If you are considering working at Public Storage, do yourself a favor and pause. Then turn around and run.
Public Storage offers some of the worst benefits I’ve seen in my career, and many of them are not disclosed during the interview process.
Health insurance does not begin until two months after your start date, forcing new employees to secure gap insurance just to avoid being uninsured. This is unacceptable in 2025 and wildly out of step with industry standards.
The 401k match does not begin until one full year of employment, which is virtually unheard of at companies of this size and profitability. This is not a competitive benefit. It’s a deterrent.
You receive three holidays off per year: Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s Day. Corporate employees are expected to work nearly all other holidays because leadership classifies the company as “retail.” This is one of the most demoralizing and degrading benefit philosophies I’ve encountered, especially for non-retail roles.
None of this is transparently communicated during the interview process.
Public Storage frequently claims to care about its people, but its actions suggest otherwise. Headcount reductions and offshoring decisions appear driven by executive bonus incentives rather than long-term organizational health. Employees feel expendable, not valued.
The company is also a revolving door. It is not uncommon for employees to leave citing many of the exact issues outlined here as their reason for seeking a new opportunity. This pattern is well known internally. Senior leadership is aware of the attrition, the feedback, and the root causes—and chooses to do nothing about it. The message is clear: turnover is an acceptable cost, and employees are replaceable.
Bonuses are another illusion. Your entire bonus is tied exclusively to individual performance through an exhausting and unrealistic OKR process. There is no meaningful connection to company or divisional performance, which undermines collaboration and reinforces a culture of survival rather than shared success.
Despite leadership’s claims about having strong systems, processes, and data, the reality is the opposite. The tools are fragmented, the data is unreliable, and decision-making suffers as a result. Either leadership is being misled, or they are misleading others.
The ongoing headquarters move to Dallas, TX has been handled and communicated poorly. Employees are currently scattered across three locations, morale is low, and there is little confidence in leadership’s ability to manage change thoughtfully.
What leadership has failed to acknowledge is that this move negatively impacts both California employees and those already based in Dallas. Employees who currently work in the Plano office are now being asked to commute to a new office in Frisco, which is not near the current location and adds a significant daily burden. Anyone familiar with Dallas knows that traffic rivals that of any major U.S. city. Commutes across the metroplex are not trivial.
It is especially frustrating given that much of the senior leadership team is based in Los Angeles. One would expect leaders who live in a city known for traffic to appreciate the very real time, energy, and quality-of-life costs of these decisions. Instead, the burden is dismissed, and employees on both coasts are left to absorb the impact.
Perhaps most insulting is the company’s obsession with badge-swipe tracking. Senior leaders spend time monitoring office attendance across multiple locations and reporting on employees who may not have badged in. Instead of treating professionals like adults, Public Storage chooses surveillance and tattling. It’s a waste of time, money, and leadership attention, and shareholders should be embarrassed that this is how executives are choosing to operate.
While there are pockets of good people, the senior leadership team is ineffective, disengaged, and disconnected from the employee experience.
There is far more that could be said, but this should be enough to give any prospective employee serious pause. I would never recommend this company to anyone.
