Staples reviews

3.2

42% would recommend to a friend

(14,652 total reviews)
avatar

Michael Motz

38% approve of CEO

27% positive business outlook

Staples has an employee rating of 3.2 out of 5 stars, based on 14,652 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Staples employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

15K reviews
1.0
Aug 2, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Some of the pros of working at Staples include; A car allowance, paid expenses (phone, internet, cell), paid vacations, some holidays off, stock options.

Cons

Unethical corporate culture, shady business practices, good ol' boy system in place. Inexperienced and incompetent management. Commissions are lower than they should be.

1.0
Nov 21, 2016

Avoid This Company

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I worked for Staples as a software engineer at their Seattle "Development Lab" for nearly three years. About the only good thing I can say about the experience is that it's less intense than Amazon or some start-ups.

Cons

Where to begin? The IT/engineering organization as a whole is technically incompetent from top to bottom. Especially at the top. They give a lot of lip service to wanting to be lean and agile, etc, but in reality the bureaucracy in the main office in Framingham is stifling. It's impossible to get anything done in any reasonable amount of time. Also, they farm out crucial bits to substandard third-party contractors, many of them in India. They keep saying they way to do less of this, but in reality as the job market gets tighter and they are unable to compete, they do it more and more. They are cheap. REALLY cheap. Benefits for example are bottom-of-the-barrel. Count on your health insurance not paying for much of anything, unless you expenses are so large that you exceed the giant out-of-pocket of $6000/yr. Across the board, the company is structured around what retail employees typically get, and it's way below standards for the IT industry. If you are desperate enough to take an IT job here (and there is no reason anyone should be in this market) at least negotiate yourself a better vacation package than the the garbage version they will offer you (two weeks, not increasing to three weeks for 5 years). Finally, and I hate to say this, but it's true and hard to deny: I never saw an engineer who wasn't Indian be successful in the Seattle office. The ones that were any good either relocated to other offices or left the company entirely. Coincidence?

1.0
Jun 25, 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

High standards for customer service. Some of the management good to work with, higher up they are the less people oriented.

Cons

To be honest they work you like a slave. Expect to work long hours with little thanks or recognition. Not a fun place to work.

Viewing 7 - 9 of 14,652 Reviews

Glassdoor has 15,181 Staples reviews submitted anonymously by Staples employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Staples is right for you.