Sotheby's reviews

2.5

21% would recommend to a friend

(650 total reviews)

Charles F. Stewart

12% approve of CEO

23% positive business outlook

Sotheby's has an employee rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars, based on 650 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Sotheby's employee rating is 29% below average for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

650 reviews
3.0
Apr 11, 2016

Exciting but toxic

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

excellent opportunities to see the best the art world has to offer, an amazing amount of time being hands on with the art regardless of what department you are in, there can be lots of camaraderie among entry level staff and you can make some really great life-long friends

Cons

terrible, terrible mismanagement by upper management, no growth opportunities for entry level/mid-career individuals unless you know someone (or are someone), lots of favoritism and nepotism among the staff leads to inexperienced, lazy, or disinterested upper management with little skill or knowledge in managing their staff, many of the decisions feel based on how your manager feels about you and not their objective opinion of how you are performing, if you are not in a revenue generating department you are paid very poorly and treated as unimportant to the overall business (despite the fact that you literally make the auctions run), terrible pay and absolutely atrocious work hours, very difficult to get time off and are still expected to respond to emails even when you are on vacation, lots of guilt-shaming for taking time off as well

1.0
May 25, 2021

Don't do it

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

People in leadership roles have been there for a long time. Nothing else is a "pro".

Cons

Pressure to do whatever the leaders want No leadership when it comes to guidance Any questions that you have on your work will not be answered in a positive way No training at all Constantly being spoken down to Work load is not consistent with job expectation when you are being recruited

2.0
Sep 5, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Amazing art everywhere Interesting people Discount at Sotheby's Wine if you work in the US

Cons

Where to begin? Seriously understaffed in specialist/auction side of the business. Very high turnover, so inexperienced people in lots of important areas. You will waste a lot of time on mistakes of undertrained new people thrown into the mix without the slightest clue. (Company puts people in pretty technical jobs and training seems to be: ask other people in the job who sit near you. Don't expect any help and make friends with your colleagues fast) Most people do the jobs of 2 or 3 people, so really think carefully if you have kids, an older relative who needs help or want anything like a life outside work. It is very different for members of upper management. If you're interviewing for a high level job, expect stress but normal hours. More typical employees work at least 55-70 hours per work, don't take all of our vacation, work constantly, get told we're not doing enough by people who leave at 5:30 each day. I hear it is different in IT and Finance. They seem to be able to leave at 5 pm each day. On the other hand computers and company systems are at least 10-15 years old and are a joke. The IT team just seems disgusted with what they have to work with. I think the new CEO will be changing this, but still not clear what his plans are. He's got no background in the art market and was at his last job for less than a year so who knows if he'll be around in another 6 months. No matter what job you're looking at make sure you get to talk to people already in the job during interviews and ask what their average day is like. Have an attorney read the contract before you sign it. I wish I had done that.

Viewing 28 - 30 of 650 Reviews

Glassdoor has 878 Sotheby's reviews submitted anonymously by Sotheby's employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Sotheby's is right for you.