Expeditors reviews

Full in office, no hybrid no flexible time. 26 days remote max. Buisness attire required - (No ties or suit jackets but come on. You should care about the work I produce not what I wear.) Office Politics in full swing - Few metrics to track your current performance means you better make friends who will talk you up and you better hope your manager likes you. Many people who have been there 15+ years. Might be considered good for knowledge but the ones I know are stuborn and inflexible in the way they do things. Tech stack is legacy java codebase, mostly just adding on to it rather than inventing new stuff. Systems mostly still on old windows servers that they still expand manually when at capacity rather than migrating to cloud. Terrible, "This is the way it's always been and this is how it works best" mentality among some people.

Sorry for the long post, but touches on a lot of the things at Expeditors. Compensation- You will be about 25% below your market value, at least on the IT side. The gap for Engineers is even greater. Expeditors touts its no lay off “policy”, its work/life balance, and even the insurance to justify why it doesn’t pay market value. Raises are purposely associated with percentages, not market salary. Meaning they start you low, and give you raises from that initial salary. If you start at the company at a low rate, and you do a great job, they will give you a nice percentage bump, in the range of 5-10%, often with commentary that this is atypical. But even with those bumps, you are no where near market value. Also, sometimes the promotion is considered the "raise"; no increase in compensation. Real Life Example: If you start at an entry level role, at $40k and after a couple years, you make your way to a System Administrator position, you are not getting market rate as a System Administrator, but something in the 10-15% bump from that $40k, even if the market for a System Administrator is considerably more, and the same from System Administrator to Engineer. This is how you end up with Engineers being paid $20k-$40k below other Engineers. This is by design, and goes hand in hand with the “hire from within” mantra. Promotions- Promotion is more often relationship based, than merit based. If you have an ‘in’ with a Manager or Supervisor, you will be golden and have a relatively easy time at this company. If you wish to get into management, be prepared to be a people manager, as the longer you are in, the more tethered you are to the company, with only the names of people you’ve managed growing. You can potentially be in a Supervisor role for 5+yrs before any Manager position opens up, as there are only a few of those, and often aren’t available. If you are ‘in’ with the right people, you will have a leg up and will move up the ranks quicker. Some positions are created on the whim, but not to everyone’s knowledge. Only the person they have in mind for the position will be aware and you will only be aware of the position once the fill has been announced. Dress Code- Dress code is based on a policy that was created in the 80’s, and likely updated in the mid 90’s. Recently policy was changed allowing women wear dresses shorter than their knees and sleeveless tops. For men, a tie is mandatory, along with dress shoes. Employees who wear sneakers to walk from the bus to the office with the intention of switching shoes at their desk will be threatened with a write up due to not wearing dress shoes. The expectation is once you are in the building, you are should be that model employee. You can get away with wearing a greasy hoodie, baggie slacks, or even dressed like an extra from LA Law (90's style if you don't get that referace) as long as the knot of your tie is visible. If you see someone walk around downtown in a tie within a 5 block radius, it will be an Expeditors employee or a Public Defender. YOU DO NOT GET EXTRA POINTS FOR WEARING A SUIT. Work From Home- Expeditors implemented Compress Work Week as a way to amend the growing desire for work from home as Work from Home is not allowed. Or is it? It is not allowed, but allowed. Wait. What? Ok, if you work under a certain department, it is readily allowed. If you work under a different department it is not allowed, but only allowed under special circumstances, but within that same department, it is not allowed under a certain manager. Executives as a whole will not address it and reference the company policy of no work from home. Cult Like Atmosphere- This can get annoying at times. There are lifers here and swear by Expeditors. Which is fine if you have every intention of staying here. But to hear the propaganda can get annoying. If you express desire to look elsewhere, or mention someone leaving, you often hear the reply of “Well, we have a no layoff policy, other companies can lay you off at any time.” This is a fear-driven reply, which is often promoted as a talking point within the management ranks. As mentioned in other reviews, there is a good ol' boys club, and typically members of that club will get the promotions, raises, or even invited to some company sanctioned events. Technology- The technology is archaic, and due to legacy technology as the core of some of these technologies, as this is often a roadblock to advancing the technology. Final Thoughts Expeditors has the look and feel of a company from the mid-90’s. Unfortunately, we are almost 25 yrs past that point. As a whole, it is a solid place to work, only if you are OK with the above mentions. This place can be great for anyone starting their career, or within the first 3-5yrs of your career. Once you are seasoned, move onto other work places. You will be better rewarded, with more benefits. If we were in the middle of Kansas, then this place would be awesome.