Sweetwater reviews

4.0

77% would recommend to a friend

(540 total reviews)
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Mike Clem

88% approve of CEO

72% positive business outlook

Sweetwater has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 540 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Sweetwater employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.4 stars).

Reviews by job title

540 reviews
3.0
Jan 16, 2015

Good place to work - potential dream for musicians

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

• Working for a moral world-class company that has - and continues to grow exponentially • Family oriented • Employee Gym and Personal Trainer • Discounts on Products • A DVD lending library • Arcade* • Billiards and Ping Pong* • Diner* • Coffee Shop* • Slide* • Led by very experienced management • Financial perks for healthy living • Good 401K

Cons

• *Many benefits are open to the public. If you look forward to playing in the arcade or eating in the diner, be prepared to wait in line • Excellence is expected, not rewarded • Strict dress code • Few paid holidays (this is retail) • (Salary only) No overtime compensation • Little to no room for advancement - you're probably being hired because you're the best at what you do. • Minimal raises and flat across departments. Ask for a salary that you’re happy with for the entirety of your career. In the sales department, you’re solely responsible for your own success • Minimal profit sharing • Management that is very slow to adopt trending ideas and design

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Sweetwater Response
11y
Thanks for your many positive comments. The pictures on this site and many, many more on our virtual tour at our sweetwater.com website show the many amenities you mention for our employees. Yes, we do make these amenities available to not only our employees, but also our customers who visit our headquarters. We are a relationship based business, and what better way to engage employees directly with customers than having them shoot some pool or play a game of ping pong. The salary increases we gave in March 2015 are, on average, about 25% higher than the national average most companies are giving this year. In addition, our hourly employees in many cases received a significant adjustment above and beyond this to their rate of pay. We make no apologies for our dress code, which we call "Professional Business Casual." We receive hundreds and hundreds of positive responses from visitors every year about how professional our people look. They very often will also ask us during a tour "why does everyone look so happy?" It's noteworthy that many of our people dress above and beyond what the dress code requires for their job. For example, many of our male employees come to work in a coat and tie every day when this is not a requirement. We're proud that they feel that way about themselves, their environment and their job. Jeff McDonald, Senior Vice President of Human Resources
3.0
Oct 2, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You've likely heard about the free arcade, the cafeteria, the slide, and the fitness center. Yes, these are real benefits to working at Sweetwater. If you're in sales, you have access to an instrument lending library, tons of incentives, and a comfortable working environment. There's a DVD/video game lending library open to all employees. Warehouse employees can move from part time to full time after roughly three months if their performance is adequate.

Cons

I'm glad to work for Sweetwater, but I hate how the warehouse is treated as second-class citizens. It's no secret. Obviously you want to reward profit centers, but we are truly treated as disposable. The starting wage is much lower than any other entry-level warehouse job in the area, by several dollars an hour. The raises are unpredictable and based on tenure, not performance. Lots of college students working in the warehouse, which can be either fun or annoying, depending on the person and the day. Mandatory overtime with literally no warning (I mean at 4:59pm, you're told that you're staying til 7). Oh, and classic rock / 80s hair metal blasting all day long. Bring some aspirin.

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Sweetwater Response
11y
Thanks for your candid comments; hearing from our employees is vital to us and helps us to make positive changes. We have been studying comparative wages in our market for some time, and just this month (March 2015), which is our normal time to annually change rates of pay, significantly boosted the rate of pay in a number of departments where we have hourly employees, including the Distribution Center. (See the recent review of March 3, 2015, posted by another hourly employee in a different department.) The response to this has been overwhelmingly positive; we have heard from scores of employees who are delighted that we were able to make this positive change that mirrors all the other great things we have to offer as an employer. We greatly value ALL of our employees and hopefully this recent change will encourage those interested in staying with Sweetwater for a long term career. Jeff McDonald, Senior VP of Human Resources
3.0
Sep 7, 2014

Unbelievable facility!

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Beautiful facility! Great people! Nice cafeteria!

Cons

Corporate waits until the last possible moment to add necessary staff. At the breaking point of the current staff!!

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Glassdoor has 569 Sweetwater reviews submitted anonymously by Sweetwater employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Sweetwater is right for you.