Great place for complacency, but don't stay if you want to move up! - Anonymous employee McMaster-Carr Employee Review

3.0
Mar 26, 2024
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great pay that increases yearly based on merit and end of the year bonuses. Mostly remote work, but everyone has 3 mandatory in-office days per month based on their team calendar. Benefits are better than most companies - tuition reimbursement for you and your kids, lengthy maternity leave and paternity leave, help with adoption. Mostly the same work on a daily basis, just different customers.

Cons

Your chance of moving up or getting a promotion is pretty slim because they outsource management right out of grad school. Because of this you end up with a supervisor who doesn't really know what your day-to-day is like or how to answer questions when they arise. Escalation is sometimes lengthy because of this. Employees get switched between departments for random reasons with little heads up. After switching, these same employees are asked to work half of their day doing their previous departments work instead of prioritizing exceeding in their new department. Not hitting your numbers is typically 50% on the company because they kind of throw you to the wolves and expect perfection, but don't set you up properly for success.

Explore other reviews about McMaster-Carr

5.0
Jun 14, 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
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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