Mary Kay reviews

3.9

72% would recommend to a friend

(1,019 total reviews)

Ryan Rogers

73% approve of CEO

61% positive business outlook

Mary Kay has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 1,019 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Mary Kay employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Produktion industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
2.0
Dec 16, 2014

Actual Mary Kay "Employee"

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Beautiful building, nice parking garage, good benefits, nice cafeteria

Cons

Let me first say that I am an actual "employee" at the corporate office and not an Independent Beauty Consultant (IBC). My first impression with Mary Kay was what an exciting place to work! I soon found out that Mary Kay's leadership and management style is stuck in the 80's. Here at Mary Kay it's decision by committee, it's who you know and not what you know, and it's appearance over results. Instead of encouraging out of the box thinking, they discourage it. In fact, people look down their noses at you when you mention how things are done some place else. I had great hopes when coming to Mary Kay, but now I feel as though I can't wait to get out! Here are a lot of managers with puffed up ego's who build empires to do nothing other than make themselves look good. In short, from the dress code (business professional) to it's lack of empowering people to make their own decisions, Mary Kay is stuck in the past and behind the times!

2.0
Oct 5, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Decent salary and generally good bonus. Generous (though not guaranteed) retirement account contribution by the company. Nice office building with ample garage parking. Benefits are OK though not the best. The company is generally stable thus turnover is low. Company values employee tenure. Corporate senior management makes efforts to show that company cares about employees. On the surface, the corporate culture appears positive and caring.

Cons

Looking beyond the shiny building, inspirational quotes from the founder and the formal attire, the day to day work environment is a lot less professional. Tenured and entrenched employees are very resistant to change. Limited internal opportunities and organizational silos lead to a highly political and low-trust culture. Turf-buidling, cronyism, backstabbing and bullying are rampant and often encouraged by upper management. Promotions are handed out based more on personal relationships than on merit. The appearance of working hard counts more than the actual work result. Org structure is siloed and top-heavy. Most mid-level managers are self-serving and only manage up to get the next promotion. They create unnecessary layers under them just to build a case for promotion or start pet projects to justify additional headcount. Truly good internal career opportunities are all earmarked for the hiring manager's buddies.

1.0
Jan 16, 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You set your own hours Meet really fantastic ladies Huge tax writes offs Discounted products for personal use Good support from others in the same business

Cons

Easy to get sucked into buying far too much product Have to sell a ton of product to start actually start netting money Pressure from your upline to buy more product Constantly changing products that leave you stuck with discontinued items that you can't sell All training, even weekly training meetings, has a fee Tax write offs don't make up for the money you lose trying to keep up with your inventory

Viewing 19 - 21 of 1,019 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,437 Mary Kay reviews submitted anonymously by Mary Kay employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Mary Kay is right for you.