Everything else.
CONS:
Management: It's a running joke that almost every single manager at Houzz sat in the wrong chair by accident to become "THE DIRECTOR" or "THE MANAGER" of any given department. What gives a few 25-year-olds the experience to lead a bunch of other 20-something-year-olds? Nothing, except the fact that they probably have nice hair and a nice smile. What do these managers do? Honestly, after three years, I still don't know. What I know they don't do is help their employees.
Compensation: This isn't worth spending time on. They pay you a dirt minimum HOURLY salary. That means you still have to put in a time card every single day. Want a promotion? Cool! You're not getting paid more. Oh, and annual raises? Never heard of 'em.
Schedule: Some departments have mandatory hours, while others have the liberty to come at their leisure. Only certain departments get the special treatment to come in when they want, so it sets up for a superiority complex for those who can get to work whenever.
But don't worry, everybody MUST stay for a full 8 hours. Finished early? Cool, don't walk out the door until your 8 hours are up. Not done yet? Go home, you must be here for 8 hours tomorrow and you won't be paid overtime if you stay.
Growth: The company is NOT set up to support career growth because the incompetent managers have been there for years and will stay because they are getting paid 50%-80% more than everyone else. Here's to hoping one of them gets pregnant or quits! And then maybe you'll be considered to get interviewed internally 4 more times to maybe take their place! Good Luck!
Layoffs: Houzz had 3 different rounds of layoffs between Q4 of 2017 and Q4 of 2018. What does that tell us? Leadership has no real business strategy, they eliminate and rehire because they're focused on short term solutions to long terms problems. Three days before the company holiday party in 2017 an entire department was laid off for the sake of restructuring. In November of 2018 nearly 200 employees were laid off. It's just a mess.
Work: Let's face it, I worked full-time but only half of my time there was spent working. In high school, all you really did was show up. Welcome to Houzz. You show up, you do your work at a mediocre level, but you're talking to your friends and hanging out most of the time. I'm not kidding when I say people spend an hour getting toast each morning. Then an hour at lunch. Then you go on a 30 minute walk, or two, or four, depending on where your manager sits in relation to you. It's all fun and games until someone notices though, if so you're chained to that 3x3 cubicle forever while you're friends get to play around half the day without you.
While that might sound appealing to some, the truth of the matter is the work is not challenging and when you do try to make improvements or go above and beyond - nobody cares. You won't be recognized for trying to actually do something unlike everybody else. You will not be promoted. You will not be compensated. Sit down, look at your computer and enjoy the poorly brewed Stumptown coffee and you'll collect your pathetic paycheck like everybody else with hardly any transferable skills for your future.
