2022
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The benefits lure you in and they are great, but they are not worth your mental health. In the current market, you can probably make the same or more somewhere much better.

Cons

When I joined I had read the negative reviews and I thought it must mostly be disgruntled employees. I was used to high-stress environments so I thought I would be able to manage it. Boy was I wrong. There is literally nothing that will prepare you for this level of toxicity. The toxicity will be aimed at you at all times and you will also be expected to adopt it toward your employees and coworkers if you wish to succeed. If you have any sense of morals and consider yourself a good person, this is not the place for you. To make it, you will have to turn a blind eye to discrimination/unsafe work conditions, nitpick performance evaluations, gaslight your coworkers and employees, and throw others under the bus more times than you think. You will go home with a big paycheck but will hate yourself every day you are there. If you plan on joining it for the MBA benefit or supposed exit opportunities, don't. I saw my colleagues go to hell and back trying to justify staying at the company while they completed their mba. The stress of making one mistake and/or being disliked by a manger and risking being fired mid-mba program took a toll on many of them. More likely than not, if you are a good person with good morals, you will end up on HR's/Management's "do not like" list, and they will textbook make your work environment so intolerable that you are forced to quit if they can't find any legal reason to fire you. The number of colleagues I saw going on mental health leave during my time was truly concerning. Additionally, I agree with other reviews here that say that your exit opportunities decline the longer you stay. This will be because no company worth working for cares you worked at McMaster-Carr and if they do, they do not have a great impression of the company and will assume you have adopted toxic work behaviors. Your best bet will be going to get an MBA that's not sponsored by McMaster-Carr. It honestly pains me when I see the new hire posts and think of what they are walking into. If you love yourself, you will not accept an offer from this company.

Explore other reviews about McMaster-Carr

4.0
Jun 16, 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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