The U.S.’s two most familiar office supply megastores go head-to-head for today’s Culture Showdown: Staples and Office Depot. Both stores are struggling with the culture’s move away from brick-and-mortar monoliths and adoption of online shopping. Comparably took a look at both companies’ internal culture scores, which were arrived at by compiling employee-submitted opinions and data. Are employees at Staples happy? Does Office Depot offer benefits? Let’s take a look.
OVERALL CULTURE
Despite the low score, Staples employees write that “the people make it fun” and that the workforce is “open and honest with no back stabbing.”
An Office Depot employee writes, “There is a mix of different people and we learn from each other.” Another says that his coworkers are “truly a cohesive unit because of the teamwork mentality, but overall morale is low in general.”
CEO
A Staples employee writes that company leadership “needs to change.” Another writes, “They need to be open to more outside opinions and views. They are very closed-minded.” Another writes that “the CEO pay gap is among the top ten highest in the country.”
An Office Depot worker has this advice for management: “Stop raising prices, adding new job duties, and cutting payroll. Also, fire your procurement people. If we’re actually losing money on laptops and printers then someone is doing something wrong on the executive level.”
COMPENSATION
A Staples employee writes that “pay rates need to be better for all the pressure put on employees.” Another writes, “As a whole, Staples pays below market rates for its retail employee positions.”
About Office Depot’s compensation, one employee writes they are “underpaid by a lot.” Another writes, “I work very hard and do many other people’s jobs, simply because they don’t want to and work has to be done. And I get paid minimum wage for it.”
PERKS & BENEFITS
A Staples employee writes that while benefits do exist for workers, “it is hard to quailfy for them.” Another writes that “full-time should be available to all employees, not just management.”
An Office Depot worker writes, “There are few benefits offered here.” Antoher says, “All health and disability benefits are available to full time employees. Not many full timers though.”
GENDER
An Office Depot employee complains, “I do twice as much work as my male counterpart and am paid way less. Even with a degree.”
DIVERSITY
