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Powell's Books

Is this your company?

By far the most toxic company I have ever worked for. - Software Engineer Powell's Books Employee Review

1.0
Oct 7, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Great team members -It was nice to clock out at the end of the day

Cons

-No faith in employees. Once hired, your input and expertise will be dismissed -Owner and leadership have zero understanding of technical requirements or what kind of work goes into a major e-commerce website -Their software is ancient -Roles were not defined. My role ended up having nothing to do with the job description I applied and interviewed for -Extremely toxic HR department, treats employees like enemies from day 1 -Constant gaslighting from leadership. We would spend months working on something and discussing it only to be told "We never wanted that" -The company has placed the digital marketing team entirely in charge of the website, ignoring the people who are actual engineers -Union and company are constantly fighting and finger pointing -Repeatedly hires contractors who just tell them what they want to hear but either don't solve problems or create more problems -Software team was hardly allowed to even work on the broken website, instead having to partake in constant meetings. Hours upon hours of meetings -Constant atmosphere of fear and being watched, and knowing you will be laid off at some point -Health insurance is terrible

Explore other reviews about Powell's Books

5.0
Feb 17, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

It was fun working there

Cons

Too many books to read

3.0
May 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Employee loan program, employee discount, co workers and customers.

Cons

There is a definite feeling of bitterness from upper management that they have to deal with a union workplace. I’ve worked with doctors and high level administrators in my other positions and my Powell’s co workers were some of the most intelligent people I’ve ever worked with. It’s really too bad that upper management did not seem interested in taking the advice of their frontline workers more into consideration.

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