What is known, must be shared. - Senior Designer OCLC Employee Review

2.0
Feb 24, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

My direct coworkers were some of the nicest and most talented people that I have ever worked with. I never had issues with getting equipment that was needed to do my job, even though some people took convincing to modernize certain things.

Cons

To put is as plain, professional, and to the point as possible: OCLC has a leadership crisis. That may sound like hyperbole however, if you take a second to read the other reviews (real reviews and not ones posted by HR) it paints a picture that makes one thing clear, something isn't right with how the company is being ran and there are active efforts to wash that from the public. There is a lot of talk about trying to motivate employees into working hard and changing the dynamic to make things better, however when I tried to implement change VIA the proper channels, I was met with nothing but resistance from my direct manager/managers. As a handful of my former colleges would agree, my manger seemed happy to reap the fruits of my knowledge and skill but when I pushed for some kind of recognition I was met with blatant disregard. I was constantly told that "OCLC is a flat organization" and they are "trying to address it" which was something I heard 6 years ago up until the day I left. There also seems to be a wild disregard to employee feedback. I would caution anyone future or current in being honest in their feedback as the CEO is known to blast it in front of the company town hall and mock it. (yes you read that correctly)... These are issues that people have, I wouldn’t be surprised if this review gets cherry picked and used in a town hall for some reason to further gaslight employees that they should be grateful to work for OCLC when in fact it should be the other way around. The CEO is really pressed on building up his personal brand, which is fine, however my issue is the use of OCLC resources in doing so. The team I worked with was already short staffed and to take any time out of any given month to work on CEO content was very difficult when we should have been developing content that furthers the OCLC public message. There’s a lot of people currently working at OCLC that see all of this. Those are the people that have stuck around for the love of libraries and that was why I stuck around for as long as I did, I was hired to help further that message and I hope that comes back into focus for all my former coworkers sake.

Explore other reviews about OCLC

5.0
Jul 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great team and work environment Interesting work day to day Working here feels meaningful

Cons

Compensation can be lower than average

2.0
Jun 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The benefits, particularly the thrift plan, are good for as long as they still exist. The employees are generally smart and caring people.

Cons

Upper management is neither good nor trustworthy. To go into details would most likely violate this website's TOS. Trust them not to tell you the truth, trust them to blame you if they can save themselves for another year. Any stories you've heard about a great place to work are based on old data. That company no longer exists. While layoffs have always been a threat, employees are constantly on edge now and having the CEO tell them if they want to stay on they shouldn't make trouble does not help, to say the least If you get hired here, understand that this cannot be a long term destination. Get your experience, have an exit plan, don't get comfortable and fade into mediocrity because that is your future, and that's if you are lucky. I just want to add that everything the other reviews say about the president is true. He absolutely did mock employee responses to an opinion survey at a town hall.

3
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